I need help recording drums

  • Thread starter Thread starter kjam22
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kjam22

kjam22

Member
Okay..... I've been recording with two sm81s overhead, beta 52 kick and 57 on snare. But I've felt that my toms lacked punch. They always sounded thin and weak to me when compared to their live sound. So I sprang for some drum mic clips.

My kit is a year old pearl export. Now with the toms miced they have low end. I mean LOW end. They boom with the tom mics on them. But they ring too much... even completely dry they sound like they are full of reverb. The toms on the kit ring a lot which works good live..... but maybe not as well in studio. Do I take the bottom heads off the toms to eliminate the sustain... or do I try to EQ the ring out?

Any opinions or suggestions would be helpful.
 
I wouldn't take the bottom heads off. Also, back off the tight mics a little. It gives the sound a little room to develope. Put them back about 6" away from the rim angled down towards the heads. This goes for the the snare mic too (especially!). And there's the dead ringer thing.
 
Thanks Track. I'll back the mics off a bit cause I've got them about 2 inches off the head. And if necessary try a dead ringer. I dont' think tuning is a problem with them..... I guess it could be.... but they sound real good live. Probably is mic position.
 
Track Rat said:
I wouldn't take the bottom heads off. Also, back off the tight mics a little. It gives the sound a little room to develope. Put them back about 6" away from the rim angled down towards the heads. This goes for the the snare mic too (especially!). And there's the dead ringer thing.
Click to expand...

Ditto on backing the mics off. I would suggest Moongel over dead ringers any day of the week. Waaay more versatile in that it allows you inifinte variations of muffling just by placement or adding/subtracting pieces.
 
I agree with theletterQ.
MoonGels are better. The RemOs and deadringer tend to buzz slightly which is picked up by the close mics, plus it is an all or nothing deal.
 
And, by the way, tuning is probably the problem. Even professional drummers use different tunings when live and in the studio because, studio drumming is a completely different domain. It's not like guitar where one tuning applies everywhere.
 
It sounds as if your mics are picking up too much shell and resonant head resonation, due to them being attached to the toms.

I'd detach the mics completely, but have them reasonably close over the tom batter heads.

Don't take the resonant heads off, and tune them 1/2 tone higher than the batters. You can detune the batters slightly at the same time to get a lower thud, and maintain good attack
 
Toms

I am assuming you have changed the "stock" heads on your new Pearl Export drums. The stock heads on the export are pretty bad. I would suggest something a little thicker for recording. Maybe a pinstripe or Evans.

GL
 
I'd stay away from any kind of tape/muffling/rings/moongel if at all possible. I agree with tuning up the reso' heads, that should both cut down on low end and on ringiness. If the sound is still to open I'd go with thicker heads (Remo pinstripes, Evans G2's, etc.).
 
zook250

In my opinion you should buy new drums!!! If you want quality then you have to pay for quality!!!!
Pearl Exports are the lowest of the low in shell quality!!!
Pearl export is not a good sounding kit in or out of the studio!!!
A higher quality drum kit will produce much better tonal charactic's and there will be alot less work in the studio and mastering!!!
 
Re: zook250

zook250 said:
In my opinion you should buy new drums!!! If you want quality then you have to pay for quality!!!!
Pearl Exports are the lowest of the low in shell quality!!!
Pearl export is not a good sounding kit in or out of the studio!!!
A higher quality drum kit will produce much better tonal charactic's and there will be alot less work in the studio and mastering!!!
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with the statement that Exports are the lowest of the low. Any of the intermediate kits from the major manufactures can be made to sound half-way decent with the proper heads and tuning. If you can't corral a useable tone out of them then perhaps operator error is to blame. Harvey Gerst records bands all the time on an old Tama Rockstar DX (a kit I will set aside my Pearl Session Customs for, for any big, loud, deep sounding rock stuff).

:D
 
To make your toms have punch and less sustain-tune the bottom heads tighter than the top heads.




Tim
 
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