Mic'ing drums in the same room.

  • Thread starter Thread starter James K
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J

James K

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Hi,
like probably most of the people here, I don't have a separate control room. This makes changing mic positions rather difficult. When I'm trying to get a good drum sound, I position the mic, record about half a minute, play back then try and reposition if the sound isn't right. I have to go round and round doing that because I can't hear what effect moving the mic is having whilst I'm doing it. Has anyone come up with any ideas for dealing with this? I can only think of the position- listen- reposition method but it does get rather tedious.
 
That's pretty much how I have to do it.

It's an absolute bollocks, but it's how I do it.

I did once set up a delay and ask the drummer to sound check in time with it.
He'd kit the kick then wait for the delay then hit the kick then wait again etc etc.
 
To be fair, Daniel Lanois prefers his studios to be set up this way, and he's made some pretty badass records that millions of people still listen to decades later.

Although I prefer a dedicated control room, there are more than a few excellent pro studios here in NYC with this kind of "open plan" design where the live room and control room are one. (Cowboy Technical and Mavericks come to mind off the top of my head).

You can always get yourself some headphones and move the mic while listening of those. I mean, that's what I do when I go into the Live Room to move a mic, anyway.
 
You could get someone else to play the kit (or hit it at least) while you mess around, but yeah, the move the mic, record, check back, move it again thing is so tedious.
 
Using a delay is an interesting way of being able to monitor the inputs. The only thing is you can only hear the drums 1 at a time rather that hearing the full kit unless you have a massive delay on it. I would carry on the way you are doing it just now. It might take linger than having a control room to monitor in, but I'm sure you will get the desired results with time.

G
 
If you're working alone, it doesn't matter whether you have a control room or not. You still have nobody to play the drums while you listen. I'm not sure why having a control room or not having one is an issue in this conversation.
 
My ideal date would be...............August 27th !

It is tedious in the extreme but it's probably the best way if you are actually able to hear the differences.
I never can ! So what has happened over a 30 month period and 100+ songs is trial and error which is not a great way to go about it. You learn alot about mic placement, how many mikes sound best and end up with many songs with different drum sounds !
Sorry to be of no help.
 
RAMI said:
If you're working alone, it doesn't matter whether you have a control room or not. You still have nobody to play the drums while you listen. I'm not sure why having a control room or not having one is an issue in this conversation.
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Maybe the OP means that even if he had somebody to play the kit, he wouldn't be able to get a clear listen on headphones with all the noise? Who knows.
 
Before I built my separate drum room, I used those ear muff things that you use for gun shooting or industrial ear protection, ran earbuds under them. There was a bit more ability to hear what was going on, but still had the low end of the kit coming from the room. Trial and error is about all that you can do in the one room setup. A possibility might be to run an extension cable for headphones or monitors to another room for some isolation, but then you will still be going back and forth to make adjustments. Helper monkeys might help there.....:D
 
RAMI said:
If you're working alone, it doesn't matter whether you have a control room or not. You still have nobody to play the drums while you listen. I'm not sure why having a control room or not having one is an issue in this conversation.
Click to expand...

No shit. Record a little, listen, fix, repeat as necessary until good. It's not a big deal.
 
Once you get a sound you like, be sure to make notes of mic positioning, drum tuning, etc. No reason to go through the headache everytime.
 
Greg_L said:
No shit. Record a little, listen, fix, repeat as necessary until good. It's not a big deal.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I meant when working with another drummer. If it was only me there, it wouldn't make a difference
 
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