Drum Mix .. opinions?

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Slowjett

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Hello,
I've just been doing acoustic guitar recording for a while. Today I decided to try out recording my kit. I'm not a drummer, the kit is there for my drummer to use at rehearsal so I dont have any real drum skills, so forgive the timing.

I'm curious of how everything sounds?

I am using:

2 JM27 (SDC) in the Glyn John setup (would have used LDC but one of my pair od ADK hamburgs is loaned out) (eq'd to add a lil low and high end)
1 SM57 Snare : EQ (to kill the 'wong' mid freq) / Compression
1 SM57 Beater Side of Kick - subed to group with other kick
1 ADK hamburg LDC 2ft in front of bass drum - Subed into group chan with other kick and gate/comp added.






TEST 2 :

I played a with the kick, and little with the snare. I also riased the overhead level a smidge. I dunno if it did much though. I raised the 57's level higher and brought down the LDC, as well as getting rid of the gate on the kicks on this mix.

Test 3:

Changed ADK hamburg for Studio Projects B1 (didnt want the hamburg this close to bass drum) moved in ttowads bass drum on botton to about 12"
Changed Snare mic position as well as adding moon jell
Changed 57 on beater side position.
All eq and compressors are the same.




Let me know your opinions.

-josh
 
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There is no "right" sound for drums imho. Having said that, I think you will find that your kick doesn't have enough attack to cut through a mix. Rather than two mics, see what you can accomplish with one. There is a lot of excellent "how to mic a kick drum" info online. No sense in re-inventing the wheel. The toms have a nice round sound to them. The snare seems good, better to hear it in a mix though. I would like to hear the cymbals more.
Hope this helps.
ac
 
acattoir said:
There is no "right" sound for drums imho. Having said that, I think you will find that your kick doesn't have enough attack to cut through a mix. Rather than two mics, see what you can accomplish with one. There is a lot of excellent "how to mic a kick drum" info online. No sense in re-inventing the wheel. The toms have a nice round sound to them. The snare seems good, better to hear it in a mix though. I would like to hear the cymbals more.
Hope this helps.
ac
Click to expand...

Thank you! I played a with the kick, and little with the snare. I also riased the overhead level a smidge. I dunno if it did much though. The reason I am useing two mics on the snare is that I dont have a decent kick mic, and the 57 sounded flat by itself. I though the LDC rounded it out a bit. I raised the 57's level higher and brought down the LDC, as well as getting rid of the gate on the kicks on this mix.

Put the new file on the 1st post in the thread.

Its my first experiment micing drums, and I've been up all night listening to a loop :) Good thing the GF's out of town. This would drive anyone nuts.

-Josh
 
Okay, not a bad start but it sounds like it could use some help.
The snares ringing alot it sounds almost like whistle, this could be helped with tuning, damping and technique.
Toms arent too badly represented but there a little flabby (tune them up a bit)
Kick has no punch, i would try to get a good sound out of one mic before messing with two (outside kick mic would be my first choice).
 
None of this matters without music around it. You can spend hours mixing raw drums, then you drop a bass and some guitars on top, and you have to re-mix everything.
 
yeah, I'll agree with Greg. Really all you can do is try to get the drums to sound like themselves. That should give you plenty to do. worry about compression/eq/reverb in the real mix.
 
Thanks guys! I'll put together a song in the next few days and see what I can come up with. Your so right about the snare its got an aweful ring at 600 or so. I put some moon jell on and it helped immensely. Its a sonar kit with the round lugs with a slot (like a regular screwdriver head) I need to find the key for them. I'm going to try getting a good kick sound with one mic at a time as well. My kick does not have a hole in it, but it sounds decent in the room.

Thanks again,
Josh
 
One other little idea. I use isolation headphones with headband tightly around to seal out the outside world. Then, I hand hold the mic while hitting the drum. I can move the mic around til I find a sweet spot. After that I can rig the mic to a stand. An inch or two can make all the difference. Least that's what she said.
ac
 
Hey guys, with your tips I managed to get what I think is a really great sound. I know that it really matters how it sounds IN the mix, but I just wanted to get a better basic kit sound. I walked around the kit with my in ears covered by a set of isolation earmuffs. Miced everything much better. Put some moon jell on the snare and mic'd it a bit different. I also used a Studio Projects b1 on the kick moved it a lot closer (12 inches) and positioned it to where I thought it sounded good. I also moved the 57 on the beater side in a place I thought gave it some more high end attack (this happened to be all the way on the rim facing up toward where the 2nd rack tom would be if I had one (theres a ride instead). I might face it down next time, because of the ride bleed. But my kick pedal makes a lot of noise, so I gotta fix that somehow. Metal on metal noise from the chain linkage.

Let me know what you guys think. I cant believe the difference in the snare/kick and over all sound.



-josh
 
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Sounds very usable. I've mixed MUCH worse drum sounds.

Might want to put a pillow or a blanket in the kick against the batter head to kill some ring if you are doing anything other than jazz. With rock kick you want no ring, typically.


Scott
Not an audio engineer.
 
now let's hear what it sounds like when you put 8 tracks of guitar madness, a big ol fat bass that rumbles your grundle, and a singer screaming gibberish over the whole track. now see what cuts through and what doesn't.
 
Good tip on the pillow, I was going to put something to that effect inside the bass drum.

As for the cutting through, your right who knows. Im going to have to put it in a mix to find out.

I guess we can hope right? ;)

-Josh
 
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