JG96
Active member
Yeah, that's the cure to all sucky sounds
haha i guess from now on my band doesnt have to worry about writing good music just becoming masters of parallel compression.
haha i guess from now on my band doesnt have to worry about writing good music just becoming masters of parallel compression.
RawDepth
New member
I have trouble believing the kick sounds "boomy" while it is filled with crap. Is it filled to the top? If anything, it will sound more like a baseball bat striking a bed mattress. Get that junk out of there and only use a small amount of damping material.
I use a soft baby blanket folded up neatly and lying flat across the bottom of the kick shell. The ends of the blanket touch each drum head just enough to stop the after-ring, (sustain.)
Then go back to using a mic inside of (or in front of) the kick. Experiment with different positions.
The richest tone of the drum comes from the wooden shell. You wouldn't mute the body of an acoustic guitar while recording, would you?
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gumby1220
New member
if the drums sound bad i always add some drum replacement in and blend it with the original drums
silentsky
Member
Yeah, that's the cure to all sucky sounds
Yeah, that's exactly what I said: "parallel compression is the cure to all sucky sounds". The truth is, if you read up on Mixing, you'll find that parallel compression is very commonly used to beef up acoustic drum sounds. It's also used frequently in Mastering. Try reading Bob Katz's book, Mastering Audio, if you don't believe me.
If you're recording a jazz trio and want a really raw, organic drum sound, then no, you probably wouldn't want to use it on the drums. But if you're recording many popular styles (rock, pop, country, etc.), then it can be put to good use.
In summary, you should probably do a little more research (or may even try it) before knocking what many consider to be a very useful technique.
silentsky
Member
I think you'd have to actually know what it is before you could become a master. Do a little homework and you'll be well on your way, grasshopper.
R
RAMI
Guest
I'm sure he's familiar with the technique, as most of us here are. But to call it a cure-all for sucky sounds is ludicrous. When Bob Katz or any Mo-town engineer used Parallel compression, they weren't doing it to "cure a sucky sound".....probably because they made sure they didn't record sucky sounding drums to begin with. Maybe that's a part of the process YOU should do some research on.
To call any technique a cure-all for shittilly tracked instruments shows a complete lack of understanding of the whole recording process, no matter who's book you read.
silentsky
Member
I'm sure he's familiar with the technique, as most of us here are. But to call it a cure-all for sucky sounds is ludicrous. When Bob Katz or any Mo-town engineer used Parallel compression, they weren't doing it to "cure a sucky sound".....probably because they made sure they didn't record sucky sounding drums to begin with. Maybe that's a part of the process YOU should do some research on.
To call any technique a cure-all for shittilly tracked instruments shows a complete lack of understanding of the whole recording process, no matter who's book you read.
That's my point--nowhere did I call it a "cure all for sucky sounds". There were plenty of other posters who had gone over all the basics, such as tuning, mic placement, etc. I was trying to say that using this technique can help. Sheesh, where do you guys come up with this stuff? I was just trying to help a guy get better-sounding drums in his mix! I didn't know there were so many parallel compression haters around here!
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drumslinger
New member
What is the room like where the drums are being recorded? Tiled floor, all carpet, wood floor, low ceiling, high ceiling, small room , med room, large room....etc. Can you post a sample of the drum track?
Don't use the gels on the drums if they are tuned correctly, it will take away from the tone of the drums.
Don't use the gels on the drums if they are tuned correctly, it will take away from the tone of the drums.
R
RAMI
Guest
OK, I missed the earlier posts you were refering to. I just read this from you:
and didn't realize you were being sarcastic.
SouthSIDE Glen
independentrecording.net
It kills me the amount of bandwith burned up on the Internet on people wringing their hands over drum sounds.
If the drums sound good to a human standing in front of them as they are being played, then stick a mic up and hit record.
If the drums don't sound good to the human, there are four possible reasons, all of them pretty likely in some combination:
1. The drums themselves don't sound good. This is either due to bad head tuning, bad heads, or both. Either way, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out.
