drum recording techniques

[farewellending]

share your drum recording techniques. What effects and other techniques do you do to add that final "color" to your drums at the mixing stage. I have a Tama Starclassic EFX kit and can't get that really tight drum sound I'm looking for. Examples being Story Of The Year, Fall Out Boy, Metallica, etc. What am I missing and what are some techniques. Don't be afraid to share your "million dollar secrets" here!

 

[brandrum]

what kind of room do you have?...what kind of mic's are you working with?

 

[djhead]

one word: triggers

 

[LIMiT]

Most of those bands you mentioned use triggered drum samples, and or only close mic techniques and very little (if any) room/ambient sounds which IMHO is where the sound of your drums truly lie (sp??).

If you're looking for some tips/secrets on mixing drums in general,...it starts with the following at the tracking stage.

good player
well tuned drums
good room
Good room mics / OH's --> best preamp pair possible.

The bands you mentioned are VOX/Kick concentrated...so ..
have 2-3 of these CD's on hand for A/Bing...

start with the kick...

If your kick is missing the mid 'thwack', I sometimes duplicate the track.
I take the new track and put a LP filter until I can mostly hear the beater only. I then add a brick wall limiter and smash the crap out of it.

Bring that back under the original...blend to taste.


Hope this gets the ball rolling!

Cheers,
-LIMiT

 

[PhilGood]

one word: triggers

four words: full gallon paint can

on a towel in the middle of the drum. No EQ.



example:

(crappy test mix, but you get the idea...)

 

[Nick The Man]

four words: full gallon paint can

on a towel in the middle of the drum. No EQ.



example:

(crappy test mix, but you get the idea...)

good phil good .. you are the MAN exspecially when it comes to recording drums!

 

[RezN8]

once again...

The "trick" to a tighter drum sound starts with
-
the room, some strategically placed gobos (sound panels, bass traps, diffusers, etc.).
-Then the position of the drums in the room.
-Then the way the drums are tuned.
-Then the way the drums are played.
-Then which mics you use.
-Then the position of those mics.

etc., etc.

 

[brandrum]

four words: full gallon paint can

on a towel in the middle of the drum. No EQ.



example:

(crappy test mix, but you get the idea...)

 

[PhilGood]

It is exactly what it says. Open the drum, lay down a folded shop towel. On that towel, set down an upright full gallon of paint. (It can aslo be a can filled with sand if you prefer.) Put the head back on. Put your kick mic about 3" inside the hole and point it straight down the shell.

It will sound strange to your ear, but the mic likes it! (Hey Mikey! He likes it!!) The can makes the beater impact stronger and more recording friendly. I aslo use barely any dampening. Just a rolled up towel taped to the shell, just touching the head. That's a felt beater in the recording and to me has just the right 'smack'.

Hey, he asked for "million dollar secrets"! That's mine.

Well, actually it's Simon Phillips'. I just borrowed it!



For an even tighter sound I've had it on a thin pillow in contact with the batter head.

 

[brandrum]

It is exactly what it says. Open the drum, lay down a folded shop towel. On that towel, set down an upright full gallon of paint. (It can aslo be a can filled with sand if you prefer.) Put the head back on. Put your kick mic about 3" inside the hole and point it straight down the shell.

It will sound strange to your ear, but the mic likes it! (Hey Mikey! He likes it!!) The can makes the beater impact stronger and more recording friendly. I aslo use barely any dampening. Just a rolled up towel taped to the shell, just touching the head. That's a felt beater in the recording and to me has just the right 'smack'.

Hey, he asked for "million dollar secrets"! That's mine.

Well, actually it's Simon Phillips'. I just borrowed it!



For an even tighter sound I've had it on a thin pillow in contact with the batter head.

I've recently learned that I can do the same thing with tuning and playing with the mic placement.....cool trick though.

 

[ermghoti]

four words: full gallon paint can

on a towel in the middle of the drum. No EQ.



example:

(crappy test mix, but you get the idea...)

I've used a 25 lb bag of lead shot to similar effect.

 

[diablodavo]

This is how I get a good drum sound it works every time.

