Ways to record Drums

drummerdude666

drummerdude666

immature
I'd like to create a thread that helps people HEAR and SEE the difference between diffrent mics, how you position them and the gear you use.

Example. :)

To record this i used a crappy £50 mic set. One of my first recordings. This is the same as the crap mics you can get off ebay. Stagg make them, so do many other companies. Just rebranded.

They look like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-7-DRUM-MI...345179564QQcategoryZ41464QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here's a clip


I used 2 spaced overheads from the kit. The crappy kick mic and the crappy snare mic. Then the 3 crappy toms mics. Kick mic was 3" of axis pointing to the beater. Snare mic was 2" up, 1" in pointing to the centre. Tom mics we're positioned the same as the snare.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/attachment.php?attachmentid=17042

https://homerecording.com/bbs/attachment.php?attachmentid=18146

I used an Pearl ELX 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 14"x5.5" snare.
Cymbals were Sabian 14" hats. 12" 15" 16" 18" 21" HHX, AA and AAX.
From memory i had Evans g2 coated on batter and g1 clear as reso on toms. Snare was usual empoerer coated on batter and ambassator reso. Kick had a superkick II and i can't remeber what reso i used.

Snare was tuned high with reso slightly higher. toms we're tuned in 4ths (roughly) and were med-high, with batter and resos equal. Kick was tuned low.

It was recorded in a crap room. Acoustic guitars all over the walls etc. Yamaha 01x into Cubase SX3.

These are recordings from a long time ago. I'll take photos and clips of new equipment and tricks i use once i have a moment spare.

---------------------------------

I'd like people to post like i have. Showing the kit they used. Mics and the position. Signal chain. Post mp3s and also pics of the kit mic'ed up.

Mp3 un-mixed if possible. This way people can hear the differnce. :)
 
Last edited:
Hey Drummerdude, I listened on some crappy speakers on my desk at work but I think that sounds pretty good. I am supposed to record my band next week so I have been working on getting my crappy kit and my crappy Cad mics to do what I need them to do. I have a cheap ass Hohner drum kit that I bought off a guy for $100 and I put new heads on it. I have it sounding the best I can get it to sound. A real drummer could do better I'm sure. I'm not a drummer but I could maybe play something so you can get an idea of what I'm working with. I have never recorded anyone but myself so this band project should be a real learning experience.
Maybe when I get home I'll try to lay something down. Warning!! I'm a bass player, I suck at drums.
 
create a new thread and post it, and i'll do my best to help *fix* your sound as best i can, and im sure many others will help also. :)
 
Actually post your results here, and explain what mics you used etc, following the trend I'm trying to set in this thread.

Then in the new thread post your clip and people can help you in your seperate thread. :)
 
Yep, great thread. I recorded my band´s first CD at home, never took pictures of sessions or setups :( I always told the other members to bring a camera so we can save the moment, but it never happened. Maybe next time.

TS
 
good thread drummerdude...i recently posted to get some feedback...my recording follows:

http://www.myspace.com/shortnessinms

mic placement is similar to yours, but i've got my OH's x-y'd. mic's include, d112 on bass, sm57's on all except the 14" tom...got a atmpro25 on that...the overheads are mxl 603's
 

Attachments

  • micpl01.JPG
    micpl01.JPG
    12.4 KB · Views: 300
  • micpl02.JPG
    micpl02.JPG
    14.4 KB · Views: 219
TravisinFlorida said:
good thread. you got a nice sound outta those "crap" mics.
Click to expand...


Absolutely a good thread.. I'll try to add some mp3-files and images from 2 different sessions this weekend, basically showing how NOT to do it I'm afraid.

:o

Would drummerdude666 and shortness mind it if I'd download the images and clips (especially the shortness clip was hard to get) and put them together in a webpage-like-thingy with the topic texts in the near future, so this stuff doensn't get lost? This promises to be a great thread already.

Patrick

edit: I'll post them this weekend, the sessions are one week and almost one year old.
 
drummerdude666 said:
I'd like to create a thread that helps people HEAR and SEE the difference between diffrent mics, how you position them and the gear you use.

