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shoe1
New member
I got one SM57 and my drums are in a big basement with pretty bad acoustics. What would you all do to make it sound good? Thanks!
-Shoe
-Shoe
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gtar02
New member
play with mic placement until you get the best sound
K
kesterdevine
New member
try this
Assuming a basic drum set-up: try placing the mic about four feet high, behind the right shoulder of the drummer, pointed over towards the snare. That's usually a pretty good spot when you only have one mic to work with. It picks things up from the drummers' point of view and you can usually get both snare and kick drum that way. Of course, get the drums tuned as well as possible before starting to record. Also consider hanging blankets around and above the kit, if possible, to help with the acoustics of the room. Good luck!
Assuming a basic drum set-up: try placing the mic about four feet high, behind the right shoulder of the drummer, pointed over towards the snare. That's usually a pretty good spot when you only have one mic to work with. It picks things up from the drummers' point of view and you can usually get both snare and kick drum that way. Of course, get the drums tuned as well as possible before starting to record. Also consider hanging blankets around and above the kit, if possible, to help with the acoustics of the room. Good luck!
Drummer4Life05
Say Something Smart!
T-U-N-I-N-G.
You can't make drums sound good on tape if they don't sound good off tape.
Get what I mean?
Make sure they sound good when you're jammin' [as good as they can in a basement...], then throw up the mics.
You can't make drums sound good on tape if they don't sound good off tape.
Get what I mean?
Make sure they sound good when you're jammin' [as good as they can in a basement...], then throw up the mics.
TamaSabian
Peruvian skin beater
A carpet above the kit could help to isolate it from the floor, but first what kind of floor do you have??. You could try if a carpet helps you. Tuning your kit is another rule of thumb in order to make drums sound good. I think you will need a kick mic too besides the SM57.
Just experiment
TS
Just experiment
TS
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philsaudio
New member
Tuning
I can tuna fish but how do i tune a drum?
http://www.drumweb.com/profsound.shtml
Regards
Phil
I can tuna fish but how do i tune a drum?
http://www.drumweb.com/profsound.shtml
Regards
Phil
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Bulls Hit
Well-known member
And when all that doesn't make any difference you can just eq the crap out of them after recording
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philsaudio
New member
EQ E Shmoo
Bulls Hit:
EQ will not get me far enough if the drums sound like ass on tape.
Sorry.
Phil
Bulls Hit:
EQ will not get me far enough if the drums sound like ass on tape.
Sorry.
Phil
Rimshot
New member
All of the advice that people have given is good. It will help you to make the best of a bad situation, but even after all of that, it will be better, but not good.
You can't get away from it, I'm sorry, but your only answer is that you need to throw money at the situation. Room treatment and more mics, a good signal chain, good sounding, well tuned drums and a good drummer is what will give a good result. Leaving just one of those things out will change things drastically. I'm assuming well tuned drums and a good drummer is in place....that leaves spending money on gear and room. Sorry, but that's your answer. Oh, also, you need someone that knows how to set it all up and use it well too.
You can't get away from it, I'm sorry, but your only answer is that you need to throw money at the situation. Room treatment and more mics, a good signal chain, good sounding, well tuned drums and a good drummer is what will give a good result. Leaving just one of those things out will change things drastically. I'm assuming well tuned drums and a good drummer is in place....that leaves spending money on gear and room. Sorry, but that's your answer. Oh, also, you need someone that knows how to set it all up and use it well too.
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shoe1
New member
Thanks everyone! Don't worry our drummer is god at tuning and what not... My floor is just regular Carpet. Thanks for the pointers on mic placement.
My problem is i can only record one mic at a time, cuz i don't have a better soundcard.
-Shoe
My problem is i can only record one mic at a time, cuz i don't have a better soundcard.
-Shoe
K
kesterdevine
New member
Hey Shoe-
I think you should be able to eek out at least two simultaneous mics with most soundcards, if you use a mixer and pan one mic left and one mic right and then assign each to a separate track within your recording program.
Someone can correct me if I'm telling you wrong, but I think you should be able to work that out. It's worth investigating.
