Recording Drums

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VOXVENDOR

VOXVENDOR

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I have a pretty good handle on the recording of drums, but one thing Im still not sure if I am doing right, is.. Should they be tracked with EQ.. I always Eq them to tape.. so they sound great, and then in my final mix, I only have a small amount of "tweaking" to do... Espescially on the Hi hat and cymbals, I almost totally kill the bass and I cut down the mids by about half and turn the highs up almost all the way.. and thats how I get the closest sound as compared to a proffesional recording..., and then on mixdown the correct tones are pretty close and just need minor adjusting Is this right to be tracking like this?, or should I be tracking drums flat (even though they sound terrible like that)... Im new here and have know Idea how this board works, so try and bear with me if I've done this wrong...
 
How do you reference the kit to the other instruments in the mix ?.
 
You'll find two totally different schools of thought....record flat vs. why not get it on tape the way you want it in the first place?.......the advantage of recording flat is if you dont know how the othere sounds will interact with your eq'ed sounds and its hard to undo what youve done....however, if you are familiar with the instruments and mics you are working with and you are happy with your results, knock yourself out...now, you say when you track flat it sounds terrible, it seems you may have issues with the mics or preamps you are using, and/or mic placement.....while it is very common to do the eq adjustments you mentioned on cymbals and hihats, and other radical eq'ing you are having to do may be a resut of the above mentioned issues....maybe a breakdown of the mics, board, mic positions would give an opportunity for the guys that actually know what they are doing (not me) to help you....
 
Also, make sure the drum heads are in decent shape, tuned, and giving off a good sound in the first place....does the room sound good?....the main reason I dont do live drums is because I dont have a good enuff sounding room to record in......
 
I am new and left out so much info... I am using my Mackie 32/8 board to track with Alesis Adat xt's (3) and my drum mics, are the Audix D-series.. So, Im sure it's not the equip... And when I said, I get a "terrible flat sound".. I meant, just on the cymbals and Hats.. The rest of the drums sound decent when they are flat.. It's usually just the cymbals and HiHats that I have to Eq.. I tend to record alot of pop/rock..(ie. Police, Walflowers,counting crows, Hootie).. Most of the bands I track Cover, these tunes, or do Originals in the same style.. My room sounds great, and the drums are (usually) tuned good. I get A good sound and am pretty happy with it, but was just curious about whether I am obtaining that sound in an "industry standard" way.. Everytime I find an article or a website dedicated to recording drums, there is always a wealth of info on mic placement, but they never say anything about eq'ing and tracking them... I hope this gives you more info about my drum recording, I appreciate all the help.
 
I personally try to get the sound right using mic placement and mic type, rather than try to use EQ at the board while tracking. Once I like what I'm hearing "off the mic", I may tweak it *slightly* if necessary for some color as it goes to tape............

Bruce
 
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