Recording drums

N

norm55

New member
I just set up the kit to record our next session .Im going for the best results i can get this time but im still so green at this.So if theirs anyone who would like to give a listen to this sample and tell me what you think before I move on and start recording id appreciate it .I would have to foward it thru email though.
I have it running thru 9 mics down to 7 tracks and each mic is running thru a commpresser.I didnt touch a thing this is how its going right to tape.
 
You can attach an mp3 of it right within the thread, keep it around 500K or so for us modem people.
 
this sucks i cant get it to work ill just put it on the band web site. ill post a repley when its on there
 
nobodys has an opinion out there im recording tonight .Is that a good enough sound going right to tape or do i have some work to do
 
The high-hat seems a little loud, and the overheads (if there are any) don't sound right. Where and what are the overheads.

Whats your setup?
 
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I wish I could listen on better speakers, but I'm at work right now ...
from what I heard, I agree ... the hihat seems too loud ... is that close miked? sounds like it is.
more importantly though, it sounds like you're getting a lot of room ambience in the mics ... that could be what you're going for depending on how you're set up. I like to record drums pretty dry (or as dry as I can get them), so I hang blankets and sleeping bags and stuff in the drum room as much as possible when tracking. Could also just be how your overheads are set up ... I usually get better results using an XY set up rather than a spaced pair ... either way works, but I always wind up screwing around w placement on spaced pairs more.
Tell us a little about your mic set up.
What mics, how many, where are they placed, etc.?
Are you doing any compression/gate during tracking?
 
How are you miking the snare? With what type of mic? It sounds a little dead to me, you might want to try either miking the bottom as well as the top and mixing the two signals (put the bottom out of phase) or maybe just repositioning the top mic might work.
 
ok guys this is what I'm doing I have 9 mics all close miced and gated for track seperation maybe that's my problem. I thought that would be better for total track seperation. I just spent $500.00 on arulex foam to condition the room to dry it up. and that's what I'm trying to going for-- a total dry big sound. I have 4 57's on the cymbals about 3 inches away & I have a cadE200condenser mic on the kick, I'm using a betta on the snare, a Sennheiser E604 on the toms. I'm wating for a new set of hats to come in the mail so I haven't concerned myself with them yet. But I'll be using a 57 on that. Also each mic has its own individual compressor so maybe I have stuff over compressed undercompressed overgated or just plain I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Thanks man.
 
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I think you would be way better off with a pair of overheads rather than micing each cymbal. Try XY or spaced as BK suggested. What other mic's do you have? Any other condensors you could use in a pair?

Oh yeah, what are you tracking to? You have the option to gate/compress after recording right?
 
hey guys thanks for the advise. I'm gonna try going with 2 more 58's as overheads & throwing some blankets around. See if that fixes it. I'm getting a sound that I want thru the monitors. It's just not going to the hard drive that way. Hopefully that will fix my problem.
 
I didnt hear you mp3.

But from reading your post I think you are going all wrong about it.
9 mics is for a well set up excellent sounding drums.....room....mics.

4 mics on the cymbals ?!?!?! 3 inches away ?!?
all 9 close miced ?
Why condensor on kick but not as a single overhead ?!?
You want to add even more mics with new cymbals ?.
Woawwwwww !!!.


Start from the beggining....Use the condensor as a single overhead. keep it 2-3 feet above the center of the kit pointing it at the snare.If you own 2 condensors
then use them both as overheads only ! keep them at least 3 feet above. dont buy So many sm57's !!!.
Buy a nice pair of condensors instead

Use your dynamics for kick and snare and toms.
Read some posts on placement using the search.
Get it to sound good like this first !!.

Use 2 mics "XY" for ambiance in the room away from the kit. slowly mix them in with the close miced drums
untill the sound is big like you want it. Dont over do it.

Gating-compression. wait with these......for the next post. First try out what I wrote.
 
hey man i never said i new what i was doing i have only been TRYING to record for about a year now and each recording i do gets a little bit better than the last one i dont how can can put something down with out hearing it But hey if your that good i will bow down to your every word
 
Norm55

:) Relax....I'm not trying to put you down but to help you.


I didnt need to hear it as I read all the other posts.
Looking at your set up I would be rather surprised
if it did sound great. I dont expect you to bow to me
but If you want to learn something, it is better to take criticism with grace.

I was planning on taking the time and investing in helping you with a detailed discription untill you would be happy with your sound but if you wish for me to back down I will let others take my place
 
hey man thats cool i wasnt trying to sound like a asshole
but if you give a listen to it and you think thats what i should do ill rip it down and start all over my drummer wont like it but screw him

and hey
thanks for giving a brother a helping hand
 
No problem Norm

I gave it a listen.

Start by emailng me your kick and snare recorded on a wav file with out any processing what so ever !.
Just mic them and send it to me and we will start from there. Use a dynamic on them both. Write to me how you placed them.
how close....centered or not.... used a pillow or not..
open kick from front or cut hole or not...any damping system used...How was it tuned....

No EQ -Gating- Compression..make sure your drummer is not stabing with the kick but beating it ( a big difference)...

mwohl@inter.net.il

If you dont want to go through all this then listen to Emerics advice.
 
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