Kester
I think you should be able to eek out at least two simultaneous mics with most soundcards, if you use a mixer and pan one mic left and one mic right and then assign each to a separate track within your recording program.
Someone can correct me if I'm telling you wrong, but I think you should be able to work that out. It's worth investigating.
Kester
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Bulls Hit
Well-known member
Yeh if you have 2 mics you can get a 2 into 1 Y adapter for your sound card. Put one mic in the kick, the other overhead. If you don't have a mixer, both mics will end up on the same track, but it will still sound better than 1 mic
C
Calwood
New member
Whatever you have to do to get a stereo spread of the kit,..in my opinion is worth doing. Even if you go the very cheapest route(inexpensive mics,..small mixer,..etc..),...the stereo spread of the kit will give it more life than a mono track ever will.
Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
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Bandana8472
New member
One 57 is all you need. I record my drums with one mic (sometimes a 57, usually a 58) all the time. Even after trying a lot of expensive mics, I go back to this setup. It's simple and it sounds good.
Tune the kick drum pretty tight - I find that the kick gets lost if it's too deep. I have the batter head pretty loose and the resonant head tight. I leave the toms tuned really deep and loose, lightly muffled. This places them slightly back in the mix, behind the kick and snare. RE: snares, I tune them up. A tight, focused snare with some light muffling really sparkles in a one-mic situation.
I try the mic in two positions: 1. about 4-5 feet in front of the kit, roughly waist high, pointed slightly down towards the kick drum. This sounds pretty good, although the rack tom can get a little overpowering. My new fave is to place the mic off-center, about 4-5 feet away from the kit, so the capsule is pointing across the ride cymbal to the snare. I go for about 3 feet of the ground, again pointing downward. This picks up the kick and snare loudest, both toms are even in the mix, and the cymbals sit nicely in the mix. These both work well in my basement - an overabundance of cinderblock, with a little industrial carpet and a rug on the ground.
Have a blast!
Tune the kick drum pretty tight - I find that the kick gets lost if it's too deep. I have the batter head pretty loose and the resonant head tight. I leave the toms tuned really deep and loose, lightly muffled. This places them slightly back in the mix, behind the kick and snare. RE: snares, I tune them up. A tight, focused snare with some light muffling really sparkles in a one-mic situation.
I try the mic in two positions: 1. about 4-5 feet in front of the kit, roughly waist high, pointed slightly down towards the kick drum. This sounds pretty good, although the rack tom can get a little overpowering. My new fave is to place the mic off-center, about 4-5 feet away from the kit, so the capsule is pointing across the ride cymbal to the snare. I go for about 3 feet of the ground, again pointing downward. This picks up the kick and snare loudest, both toms are even in the mix, and the cymbals sit nicely in the mix. These both work well in my basement - an overabundance of cinderblock, with a little industrial carpet and a rug on the ground.
Have a blast!
L
lysis
New member
i would strongly recommend saving up, get a PG52 mic and throw it BEHIND your bass drum; not in front of the hole. put it about 2-3 inches away from the beater pad, on the side with the floor tom. this will pick up your bass drum, some snare, and usually your floor tom if positioned right. setup the other mic like they said before; drummer's perspective. if done right, this will pick up ambient sounds from everything.
http://www.samash.com/catalog/showi...&Search_Type=SEARCH&GroupCode=nonetodaythanks
see, there's an ok mixer, two channel, under $100. i'm sure they've got a few more, and if you hop on ebay you might get an even better deal. i would assume since you're planning on using one mic you're not trying to be a pro, so i'm not going to sit here and try to tell you to get hundreds of dollars of equipment. PG52 mic will DEFINITELY be worth it though.
http://www.samash.com/catalog/showi...&Search_Type=SEARCH&GroupCode=nonetodaythanks
see, there's an ok mixer, two channel, under $100. i'm sure they've got a few more, and if you hop on ebay you might get an even better deal. i would assume since you're planning on using one mic you're not trying to be a pro, so i'm not going to sit here and try to tell you to get hundreds of dollars of equipment. PG52 mic will DEFINITELY be worth it though.