I'd apriciate anyones Input on this drum sound

  • Thread starter Thread starter ambi
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ambi

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I don't know if anyone here has read any of my posts, if they have they'll probably know a little bit about my situation. but for those who don't i have very little equipment and im making due with what i have (probably the same as 90% of the people on this board), so i rented a few things, made due with what i could afford, and these are the best drum sounds i could get.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1897&alid=-1

file named EWP test drum track

Now was only able to use 3 mics for this, and only recorded in 2 seperate channels. So i had the kick in one, and the other 2 mics in the other. This is just a sample of what the recordings sounded like, i understand the actual drumming isn't top notch, im going to be using this one for drum loops.

It probably doens't sound that great to anyone, so i'd like any input on how i can make it better from a mixing standpoint. Its 100% raw on that mp3, i haven't done anything to it. Any advice would be nice. Im probably going to do some minor eqing, and put a little bit of reverb on the kick becaues it sounds a little dead, and maybe a bit of reverb on the rest (very small ammount).

I impressed myself with the sound we got though, because at first it sounded like garbage, and after hours of mic placemnt adjustments, level adjustments, and about 6 sleeping bags, blankets and pillots. we managed to get a decent sound out of his 2 car garage. Now when i say decent i mean its better than takes we've done in the past where we didn't put up any blankets to help the accoustics, and we didn't spend a lot of time with mic placement...

but anyways. Info and advice. this is kind of a one shot deal for now, i have to bring the equipment back soon, and after that im going to japan. I had to take all my stuff to his place (including my computer) so i won't beable to do it again for a long time. So any tips on how to get the best sound out of what i have would be appriciated.

Im already happy with it, and i understand that you can't work miracles with mixing, and you really should track what sound you want, and honestly we did get a pretty good sound for what we wanted raw. took a long time though!

thanks for the time to read and listen, and maybe even give advice!
 
MORE than decent...you oughtta be able to fit this into nearly anything and get a good fit...very natural..I WISH I was allowed to use sounds like this around here!!!
 
wow, thanks

i used a Shure sm58, a Shure beta 52, and an APEX 410 condensor mic.
through a mackie 1202, then into my soundblaster live.

its all raw. so i think i could process it a bit and make it better.

but you think it sounds decent? I think considering the equipment i have its pretty good.

i can't really pan it out at all, because i don't have any overheads to spread out. and not enough channels..

any advice on eqing or reverb.. compression? kick too loud? snare too loud?
 
I would have to hear the context of a song to know what to do with it next...

heres the big pisser: Take a listen to any of the mp3z I showed that I did. I do this for a living, its my only source of income, and Ive done it for quite a while. Also anyone who comes to me considers drums " my specialty"...all that being said

Your drums, to me, sound better and more alive than any of the ones I did.

There is a reason for this tho...I need to make drums with IMPACT, that fit a certain compromise between fitting the song, sounding good, being able to play on crap speakers as well as good ones, modern tastes, vintage tastes, the band's desires, the producers desires, etc...

like I said I WISH I could have drum sounds like that in the work I do, but theres just no space for them :(

Next band that comes in tho..I am gonna go back to roots, and see if there isnt a way I can fit your style in at least a little. Youve opened the door to some serious nostalgia for me
 
HA, thanks i apriciate that a lot. I totaly understand what your saying. But im not nearly as skilled at this as you obviously are, so i don't really know a lot about customizing the sound to fit certain songs.

I just recorded 5 beats, that im going to sorta chop up and use in songs. I don't really knwo what the feel for the songs will be , because i'll start with the beat, so i just went for the best sound i could get. It sounded good to be so i went with it.

but i totaly understand what your saying. i guess i'll have to wait and see how they fit into the different mixes i put them in, and then customize them.
 
I agree 100% with the PipeMaster. As far as EQ and level, it totally depends on the tune it's going into. I was hopeing to hear the toms in your clip see how they're picking up.
 
yea, unfortunatly we didn't even use toms!

the beats were mainly simple kick, snare and symbols. im choppin them up to loop, with different variations etc... The Toms were vibrating and adding a bunch of unwanted noise, and considering we weren't gonna use them, we took em out of the room.

yea im pissed off at editing these though, because as you can hear his time isn't that great and its a pain in the ass to get these chopped up and looped.
all the different variations are at slightly different tempos, so when i loop them, and put them into Logic audio at a fixed tempo in the program, they don't all loop properly. So i have to go into individual loops, and take out a little here, and a little there, to make them the same length, so they'll be the same BPM, and still have them on time!


he played for 5 tracks of drums im gonna make, and ive edited, extracted loops, and semi sequenced 2 of them. took bloody 4 hours and they aren't even all in perfect time yet. honestly i don't think its possible to get them in perfect time im just gonna get them close and let the small errors disapear in the final mix when i get other instruments recorded.

but thanks for the input guys, and the kind words. I guess i just have to put them into a mix and then tweak em out. but im happy with the base sound.

damn i want my own kit, and i want to learn to play it!
 
Well, that's the ONLY advantage of a drum machine; you only have to BEAT the rhythm into it ONCE.:D
 
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