Recording Big Heavy Metal Drumsets ?

W

worldeater

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Recording Big Heavy Metal Drumsets.

Does anyone have any tips for this. 80's Thrash style drums. Like Getting that super defined almost click noise from the bass drums. i heard someone mention metal plates on the bass drum heads once, (i had never heard that before ???) or how to mic 8 toms, hi hat, ride, & 8 cymbals without either using 20 mics or how to minimize the negative effects of using 20 mics.

and also any tips on trying mix in that huge super processed 80's thrash guitar also.

this project was the hardest thing i have recorded, to try and balance in the mix, and i am trying to maybe get some idea's of things to try or do better next time.

thank you
 
For that kick, you could always try the quarter trick. Tape a quarter where the beater makes contact with the head for a clicky noise, also use a hard beater head with that too. If you need more, you could always eq it too. For the toms, I think the least you could get away with is a mic inbetween a pair of toms. Overheads should be fine with 2 mics in an XY setup. For hats and ride, you might not even need mics, but if you do, for the hats aim the mic at the bell of the hats and that should do it. For ride, I usually stick a mic under it aimed at the bell. In total, that should use 10 or 11 mics. As for guitar... beats me!
 
I'd say just approach the guitar like you would any other guitar situation. Try to get the right sound from the amp itself, and adjust only whats needed when mixing. Beware of the "I don't like any mids at all in my tone" guitar players, because if they make you keep all the mids sucked out of the guitars, they will almost surely come back telling you they don't like your mix. And then they'll go on about how it can't be because of their sucked out mids. It's funny how so many guitar players can know so many scales and other theory but still not know the role of the instrument they play in the mix.
 
i as well am a thrash drummer and guitarist so here is my 2 cents.
to get those sacred reich,kreator,voi vod style sounds i feel the best mics are an sm 57 and a 421 used togther through a neve 1073 pre. and uladine is right about the mids thing. alot of that kind of music has the scooped mids thing going on and too much will be bad.
and the quarter thing works great on the kick too!
 
Tune the drum to the lowest note that the drum will make.
Hoqw you do this is simple. You tighten the tension rods only as tight as you can tighten with your fingers. I use the kind where you need a drumkey instead of the "T" type on the kicks.

You do this with both heads.

NO MUFFLING in the drum. (You're not going to need it, the batter head is so slack that it's not going to have any over ring.)

Place a mic inside the drum about 2" from rthe mallet spot.


Now, if you want more of a sound similar to Morbid Angel on
"The Covenant", you'll need to tighten the kick heads up big time.
He was playinng with the kick heads really tight at that time.

In all honesty, most deathmetal drummers are triggering these days....they have been for years.


Mic'ing a large kit.

Well, how is the room you intend to record them in?


Tim
 
I just read that the new Anthrax record was recorded with "as little number of mics as possible to prevent phase problems". If you work from the top down and not the bottom up you should be fine! As in, get a good kit mix from the overheads FIRST, and then get a chanel for kick, snare, hats, ect...just to boost presents in the overhead mix...if you don't, it will be 2080 before your done mixing 20 mics worth of drums.
 
I believe the sound that you are hearing mostly comes from kicks that are tuned pretty high. I know Charlie Benante was quoted once as saying that he tunes his kicks as tight as they'll possibly go.

You can either get a bass drum patch with a metal disk in it, or as everyones else says, just tape a quarter to the head. A wood beater will also deliver a good "click" sound.

Get a good bass drum mic well inside the drum, pointed directly at where the beater hits the head.
 
Whatever you do, never, ever, use boosting EQ. Cut the frequencies you don't like, and turn up the volume. Most of all though, work on your mic technique and avoid EQ wherever possible.
 
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