Drum Recording Session This Weekend : )

[Scottgman]

Hi all,

This saturday I've got a recording session set up at a friends house to record his drums. No kids, no wives... just me, the drummer, and a 12-pack of Sam Adams... it's going to be great! This is my first time trying to seriously record a drum kit. I'm a newbie to pc recording and I'm still learning how to use some of this equipment that I have. So this is a practice session and learning experience. Obviously I want to get the best recording I can with the equipment I have.

I was hoping you people could offer some advice on how to avoid the really stupid newbie mistakes that I will probably make otherwise. Here's what I'll be using and what I plan to do with it:

2 mxl-603s for overheads. I was thinking of starting with an x/y setup and then experimenting if I don't like it. Although, I'm not really sure where to put the mics (how high above the cymbals, pointed at what?).

SM-57 for the snare. This is where I really don't know what to do. I've read so many different ways, micing the top head, bottom head, or shell, etc.

MXL v67 for the bass. I realize this is probably not the ideal mic to use on a bass drum... but it's all I've got to work with. I'm not real sure where to put this mic either. I know it's all about location, location, location-- but if there is a good starting point, I'd love to hear about it. The drummer has a front head with a hole and another without a hole. (actually I have access to a Sennheiser mic that I could use instead if it would be better. I don't remember the model but it sounds exactly like an SM-58)

I'll be running the mics into a Behringer mx802a and then into an Audiophile 2496 and recording with Sonar 2.0. I've got an ART Levelar that I can run through the aux buss on the mixer for tracking. I also have a Rocktron Intellifex LTD processor that has some great reverbs (for the snare during tracking?).

About the drummer and kit... I think he is an excellent drummer. We've been playing together for many years. He's a pretty dynamic drummer but skilled enough to tame it down for recording. He is a lefty with his kit setup like a righty.

The drums are a nice-- farily new-- Gretsch kit (don't know the model) and they sound great (coated heads). He also has a maple DW snare (in addition to the Gretsch snare) that we might play around with. I think he is pretty solid at tuning the kit also-- which he has been doing in preparation.

The room is probably 12 x 20 with no sound treatment (standard textured sheet rock walls with a brick fireplace at one end of the room behind the kit). Although there is a fair amount of furniture in this room.

I can't think of anything else to tell you. I'd love to hear any comments, suggestions, advice, etc...

Cheers!

 

[tubedude]

2 stick method.
Kick mic about 2 feet out front.
search "fat drums fast" under my screen name for the technique.

Peace.

 

[Track Rat]

Here's what I'd do. Put the 603's in a X-Y two drum stick lengths directly above the snare. This should give you a phase coherent picture of the kit with the snare centered. If you can come up with one more dynamic, put one on the snare out a couple of inches from the rim angled towards the center of the head and the other one in the kick. Play around with the position inside the kick. You're just trying to catch the attack with this one. Put the V-67 out in front othe kit about 3'-4' about 18" off the floor aimed at the front of the kick. This one will catch the body of the kick and fill in the kit as a whole.

 

[Scottgman]

2 stick method.
Kick mic about 2 feet out front.
search "fat drums fast" under my screen name for the technique.

Peace.

Thanks tubedude, I have read your method... that was going to be my next step if I didn't like the x/y results. However, if I remember correctly, your method was for 3 mics. Does your method work best without a snare mic?


Trackrat:

I have a 57 for the snare. And I can come up with another dynamic-- Sennheiser e835 (sounds just like an SM-58). Would this work OK inside the kick?

The impression I'm getting is that the v67 would be a better room mic than a kick mic?


Thanks for the help!

 

[Track Rat]

Not so much a room mic but rather a fill mic. The large diaphram mic out just about 3'-4' captures the whole kit just as the overheads are getting a stereo picture of the whole kit. These mics are really what the kit sounds like. The tight mics on the snare and kick will just reinforce and give the punch and attack for the two most important elements, the kick and snare. There are some other things you can do with compression to get a very aggressive sound.

 

[Scottgman]

The light bulb just lit-up

Thanks Track Rat!

This all makes sense now.

 

[tubedude]

Man, whats killer is to have a mic way far away or even in the next room with the doors open or down a hallway, just far enough where it gets a light kind of slap back effect. Compress the juice out of its ballsack, and I mean bad, like with a Sonic Timeworks mastering compressor cranked all the way down to full-sludge-fuck-me-in-the-ass-daddy-I-love it, (thats an actual preset on my compressor) all the way cranked, and then move it into the drum mix, panned a little to make it sound like a reflection or a bigger room, fucking fat. I did it by accident, had a guitar in the next room for isolation, had it down low so the gain was cranked on the preamp, and it was an absolute keeper not becuase of the guitar sound, but becuase of the drum sound bleeding in. I had to keep the scratch tracks and use them on the left side just because of that. I'm starting to like room mics more than anything else on drums, what a fucking difference. Run some distortion on them too, can be nice.
I discovered that limiting the dog puss out of the kick works well too, and the same with the tom mics if you are looking for a "different" sound.