Example. :)

To record this i used a crappy £50 mic set. One of my first recordings. This is the same as the crap mics you can get off ebay. Stagg make them, so do many other companies. Just rebranded.

They look like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-7-DRUM-MI...345179564QQcategoryZ41464QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here's a clip


I used 2 spaced overheads from the kit. The crappy kick mic and the crappy snare mic. Then the 3 crappy toms mics. Kick mic was 3" of axis pointing to the beater. Snare mic was 2" up, 1" in pointing to the centre. Tom mics we're positioned the same as the snare.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/attachment.php?attachmentid=17042

https://homerecording.com/bbs/attachment.php?attachmentid=18146

I used an Pearl ELX 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 14"x5.5" snare.
Cymbals were Sabian 14" hats. 12" 15" 16" 18" 21" HHX, AA and AAX.
From memory i had Evans g2 coated on batter and g1 clear as reso on toms. Snare was usual empoerer coated on batter and ambassator reso. Kick had a superkick II and i can't remeber what reso i used.

Snare was tuned high with reso slightly higher. toms we're tuned in 4ths (roughly) and were med-high, with batter and resos equal. Kick was tuned low.

It was recorded in a crap room. Acoustic guitars all over the walls etc. Yamaha 01x into Cubase SX3.

These are recordings from a long time ago. I'll take photos and clips of new equipment and tricks i use once i have a moment spare.

---------------------------------

I'd like people to post like i have. Showing the kit they used. Mics and the position. Signal chain. Post mp3s and also pics of the kit mic'ed up.

Mp3 un-mixed if possible. This way people can hear the differnce. :)
Click to expand...



So what are good drum recording mics, for hats, bass, snare etc?
 
Steal Sessions said:
Absolutely a good thread.. I'll try to add some mp3-files and images from 2 different sessions this weekend, basically showing how NOT to do it I'm afraid.

:o

Would drummerdude666 and shortness mind it if I'd download the images and clips (especially the shortness clip was hard to get) and put them together in a webpage-like-thingy with the topic texts in the near future, so this stuff doensn't get lost? This promises to be a great thread already.

Patrick

edit: I'll post them this weekend, the sessions are one week and almost one year old.
Click to expand...

fine w/me steal...that would be great...i set up the download option...
 
Last edited:
shortness said:
fine w/me steal...that would be great...i set up the download option...
Click to expand...

Check! Thanks, I've got the mp3 now. I'll do my best to post this weekend a few images and mp3's of 2 sessions I've done. :)
 
I've got two clips online, including images. The first one is the first recording I've ever done, about one year ago, it is my own band. Very basic recording, 7 tracks in total, bas, snaretop, racktom, floortom, hihat, oh left & oh right. The drumkit is a very old Pearl Export, powerstroke3 on the toms, pinstripe on bas. Snaredrum is a Arbiter with remo coated ambassador head. Mics used are 'Collins' el-cheapo drumset (8 mics: 3 sdc, 3 tommics, 1 snaremic and one basdrummic) for overheads, hihat and toms (basmic used for floortom), D112 for basdrum and SM58 clone on snare. All recorded into Sonar 2.1 via a behringer 2222 mixer (only pre-amps used). The overhead setup did not provide me with a nice stereo image, which was a bummer. The sounds from most of the mics were far from great, since I was recording in the same room, playing the drums myself and had only a small amount of time. Blahblahblah.. lame excuse. Not enough checking done... [lesson: take more time to get good sounds]

The audioclip is called '
', image 1 and image 2.


The second recording was done 2 weeks ago. 8 Tracks in total, bas, snaretop, 3 racktoms (floor was not used), 2 overheads and one roommic (not shown on the image). Exact distances I don't know.. Again, doing the recording in the same room where the instrument was, little time to do decent soundchecks, but this recording went alot better (this is quite a good drummer, which helps alot). Drumkit as shown on the images, Pearl (export?), didn't write down the head-types.. Recorded with the el-cheapo drummicset as described earlier, except for the snare which was a SM58 with removed cap. Again recorded in Sonar 2.1, via my new (2nd-hand) Mackie 1604-VLZ, bas en snare via direct out for the eq, the rest was direct from insert. All micpositions were guess work, nothing scientific. No exact notes made, thefore I do not have much more information. [lesson: take more time to get good sounds, work with more structure, write stuff down]

The audioclip is called '
', image 1 and image 2.

