Tuning tips/tricks for recording

JG96

JG96

Active member
So I am not a drummer but I serve as the engineer/producer for my band. From my understanding drums tend to be tuned differently when being close miked rather than unmiced. My band is going into a studio at the end of the month to track an EP.
I like the drum sound on a lot of 90's records (Surfer Rosa/In Utero/Pinkerton/Clouds Taste Metallic) I know a lot of this sound comes from slammed room mics.
But tuning is also very essential. I know the fine tuning aspect but I am wondering if anyone knows any tips on tuning the set as a whole and getting the best sound out of specific drums. I would love to know any cool tricks that help you get your sound! We will be recording with a maple Yamaha Stage Custom fusion kit (10/14/20). And Hopefully a Pork Pie brass snare. Also how far apart do you tune your toms on a 4 piece kit?
 
I'd strongly advise against tuning to a pitch or intervals. Some people like it, I say fuck that. Tune each drum to sound the best it can in it's own happy sweet spot. Different sized drums will naturally have different pitches. Use new heads of a type that fits the sound and style you're after. For example, a coated head sounds better for warm flat sounds than a clear head muffled and dampened to hell. Don't fuss over a drum "ringing". That stuff pretty much all disappears in a full mix. If you do need to dampen a drum, use tiny bits of moongel or tape. Don't use rags, socks, wallets, maxipads, etc.
 
Thanks for the pointers Greg! I have also noticed that ring goes away in the mix. Personally I have found that some ring helps the snare cut through. Generally some tape is needed on the floor tom to prevent too much resonance/sympathetic ring. How about dampening kick? Do you use tape/drumgel on it. The kick drum on your recordings sounds hella punchy!
 
Ah yes the kick can use a little something. I keep a small rectangular pillow in mine that I can turn to just barely touch one or both heads depending on what I need. It can also sit in the middle and touch neither head for max boom! The key IMO is to just barely touch the heads. Blankets and shit stuffed in a kick is way too much.
 
I'm "transforming" my Sonor kit to a studio kit. I'm just starting to experiment with it so my opinions aren't worth much at this point but I'll put in my dos centavos.

In regards to the kick, I have an Aquarian head with the felt ring around the outside edge on the batter side head, and a thick 4-6" circle on the reso/outside head. Along with that there is a bit of the infamous "egg carton" foam inside the kick covering maybe the lower 3rd of the kick. The foam goes up to about the halfway point between the very bottom of the kick and the hardware for the legs of the kick. I don't have a lot of pillows or big blankets in the kick. I find that stuffing the kick with a crap ton of blankets or pillows makes it just go "Thud" and die.

For me, that Aquarian head makes a huge difference in taming the "BOOOOOO OOOO OOO OO oo oo ooom" ;)

Tonally, it has a nice sound. It's tight enough to hear a distinct strike, enough for double kick work, but it retains enough body to be toneful without a lot of long term resonance. I like it. I hope this info helps in some way.
 
Thats interesting. I will have to find a small pillow or something. Raymeous, do you have the foam touching the heads or just sitting inside?
 
I put a mic on every drum. The toms just don't come out when it's recorded by overheads only.
And the snare mic is located under the snare and not above. This way, you get its punch from the overhead and the sound from the mic.
 
And also, I put one mic inside the bassdrum.
When mixing, I duplicate the bassdrum track, and make one track bassy, and the other track kicky. In other words, one track is responsible for the stomach punching basses and the other track is responsible for the bass drum itself to be heard in the mix
 
That's interesting that you only use a bottom snare mic. I only use a top mic on the snare but I point it straight across to get more of the sound of the shell and the bottom. I also duplicate my kick track. HPF one at 500 hz and LPF the other at 500 hz. The high one gets gated more aggressively. This retains a natural sound with almost no bleed.
 
TheHitman said:
And also, I put one mic inside the bassdrum.
When mixing, I duplicate the bassdrum track, and make one track bassy, and the other track kicky. In other words, one track is responsible for the stomach punching basses and the other track is responsible for the bass drum itself to be heard in the mix
Click to expand...

Lol. :facepalm:
 
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