Greg's general guide to rock drums for NEWBIES!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greg_L
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lol yeah death metal would of spoiled his milk. I'm not a drummer, but I think Death Metal drummers play a lot of the same stuff as drummers from more respectable genres of music, but just faster.

Here's a funny video of the same drummer, Pete Sandoval, doing something a little different lol. Those old recordings of his early work probably aren't the best example and I doubt this would be a good example either, but it's still funny. To me anyway :D

 
Nice post. Succinct and to the point. Not a lot of bullshit! For those just getting into recording, be thankful that Greg has given some very good advice here on how to get good drum sounds without spending an arm and a leg doing so. Also keep in mind that these are starting points. You still have to experiment and try different things until you find out exactly what works best for you. There is no substitute for hard work! Two thumbs up!
 
Great advice Greg. Very informative for a lunch box Joe like me. -Grateful Newbie...
 
Awesome post and a great starting point! Very much agree on keeping the overheads clean with no EQ, it's important for the kit to sound natural and be able to breathe. I do however, like to mic the Hi-Hat. It may not be needed on every drum track but having that extra track to really pick up the quick open and closing can make a big difference. But thats just one of those minor things that come down to preference.
 
WAY earlier in the thread, someone mentioned that Greg hits his drums very hard. I infer from that, a chance that there might be slightly different advice if the drums aren't hit hard and more attention in made to make them sound more musical. (Sorry if that sounds very odd)

And I don't care for Rush's drummer, since it sounds to me too much like (in layman's terms) he matches hits to other musical parts (guitar playing, etc). I more prefer a Bonham style.
 
BxD said:
WAY earlier in the thread, someone mentioned that Greg hits his drums very hard. I infer from that, a chance that there might be slightly different advice if the drums aren't hit hard and more attention in made to make them sound more musical. (Sorry if that sounds very odd)
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The title says "rock drums", not sissy limp-wristed drums.
 
Greg_L said:
The title says "rock drums", not sissy limp-wristed drums.
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Being a sissy limp wristed drummer who doesn't do only one style of music, I must say that Greg's advice on recording drums is a good place to start. Tuning, mic placement, phasing, etc. are all basic concepts to be applied to all drum recordingregardless of style.
 
I tried using a click track for the first time ever today instead of just winging it. Waiting this long to try it was rather foolish. I won't record drums again without it.
 
Greg, I went through all 19 pages to find a pic of your drum setup for reference. I didn't see any. Any plans to put some up? I've recorded drums twice so far with a full band and I am struggling to get it right. This was with a full band in the same room, so there were issues with that. I also learned, the bass goes opposite the snare (rattle anyone).

Anyway, if decide to post some pics of your mic arrangement, I would appreciate it as a reference.
 
Here they are as they sit right now on 12-17-14 8:58am CST.


Just did drum tracks for two songs yesterday and they sound awesome.
 
LOL, I thought you had a back-electret mic stuck to the wall on the left-hand side, there. I was going to ask you about it, then I realised it was a door-handle. :facepalm: :o
 
Greg_L said:
Here they are as they sit right now on 12-17-14 8:58am CST.


Just did drum tracks for two songs yesterday and they sound awesome.
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For the overheads, you are using the Recorderman overhead technique, then mic the drums to taste? Pic is a little dark. Also, do the overhead stands need to be that high? What I read was two drum sticks high, this pic appears the overheads to be about ~3 feet or more away.

Just trying to get a starting reference point to work with.

The door handle mics, do they work well? ;)
 
That is not recorderman. That is spaced pair....but yeah you can't really see it. I draw an imaginary centerline through the center of my snare and the kick beater contact spot and that's how I base my left and right overheads. So the left overhead is out on front of the kit a little over the hi-hats, and the right overhead is kind of back over the floor toms. This keeps the snare and kick dead center in the stereo image. They're both 40" from the center of the snare. The spot mics are just where they sound good. That's a kick mic on my biggest floor tom. The door handle mics are not plugged in right now. More pics....



 
OK, the last set of pics make it more clear. In the original pic, looked like one overhead was center of the kit and the other was left. I think I get it now.

One more question, I see you have the OH mics pointing down towards the kit, I assume that this is to reduce bleed? Just confirming.
 
Nope, that's just how I point them. How else would I point them? At the ceiling? :D

There is no reducing bleed with overheads. They get everything.

I want the left overhead to generally get the left side of the kit, and the right overhead to generally get the right side of the kit.
 
DM60 said:
Thanks, very helpful.
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No prob. Any other questions? Need any different pics? Feel free to ask or PM me if you wanna keep it private.

Wait, that sounded bad. I mean I can take different DRUM pics and/or we can talk in private. There will be no other pics in private.
 
Greg_L said:
No prob. Any other questions? Need any different pics? Feel free to ask or PM me if you wanna keep it private.

Wait, that sounded bad. I mean I can take different DRUM pics and/or we can talk in private. There will be no other pics in private.
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Damn, you got to that one before I could bust balls. :)

Do you mind giving a rundown of what each cymbal is and the size from left to right, starting with the hihats? I only know about the 20" RUDE.
 
Greg_L said:
No prob. Any other questions? Need any different pics? Feel free to ask or PM me if you wanna keep it private.

Wait, that sounded bad. I mean I can take different DRUM pics and/or we can talk in private. There will be no other pics in private.
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I think your post and these pics give me a really good idea of what of the approach. I had everything pretty close, but I think the overheads I didn't really pay close enough attention too and the kick placement I did needs refinement.

But I think I am ready to go after again. Thanks again, really helped.
 
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