I've got a long way to go still for sure...

All the posts as drummerdude has requested I've put online in a webpage, which can be found here. I noticed that many of the images and clips posted in these forums get lost after a while. I guess making a copy for future reference might be handy, and putting that stuff online might be handy for a lot of people..

An image of the Collins microphone-set.
 
Last edited:
Steal Sessions said:
I've got two clips online, including images. The first one is the first recording I've ever done, about one year ago, it is my own band. Very basic recording, 7 tracks in total, bas, snaretop, racktom, floortom, hihat, oh left & oh right. The drumkit is a very old Pearl Export, powerstroke3 on the toms, pinstripe on bas. Snaredrum is a Arbiter with remo coated ambassador head. Mics used are 'Collins' el-cheapo drumset (8 mics: 3 sdc, 3 tommics, 1 snaremic and one basdrummic) for overheads, hihat and toms (basmic used for floortom), D112 for basdrum and SM58 clone on snare. All recorded into Sonar 2.1 via a behringer 2222 mixer (only pre-amps used). The overhead setup did not provide me with a nice stereo image, which was a bummer. The sounds from most of the mics were far from great, since I was recording in the same room, playing the drums myself and had only a small amount of time. Blahblahblah.. lame excuse. Not enough checking done... [lesson: take more time to get good sounds]

The audioclip is called '
', image 1 and image 2.


The second recording was done 2 weeks ago. 8 Tracks in total, bas, snaretop, 3 racktoms (floor was not used), 2 overheads and one roommic (not shown on the image). Exact distances I don't know.. Again, doing the recording in the same room where the instrument was, little time to do decent soundchecks, but this recording went alot better (this is quite a good drummer, which helps alot). Drumkit as shown on the images, Pearl (export?), didn't write down the head-types.. Recorded with the el-cheapo drummicset as described earlier, except for the snare which was a SM58 with removed cap. Again recorded in Sonar 2.1, via my new (2nd-hand) Mackie 1604-VLZ, bas en snare via direct out for the eq, the rest was direct from insert. All micpositions were guess work, nothing scientific. No exact notes made, thefore I do not have much more information. [lesson: take more time to get good sounds, work with more structure, write stuff down]

The audioclip is called '
', image 1 and image 2.

I've got a long way to go still for sure...

All the posts as drummerdude has requested I've put online in a webpage, which can be found here. I noticed that many of the images and clips posted in these forums get lost after a while. I guess making a copy for future reference might be handy, and putting that stuff online might be handy for a lot of people..

An image of the Collins microphone-set.
Click to expand...

cool steal! will listen to your mp3 later...am working on a session tonight...w/my lead guitarist...wish me luck!
 
I posted this already but I thought this would help on this thread also.
OK, here is my first sample of recorded acoustic drums. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Please don't be too critical of the playing as I am not the drummer. I just played on here for the test.
Equipment used:
OH's - JM27 (one over the snare pointed down, one over my right shoulder pointed at the snare... equal distance)

Kick - Shure Beta52 (slightly off center, pointed toward the beater about 4" away) front head removed with a blanket pressed against the head

Snare - SM57 (about 2" above and at the 10:00 position)

All into a Firepod, into Cubase.

I compressed the kick and snare with an Alessis 3630 compressor (UGH! I know) during tracking.

Then compressed again during mix down.
The room is a rectangle shape 14x16, drums are on a 8" carpeted riser, I have some office partition material on the walls for dampening.
I'm not real happy with the drum sound, it seems very "loose" for lack of a better term. When I add guitars and bass it seems worse. This is the first time I've ever recorded acoustic drums, usually we have recorded with Roland V-drums and I don't have to worry about all of this.
I really would like to figure this out though. Thanks in advance.



If anyone is interested here is a complete song recorded with the V-drums and a Yamaha MD-8
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top