I use a small wooden room with a high ceiling.

KICK (2 mics really important to a good kick sound i find) - sm58 up close to and facing the beater(for clickety click). AKG414 outside the kick slightly to the side of the hole on the front skin( for thuddy mcthud). You can also use any good kick drum mic for this outside mic (I like the shure beta52a). I compress the 58 'to tape' at a ratio of about 2:1 and drive the compressor (fast attack/release)

SNARE(well tuned etc) - SM57 or akg414 2 inches above pointing towards the centre. I find this gets a roomier fuller sound which i like.

OVERHEADS - two of the best condenser/valve mics you have. Matched pair prefferably. I like large diaphrams as you can get a pretty good drums sound with these alone. Usually I have them quite high, above the snare/hats and above the ride/floortom at about 45 dgree angles. I measure that they are the same distance away from the snare to avoid phase issues on this important drum.


some times i mic the toms depending. I usually just use the little sennhieser clip ons which are ok 57's are good as well.


When it is recorded I compress the inside kick drum and the snare for more slap and thud. I then send all the drums to a group. I then send the whole drum group to the SSL LMC - 1 (free http://www.solid-state-logic.com/resources/lmc1plugin.html)

and squash that to an acceptable degree. Then with carefull mixing of the the dry kit and ssl signal, bobs yer drummer.

mess around with room/small hall/plate send reverbs on yer snare/toms full kit whatever. Depends on the style of music.
ps you might need some eq if yer drums r shit.

have fun.

 

[LIMiT]

SNARE(well tuned etc) - SM57 or akg414 2 inches above pointing towards the centre

Yikes!....you're brave! ... I have to really trust a drummer to put up a 414 on the snare,.. I see how it would catch the fastest transients though... good idea.

Here's a common one...

if you have an old sub speaker (6"-12"), rewire it to an XLR cable, and all of a sudden you have a a "sub-harmonic microphone". Many place this close to the mic hole to catch the frequencies more 'felt' than heard.

I took a mentors advice, and walked around the front of the kit with the drummer playing (ear pluggs in), and stopped where I could 'feel' the low end of the kit 'hit' my chest (hope thats clear enough). I set up the 'sub-kick' at chest height.

**Important : this 'sub-mic' yeilds a very hot signal. I had to engage a -10db pad on my M-Audio Octane pre.

In my DAW, I compress the 'sub-kick' anywhere from 6:1 to 10:1, fast attack, slow release.

I subgroup all my drum tracks (except the 'sub-kick'), and tighten up the low end as best I can, then I start to sneak in the 'sub-kick'.

The result: A entire kit with a very natural sounding, punchy low end.

Cheers,

-LIMiT

 

[farewellending]

thanks guys, i can't wait to get back and try this stuff out. But to let you know what I'm working with right now...
presonus firepod
(2) Audix Fusion F10s (for toms)
Sennheiser vocal mic for bass drum
Shure SM57 for snare
Shure SM58s for overheads
I have the Waves Plugin pack
A bunch of sonoflats in my room
and thats about it. I know that the bass drum and overheads are not good at all, but I think the problem with my sound lies in the stock heads of the kit too because afterall, anything that doesn't sound good live, won't sound good recorded. Well, besides this guys paint can which I cant wait to try ha

 

[farewellending]

also, maybe i'm being stupid, but what are drum triggers? And how do you use them?

 

[bubbagump]

also, maybe i'm being stupid, but what are drum triggers? And how do you use them?

They are essentially MIDI controllers for drum. Usually they stick on or mount to the drum. You then connect the trigger to a MIDI brain. This brain outputs MIDI data which in turn gets recorded and is used to trigger samples.

 

[LIMiT]

One more....

Use a dual-mono setup for your drum buss. This will make it easier to EQ/process if a problem exists in a specific area, without overly effecting another.

Example: Having to notch out some HH harshness on the right side without effecting your cymbal sound on the left. (very vague, but you get the idea)

Depending on what and how you're EQing, different compression settings might be needed for the left and right sides...(if you feel really experimental, try different compressors on either sides as well)


Hope this helps,

-LIMiT