New original song. How are the drums specifically?

  • Thread starter Thread starter VomitHatSteve
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VomitHatSteve

VomitHatSteve

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So I finally have my own drum kit and am trying to teach myself both how to play the things and how to record the things.

This is my first attempt at recording drums. I decided to opt for a lo-fi country-ish kind of sound.

Drums are a kit of unknown origin.
Kick is miked with a d112.
Snare has a Q3 tom/snare mic.
OHs are S-12s. I tried to put them in the Recorderman configuration, but I couldn't get the distances to match up correctly. The one behind the shoulder is behind my LEFT shoulder instead of right.

Any criticism or tips are appreciated.

Edit:
Oh right... Link!
 
Can you put up a better quality clip?

From what I can tell from this clip, the kick is pretty "woofy" but it fits the song. The cymbal crashes are brittle and harsh, but seem to be captured decently. I like the snare sound for the song.

In my opinion though, this is the best recording I've heard from you yet. Everything seems pretty clear and the levels are good. I can actually make out the vocals, which wasn't always possible before. Not a bad song too. Just reel in the crash a little. Good job overall.
 
Yeh the drums are a bit unbalanced - the snare is about right but the crash is too loud and the kick is too quiet. Pretty good tune
 
Yep good tune. If it were me mixing, the drums need some reverb. Kick has too much bass and not enough click.
I have no rhythm....
 
Greg_L said:
Can you put up a better quality clip?

From what I can tell from this clip, the kick is pretty "woofy" but it fits the song. The cymbal crashes are brittle and harsh, but seem to be captured decently. I like the snare sound for the song.

In my opinion though, this is the best recording I've heard from you yet. Everything seems pretty clear and the levels are good. I can actually make out the vocals, which wasn't always possible before. Not a bad song too. Just reel in the crash a little. Good job overall.
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Thanks! Yeah, I'll try to get a FLAC version up this afternoon.
Bulls Hit said:
Yeh the drums are a bit unbalanced - the snare is about right but the crash is too loud and the kick is too quiet. Pretty good tune
Click to expand...
Thanks! I'll try to bring down the crash a little. Any ideas how to get the toms louder in the OHs?
ido1957 said:
Yep good tune. If it were me mixing, the drums need some reverb. Kick has too much bass and not enough click.
I have no rhythm....
Click to expand...
You're right! I totally forgot to add any reverb to the drums except for the snare channel! It just completely slipped my mind!
 
Alright! New version. Flac of the same.

I increased the treble on the kick to give it more snap. Decreased the treble on the (stage) left OH and decreased the volume on both OHs to tame the crash. I increased the bass on the OHs to bring out the toms. And I added some reverb to the kit overall.

I've also uploaded the drums as individual tracks.

So I've noticed the drums have a lot of timing issues. Should I: A. Ignore it; it's fine. B. Quantize it to the grid. or C. Get better at drums and retrack it later?
 
To be honest, I don't like the reverb on the drums at all. The dry drums were much better. levels seemed better on 2nd mix. Timing issues weren't too terribly obvious, but quantizing isn't a bad thing, usually, as long as it's got a humanize setting.

I agree with Greg. This is a great song of yours Steve. Much cleaner and less rambunctious than you usual offering. Thanks for sharing!
 
Yeah pretty good tune Steve. The timing is a little off in places. Also, the guitars sound a bit too far away. I quite like the drum sound, just the kick is a little boomy. Reminded me of British 60's pop.
 
PoeticIntensity said:
To be honest, I don't like the reverb on the drums at all. The dry drums were much better. levels seemed better on 2nd mix. Timing issues weren't too terribly obvious, but quantizing isn't a bad thing, usually, as long as it's got a humanize setting.

I agree with Greg. This is a great song of yours Steve. Much cleaner and less rambunctious than you usual offering. Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

Thanks! Don't expect clean and less rambunctious to become my thing though. I'll probably be back to weird before you even know it! :D

joeym said:
Yeah pretty good tune Steve. The timing is a little off in places. Also, the guitars sound a bit too far away. I quite like the drum sound, just the kick is a little boomy. Reminded me of British 60's pop.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yeah, the raw kick was pretty boomy too. I'm actually pretty proud that the guitar turned out as well as it did! My acoustic literally cost $20. It's a very visibly-warped Ovation with "Martin" written over the logo! :D

I suppose when I get some time, I'll experiment with quantization.
 
I like the song and the boppy groove. I agree the guitars are a little low. I hear some low build up around 150hz, like the lows on the bass kick and snare are all the same, maybe you could separate them a bit, just a thought. Really like the song, enjoyed the listen, nice work Steve.
 
Woah! I cut the 160 Hz band on the snare by 3 or 4 decibels, and it made a huge difference in how muddy things were. Good call!

New mix: mp3|flac
I also moved the vocals closer to the center and decreased the volume of the backup vox. It was grating on my nerves how unsubtle the double tracking was there.
I also increased the volume on the guitars and added a smidgen or reverb to them.

Edit:
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to PDP again.
Click to expand...
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to joeym again.
Click to expand...
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to greg_l again.
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Dagnabit! Forums!
 
I listened to 2 and 3. I like 3 better. But in both mixes I thought the kick was lacking some low mids. Sounds like a basket ball hitting the ground. Too rubbery. To some extent the same type of thing exists on the snare, just not as much.
 
Thanks, TripleM.

Rubbery, huh? I'll probably revisit it again within the next few days.
 
Guitars are nice in the begining a bit boxy (maybe cut some 700hz). drums are a bit low for my taste.

I do like the Elliot Smith sorta vocals in the begining! Cool tune.
 
Hi VHS - won't comment on the drum sound, but I'd be a bit concerned about the timing in places, to be honest - you seem to be snatching at the snare a little, and here and there your kick seems a little misplaced..

But better than I could do, I'm sure..! :drunk:
 
If you are serious about creating one for yourself, your company, your church, your club, your non-profit or your project, download this book and implement the ideas work.
 
aaronmcoleman said:
Guitars are nice in the begining a bit boxy (maybe cut some 700hz). drums are a bit low for my taste.

I do like the Elliot Smith sorta vocals in the begining! Cool tune.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll look into that EQ change.

Armistice said:
Hi VHS - won't comment on the drum sound, but I'd be a bit concerned about the timing in places, to be honest - you seem to be snatching at the snare a little, and here and there your kick seems a little misplaced..

But better than I could do, I'm sure..! :drunk:
Click to expand...
Yeah... I spent a few minutes fiddling with quantization a few nights ago, but I don't like the clipping and gaps it tends to produce.

I'm still learning the drums. Hopefully, as I get better, those problems will diminish.

What does "snatching at the snare" mean though?
 
It's hard to be objective about the drums after you asking us all to get out our magnifying glasses and examine them (perhaps it would have been better to put the song up for comment and get unbiased views on the drums) but, apart from a few hesitant kicks at the beginning, I thought you did a good job on the playing. In terms of the effects, I thought the dry version suited the song better than the effected one.
 
I really liked the snare sound on the first version, but the reverb on the later mixes is of the wrong character - it's more like a slapback single repeat delay which mkes the drums sound harsh, rather than relaxed. A touch of medium hall reverb with the brightness wound off a bit would have sounded more pleasing, IMO. Bass drum still too boomy, as Greg said. Good effort, though. :)
 
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