Drums>Firewire Mixer>Daw?

[5stringer]

Any inserts/ plugins used during tracking don't get recorded - correct? What if your drummer wants his kit to sound mixed during tracking?

By the way WhiteStrat- Jammed your tracks through the PA - the band loves it!

 

[WhiteStrat]

Any inserts/ plugins used during tracking don't get recorded - correct? What if your drummer wants his kit to sound mixed during tracking?

By the way WhiteStrat- Jammed your tracks through the PA - the band loves it!

Thanks man. That's my son in law on drums, and me on all the guits.

I've never run into the issue of my drummer wanting his drums to sound mixed. I run a click track or a scratch track into headphones for him, and he wants that cranked way up. But he doesn't even want to hear the mic'd input of his drums in his headphones--guess it's loud enough right in front of him!

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I've worked with some killer mics where little to no EQ is needed.

As you can see in that "What's Your Setup" thread or whatever it's called , we do not exactly have killer mics (yet) filling our locker. In fact I can tell you exactly what we typically use on our standard DW kit in the studio, and honestly get all the sound we need out of them with very little processing. Sure we might osccasionally bend and shape one or more of the tracks with a plug or two, but that's probably more the exception than the rule:

Kick(s): Shure Beta52 and/or Sennheiser e602
Floor tom: Sennheiser MD421
Rack toms: Audix I5s (one each)
Snare: Audix I5 or SM57
Hat: MXL 991
OH: Shure VP-88 (x1) set to Fig 8 mode.

That VP-88 is the closest thing we have to a not-so-secret secret weapon; it really works great for us as as a drum OH and contributes to the quality of the overall sound. But as you can see, the rest of the setup is very mundane, nothing special even for the most basic home recordist (not that the VP-88 is all that "special"; it's just one of those options that rarely gets mentioned around here).

Probably a lot of it is that the new live room is very neutral-sounding and does not add to or take away from the drum sounds much at all. Also probably a lot has to do with personal tastes, but as far as the group of us are concerned, it's pretty much dialed in to sound pretty good as is with no real disagreements on that ladder.

A few months ago when the studio was brand new and just opening, we accidentally set the old HVAC ceiling unit (we've since replaced it with a more modern central air system)wrong and came back the next day to find the temp in the live room to be well above one hundred (!). A mistake we've not made again. But that heat was enough to throw the upright piano out of tune and to funk up the sound on the drums. We had the piano re-tuned easy enough, but has to replace the heads on the entire drum kit because the heat just soured them too much. With the new heads on, we spent maybe 30 minutes fine-tuning some mic positioning max before nailing the sound and haven't touched it since; with very little processing needed in post except to adjust levels to accommodate different drummers/styles.

Of course if we get a rookie guest drummer in there, more compression than usual may be needed to smooth rough technique, but we try as much as we can to punch alternate takes to get the drumming better rather than keep the rough drumming and fix it all in post. Just personal choice there, that's just how we're mostly used to doing it.

G.

 

[FunkDaddy]

Same tracks, after they've all been put through my meat grinder:

To me that has more of the oomph and power that a kit has when you're in the room with it! Oh yeah, we've mentioned EQ and compression, but another key ingredient in my meat grinder is gating. I gate everything except the overheads--helps maintain the "bigness" and separation in the kit.

I prefer the unprocessed drum track solo'd but the processed one sounds good in the track. Different strokes (har har) for different folks

 

[Buhzie2]

I prefer the unprocessed drum track solo'd but the processed one sounds good in the track. Different strokes (har har) for different folks

I like em both... Was it me, or did the kick drum get kind of hidden in the last mix with other instruments? That bass was like GTFO.

 

[WhiteStrat]

I like em both... Was it me, or did the kick drum get kind of hidden in the last mix with other instruments? That bass was like GTFO.

Yeah, you're right. And when I solo'd just the kit to make those first two examples, I realized it, and brought the kick up a bit. So in the final mix, which is a couple weeks old, yeah, the kick is a bit low.

I'd like to respond to the "bass was like GTFO" but (and this is my age showing here) I'm not sure what it means!

 

[grimtraveller]

I like em both... Was it me, or did the kick drum get kind of hidden in the last mix with other instruments? That bass was like GTFO.

Yeah, I felt that too. I liked both solo'd drum tracks, both good and present with the second one having that slight 'imperceptible' edge, but only just. In the full mix, the kick was somewhat quieter. I find that I often have to boof the kick because once everything else comes in, it's like it shrinks.
Loved the guitars.
By the way, I think "The bass was like GTFO" means 'the bass guitar left it in no doubt that it wanted centre stage on the low end and so motioned to the kick to please move aside but the kick didn't want to so the bass said "Get the f£$% out !" '.

 

[WhiteStrat]

Yeah, I felt that too. I liked both solo'd drum tracks, both good and present with the second one having that slight 'imperceptible' edge, but only just. In the full mix, the kick was somewhat quieter. I find that I often have to boof the kick because once everything else comes in, it's like it shrinks.
Loved the guitars.
By the way, I think "The bass was like GTFO" means 'the bass guitar left it in no doubt that it wanted centre stage on the low end and so motioned to the kick to please move aside but the kick didn't want to so the bass said "Get the f£$% out !" '.

Of course...makes sense now.