my first drum recording! critique?

T

tojo

New member
Hey guys, I just did my first full (real) recording of a drum set. I was wondering if you guys could give me some constructive criticism on anything and everything, here's some background info

-i used a 4 mic channel behringer mixer
I used these mics
  • 2 behringer c-2s - overheads (i attemped the recorderman method
  • 1 sm57 at the edge of the snare
  • 1 sm 58 in the kick drum
-I panned the overheads at 3 / 9 o'clock
-i tried my best to get the mix right, but that was the hardest part. I only did 3 test recordings to see how it sounds (or so)...
- by the way its a song by Wintersleep called "Danse Macabre"
-his drum kit isn't tuned very well !
let me know what you think, any ways to fix it, things to remember next time

thanks!

here's the link!
 
Doesn't sound bad at all for just drums. I think the overheads should be wider. The kick is kind of wimpy sounding. I'm not hearing any phase problems with the kick or snare though, so that's good. A raw drum mix is pretty pointless though. You need to get some instruments in there to see how the drums are really gonna sound.
 
thanks guys! I'll see if maybe I can eq some bass into it to bring up the kick is it's possible (it's all one stereo track :( ) oh well, It worked out enough for me.

any other thoughts?
 
Doesn't sound too bad.

To me it sounds like you need to take some of those pillows and blankets out of the kick drum and tune the snare a bit (as you said) before worrying about using different microphones.

All your levels sound right, so you've done a good mix in that regard. I think the biggest thing you've got to improve on is getting the kit sounding better before you even touch your microphones. I've spent the last four days working on a project with a band. The first day we spent 3-4 hours tuning and tweaking the drums before I unpacked my microphones. It really does pay off.

With all that being said, the kick drum sound you've got can actually work well with certain songs. So it's a bit hard to comment with just the raw track.

Keep it up :)
 
thanks guys! I'll see if I can read up on tuning drums... although it's my friends set... not mine haha. I'll keep working on it. gonna do some more drum recording for a friend tonight... probs just the 2 c-2s in recorderman technique.
 
Hey man, I can tell you're on the right track with this - I'm just learning the instrument myself, but since I maintain the studio for my band, I'm working on all the mixer settings. I like your tone a lot, it sounds very realistic, but yeah the toms aren't tuned very well like you said. However the pan is elegant? yeah it's nice :-D keep it up!
 
Iamisandisnt said:
Hey man, I can tell you're on the right track with this - I'm just learning the instrument myself, but since I maintain the studio for my band, I'm working on all the mixer settings. I like your tone a lot, it sounds very realistic, but yeah the toms aren't tuned very well like you said. However the pan is elegant? yeah it's nice :-D keep it up!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll keep working on it, as for the pan, I guess I got lucky. I never really know how far to pan the overheads but I guess it worked out this time.
 
thanks! Have you tried recording drums before bryon? if so how did you do it? i'm always curious to hear how other people do it
 
Its a good start, but it sounds a bit odd to me.

Firstly i would play with the drum tuning, the toms especially. I know it seems counter intuitive, but get the toms to ring out nicely and them damp them until they are controllable.

When the drums sound good in the room, you can start messing with mic placement.
The sample you sent has a strange perspective, as the hihat sounds much closer to the snare and toms. I think aiming the snare mic towards the centre of the skin more will give a punchier, less ringy sound. Any chance you can take some photo's?
 
nah i haven't got any photos. The toms are way out of tune, and my friend just can't get them down right. When I placed the 57, it was at the rim, should it be closer to the center? I was afraid he's smack it.
 
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