B. The drummer sucks. It's depressing how many times this can be the case. Everybody and their uncle thinks they're a drummer these days.
III.The room sucks. This is harder problem to pull off than it might seem, IMHO. Often it's not the room that sucks, but an ignorance of the realities of the room when placing mics. Either way, though, usually just placing the OHs elsewhere, like not 6" away from the ceiling (or not OH at all), or floating one single diffusion/absorption panel as a cloud above the kit will handle 90% of that concern,
d. The human listening and making the judgment is making bad judgments. This is the hardest of the problems to correct, because so few are willing to identify it themselves. Sometimes it takes a village.
G.
If the drums sound good to a human standing in front of them as they are being played, then stick a mic up and hit record.
If the drums don't sound good to the human, there are four possible reasons, all of them pretty likely in some combination:
1. The drums themselves don't sound good. This is either due to bad head tuning, bad heads, or both. Either way, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out.
B. The drummer sucks. It's depressing how many times this can be the case. Everybody and their uncle thinks they're a drummer these days.
III.The room sucks. This is harder problem to pull off than it might seem, IMHO. Often it's not the room that sucks, but an ignorance of the realities of the room when placing mics. Either way, though, usually just placing the OHs elsewhere, like not 6" away from the ceiling (or not OH at all), or floating one single diffusion/absorption panel as a cloud above the kit will handle 90% of that concern,
d. The human listening and making the judgment is making bad judgments. This is the hardest of the problems to correct, because so few are willing to identify it themselves. Sometimes it takes a village.
G.
silentsky
Member
No worries. Sarcasm is hard to pull off in the digital domain sometimes.
Edit: It's 30 minutes later, and now I'm cracking up laughing that you thought I was being serious! That's too funny! You probably did think I was some kind of total idiot!
JG96
Active member
drums are recorded in a large room with high ceilings, the floors are wood but the drums are on a carpet. I don't have any samples I can post up right now but i could do that next week.
Steve Henningsgard
New member
Mixerman, what a strange thread to come back to the HR.com in!
As for the OP, post samples!
Ronan
New member
It has been stated before, but is worth repeating. The most important part of recording good drums sounds, is having good drum sounds to record. If the drums sound right in the room and are played right for the sounds, you should be able to get a very good sound with 3 mics, and use other spot mics to make it sound great for certain styles of production.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when doing drums is having an idea in their head of what a drum set should sound like when they are recording that is not actually the sound they want in the final mix.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when doing drums is having an idea in their head of what a drum set should sound like when they are recording that is not actually the sound they want in the final mix.
JG96
Active member
Okay so yesterday we recorded two songs using the recorder-man technique the drums sounded really good but the cymbals dont sit well in the mix in one of the songs, ill see if i can post clips some time soon. what is a good place to post audio?
JG96
Active member
Where should i upload the audio?
JG96
Active member
Here are the sound samples with no plug-ins
silentsky
Member
What kind of crash cymbals is the drummer using? Those sound like pretty heavy cymbals to me. I generally prefer thinner crash cymbals in the studio: Thin, Medium-Thin, and nothing heavier than a Medium weight. If he's using Rock crashes, it may be tough to get a good sound out of them in the studio.
BTW, the hi-hat, ride, and drums sound pretty good to me for this to be a raw, unprocessed drum mix.
BTW, the hi-hat, ride, and drums sound pretty good to me for this to be a raw, unprocessed drum mix.
JG96
Active member
The cymbals are sabain, the ride, hi hats, and crashes are sabain b8's. The crashes are thin. We found with the recorder-man technique the drums sound way better. also the drummer spent an hour tuning his drums before we recorded. The only problem is the cymbals sound a bit loud in the mix.
silentsky
Member
Have you tried using some EQ to cut some of the high frequencies? That would, in effect, seem to make the cymbals on those tracks quieter, (hopefully) without affecting the drum sounds too much.