Tracking the drums!

[anotherloser318]

I am having trouble with bleeding onto the mics. I have tried gating...i have tried repositioning them, and it seems that i cannot isolate (if you want to call it that) the mics...bass drum pics up good but my toms, and especially the snair are killing me..anyone have any tips.

 

[chessrock]

Start using hypercardiod mics.

And don't worry so much about it. Espcially with drums, bleed is the nature of the beast.

 

[Track Rat]

Bleed is your friend. What problem is it causing specificly?

 

[manning1]

some tips

everyone goe scrazy recording drums. ive torn my hair out in the past a million times. best solution i came up with was two crown pzm's in XY above kit. and backing off the close micing a bit on the others.
also DONT USE TOO MANY MICS. i got rid of the kick completely ,
and used piezo triggers to kick samples. cleaned the sound up very well. so i normally end up with 4 mics maximum. plus the kick trigger. the key aspects ive found with good drum recording is a good room and very carefull drum tuning.

 

[Han]

I don't have any problems recording drums, unless the drummer is crap.

Kick inside: D12, MD421, MD441, M88
Kick outside: MD421
Snare: M201, MD441, SM57
Toms: MD421
Floor: MD421, MD441, D12, SP B1
Hi hat: C451, KM184, MD441
Ride Cymbal: C451, Km184, MD441
OH's: C451, KM184, SP B1, MXL V77

Let it bleed!

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

An old article of mine outlining a remote drum recording session may give you some tips... HERE

 

[KaosTheory2.0]

I like to use a small condenser on the bottom of the snare also.

I would like to listen to some of your drum tracks Blue. Do you have any available for download?

 

[Han]

I like to use a small condenser on the bottom of the snare also.

I would like to listen to some of your drum tracks Blue. Do you have any available for download?

You can listen to it on his site, which I did. If I may say, I don't like the snare very much. Matter of taste. No pun intended.
Very good drummer though.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

It is what it is.... although the clip in that article is just a push mix from the raw tracks....

You're right though, it is all about the context....

 

[TexRoadkill]

Stop soloing the tracks and you won't even know the bleed is there.

 

[KaosTheory2.0]

Blue, I checked out the 30 sec drum sample from the article. I could only hear bits and pieces because of my slow dial-up connection but from what I could hear, it sounded really solid. Good job.

 

[donkeystyle]

Stop soloing the tracks and you won't even know the bleed is there.

now you will probably still want to solo them so you can hear what your doing to each drum as you do it, but what he's saying is the bleed doesn't matter. when everythings together and you pan everything where you want it, you wont be able to tell that there's bleed. you still get enough seperation.

 

[manning1]

the old way

start with just one mic on the kit. then get the KIT SOUNDING CORRECTLY. either by tuning or replacing heads/drums etc.
then start adding in other mics. rationale. if the kit sounds bad
doesnt matter how many mics yiou have.
the old way in the 60's was often no more than one or two mics on a kit or even no mics. the other instrument mics were positioned carefully to pick up the drums as well.

 

[starch]

As others have stated, bleed is going to happen when tracking drums, and I would even add that it is needed to create the complete and natural sound of the drums. But too much can lead to phase and mud issues. Drums are one of the most difficult things to record and trial and error has been my best friend.

Here are a couple of things I usually do:
- Note the directionality of the mic and try to aim the mic away from the greatest exposure. (eg. the snare mic pointed away from the hi hat)
- close mic to the best of your ability. Don't have your tom mics 8" away from the tom head unless you have a specific reason to do so.
- If you can get away with fewer mics do it. OH mics may eliminate need for tom mics.
- Use eq to help. Roll off lows from cymbal mics and play with the 400-600hz range to clean up mud from kick and toms.

Hope this helps as I am still learning myself.

 

[Its alright ma]

Hey , I know that your discussion has been over for a while, but I would like to add something to it. I'm abit out of mind in whats pulling your hair about it.
Are you talking about your drum mics picking up other parts of the drums...for example: Your kick mic is picking up the ride as well.
Or are you tracking a whole band and getting bleeding from the other instruments?

 

[Farview]

If you are really having a problem with bleed, it means you are having to EQ the mics too much. That is what makes the bleed sound wierd.

 

[LRosario]

The intent is to have some sort of bleed in your recording. Thats just the nature of the beast. Whenever you have that many mics close to each other, you're going to get at least some bleed.

It might just be improper mixing of the drums. Most of the time, simple means better.


You eventually learn to ignore the bleed and will be able to work around it.