Isolating Seperat Drums

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santiago

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I am with my band of local kids and we are recodring on my Yamaha four track.

I have run the snare and the hi-hat thru a pre-mixer just to get volumes right, and the i have run that as one signal into track four. On track two (of the four track) i have a mic inside my bass drum.

Now the problem is that the mic i have inside my bass drum is also picking up the snare drum. How can i isolate the snare and bass. Will i need to get a special bass drum mic?
 
greetings and welcome to the wonderful world of recording drums.
 
Is your kick drum mic pointed up at the snare? Try different mic positions to get the most isolation possible, before you spend any money. Also, a lower gain on the mixer might help the snare become less audible while still keeping enough kick drum.

If you want total isolation you need a Noise Gate.

gl
 
You don't really need isolation of the drum mics. Are you using an Overhead mic? That should be the first thing to use. Then add a kick and maybe snare mic if you need it. Drums are one complete instrument and should be treated as such. You wouldn't mic the individual strings on a guitar or piano. Just add the close mics as you need them but rely on the overhead for most of your drum sound.
 
I agree with Tex - drums are one instrument and should be recorded as such. Close micing is simply a way to dial in more of a given sound if needed. True drum islolation is somewhat of a misleading concept. Even with noise gates set to extreme limits, when a gate opens, something will bleed thru - unless the drummer is literally only hitting one thing at a time (which sorta defeats the whole 4 way coordination thing).
 
Sure, using overheads for the majority of your sound is one way to do it. It depends on the type of sound you want.

He asked how to get some isolation with his kick drum mic, so mic positioning is important, and that's what I meant by trying to isolate the sound.
 
you cant be implying that major rock albums have been recorded with one overhead mic?!?!?
 
Santiago,

This is a typical newb.Question ;)

Folks trying to record a drumkit for the first time (or any instrument for that matter) are mostly surprised while heaving other instruments to bleed on a certain microphone.
Look that's how the ear works! Just place your head in the kick and listen.. you WILL hear the snare.
so will that mic. The first error newbies make is thinking a mic will only pic up the wanted sound. well, it does much more (thank god!)

But that is totally no problem! just record the whole darn thing as you have planned to. It will sound much more natural with bleed. trust me. (later on you will discover gates and more of that beautifull stuff, but for now just record!!)
If you are standing in front of the drumkit while the drummer is playing you WILL hear the whole kit (and probably the reflections of the room etc.) This is how the kit sounds, so that's how you will record it.

good luck with future recording and welcome to this forum
 
yup im a newb said:
you cant be implying that major rock albums have been recorded with one overhead mic?!?!?
Click to expand...

Why, is he recording a major rock album?

I can name several rock albums where they used 1-3 mics. Most notably everything by Led Zepplen the Beatles and the U2 Pop album.
 
Do it like Dieter Dirks did it in the 80's - record 1 drum at a time;
Scorpion's heavily processed drumsound here we come! :D:D
 
is there any reason you want so much isolation, if all you're working with is a four track you're already eating up two tracks on the drums. i'd just worry about getting a good basic sound on one track for now.
 
Wt mic are you using santiago? The Shure beta52 and the AKG D112 are the best kick mics that i have ever used. Both of them reject outside noise real well. You say you play in a band of kids?How old are you?


Z
 
santiago said:
I am with my band of local kids and we are recodring on my Yamaha four track.

I have run the snare and the hi-hat thru a pre-mixer just to get volumes right, and the i have run that as one signal into track four. On track two (of the four track) i have a mic inside my bass drum.

Now the problem is that the mic i have inside my bass drum is also picking up the snare drum. How can i isolate the snare and bass. Will i need to get a special bass drum mic?
Click to expand...

You could try using a mic with a tighter pattern (hyper or super cardioid), if you aren't already, and arranging things so that the snare is in the null.

Why do you want a separate kick track on a four track anyway? It seems to be a bit of a waste of real estate to me. Just wondering.
 
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Would it be possible to pre mix the drums on a mixer to get the sound you want and then once you have the drum sound your looking for record to one track on the four track? You could eq the drums on the mixer to get your sound right and possibly cut out some of the snare from the kick mic. Just a thought.. good luck to you!

Scott
 
Ahh the humble four track.

I used to group them down to one, but then of course you lose all your flexibility.

If i was still using a four track to record drums i would only use 1 or 2 mics tops.

My bro seems to get a nice kit sound with 1 sm58! BUT his kit sounds tuned and does'nt ringout, this is the basis of a killer drum sound not to mention room acoustics.
 
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