My first attempt to record drums.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris Fallen
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Chris Fallen

Chris Fallen

New member
Didn't know if this would go in here or mixing/mastering or the drums section. Whatever. I recorded this today. Came home and didn't really tweak anything. I'm sure there are 400 things wrong with it, and since I don't really notice I want you guys to say 'hey fucker, cut this, boost this, you suck.' Let me know whatcha think and what I can do to make it better. Yep.

I recorded this with two ecm8000s for overheads, a d112 for kick, and an sm57 for snare. The two ecm8000s went into an audio buddy, which went into 3/4 on my omni studio, and the snare and kick are using the omni studio pres. All onto my computer with n-track. No effects used. Don't really know how or what it would need.

The link should be working now.



Christopher
 
The link doesn't work!

Too bad. I really wanted to hear it...

Oren
 
Type in THREE w's instead of TWO and it works. Ok gotta listen to it now. Back later?
 
Wow! This is loud! :)

Well... The first thing I noticed, s that the cymbals are really harsh. I don't have a paraetric equalizer attached here, but after playing a bit in WinAmp, I'd say that a slight cut around the 5K area would improve things a little.

I don't really have any tips to give you, since I never tried it myself, and my first attempt would be next weekend...

Oren
 
Sounds like it's all overheads. The cymbals are brutal and for my taste, the kick and snare are too distant.
 


That should work.

So track rat. Cut the overheads back or boost the snare and kick?

Christopher
 
First I'd try to cut back the overheads a bit and bring up the kick to get some "ass" in it.
 
How many tracks did you record this onto? Two, four, and what mics were combined if you combined?

Yeah teh overheads are definitely loud and the kick was too low/ inaudible. The kick needs some punch and thickness. The snare sounded like it may have been clipping(?). Hi hat sounded good - cymbals sounded too distant compartively. The ride sounded shitty... not sure how to explain it...too ringy...maybe too close to the cymbal? Were you hitting it on the bell part in the middle? Maybe that was it.

I am interested in how you configured your tracks in N Track, as in all on 4 tracks, or whatever...
 
I recorded it onto four seperate tracks, then I brought down the volumes per track until the entire mix wasn't clipping. That's about it. I read in a thread about rolling off the kick at 20, so I did that and it came out a little more. Not enough, I guess. Any tips on bringing it out a little more, or how to get more 'ass' into the mix? Looks like the cymbals are to harsh according to all of you. Will a cut at 5k (according to aren) work out on this?

I'm not sure about the ride, I wasn't playing the drums. :)

Thanks for all of your comments so far.

Christopher
 
Hi Christopher
I record with n-Track also and have a similar mic array.Here's a clip of my band recorded in the drummers garage with a pair of ECM8000s as overheads,a V67 on kick and an SM57 on
snare.
To avoid phase problems with rather narrow stereo positioning (the damn 3:1 rule) I measured so both overhead capsules were equidistant from the snare and kick.The kick I recorded a few feet in front of the kit inside a tent I made from a blanket and chair for better isolation.
Once I had the tracks in n-Track,I EQd the bass and snare and kick as follows.I used a spectrographic analysis program called
gram.exe to find out that my drummers kick energy was living from 57-62 Hz and the snare was centered about 125 Hz.Using the n-Track mixer EQ as a para EQ I notched the bass and made a high pass-low pass "frown" curve to allow the important kick and snare freqs through only.
My drum sound was basically the ECM8000 overheads,with just the essence of kick and snare added in to punch it up a little.
This is just a basic 4 mic setup.With Eqing,you can get a decent drum sound without having to mic every piece of the kit.My 2 cents...
Tom
 
Scriabin
I just tested both the music link and the software link and both worked for me here at work.If the music link is giving you a problem,try right click-save as and see if that doesn't do it.
Tom

p.s. wasn't Scriabin a classical pianist or composer?
 
Yeah overheads are up there alright.

I kinda like the cymbals, but they are way too loud.

Kick needs to be brought up. Try removing some of the mids in the 200 - 500 Hz range, Q around 6, reduction anywhere from 3 to 8dB. Boost the output of the equalizer to compensate.

Snare could use a bit of low end rolloff as well.

You have an interesting sounding room. I think it could work for you, just takes a lot of screwing around.
 
Emeric said:

You have an interesting sounding room. I think it could work for you, just takes a lot of screwing around.
Click to expand...

It's our drummer's garage. Heh. Thanks for the tips.

Christopher
 
Hi Tom,
Scriabin was a russian composer in the early 20th century. He's got some great works but the best part about him is his biography. He was thought to be a prodigy as a child but soon went insane around 30 and thought he was an immortal god. If this wasnt strange enough he also heard colors and composed entire works around the colors he "heard." He eventually died of a lip blister a few months before he was going to have a concert in India, where he and his audience were going to become one with the universe through his music... that's a condensed version...

ill try the link again:)
 
Second try.

Okay, I went back over it and eq'd the drum tracks. I rolled off both the kick and snare at 20hz, cut the kick by 7db at 325hz, and added 2db at 8000hz on the kick drum because I remember that I think I read somewhere that that's where the click usually is around. I lowered both of the overheads a bit so the snare and kick are easier to here, and I also cut both of the overheads by 1db at 5000hz to mellow out the cymbals a bit and make them sound a little less harsh.

Let me know what you think again. Improvement? More mistakes?



Christopher
 
Improvement?
Click to expand...

Yes. definitly. The rise still sounds pretty bad, but I guess it's to do with the playing and nothing you can do about it, but yes, sefenitly an improvement!

Nice!

Oren
 
Chris Fallen:

heard your mp3 and it got me thinking, "why does it sound so distant?"

not that I am an expert at this or anything, but that room sound really took over the kits themselves, i think.

you can listen to my first and only attemp of recording drums at my apartment and of course my neighbor came knocking on my door within 5 mins....

I am not trying to compete here at all cuz I am still looking for advise myself, too. So, I was hoping I could get some feebacks like you did.
http://nowhereradio.com/a1a2/singles

it's called "drum"

AL
 
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