{"id":458,"date":"2011-11-19T03:07:13","date_gmt":"2011-11-19T03:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mudhutstudiosonline.com\/?p=458"},"modified":"2013-03-11T22:41:22","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T02:41:22","slug":"recording-drums-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mudhutstudiosonline.com\/?p=458","title":{"rendered":"Recording Drums… Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ROB<\/a>There are hundreds of dissertations on this subject around the web.\u00a0 Many written by people far more qualified than I.\u00a0\u00a0However, since I’ve\u00a0recorded 400+ different kits over the years, and customer satisfaction has generally been high…\u00a0 This is Part One.<\/p>\n

After recording and mixing a session one day, a band member asked, “What did you do to the drums?”\u00a0 His wording surprised me.\u00a0 I thought they sounded pretty good.\u00a0 “Umm, what do you mean?” I asked.\u00a0 His reply;\u00a0 “Well, they sound so good…\u00a0 So natural… What did you do to them?\u00a0 The last studio I was in spent two hours on the snare drum alone, and we didn’t record anything the first day of the session because we\u00a0worked on the drums the entire day.\u00a0 You just threw some mics up, turned a couple of knobs and said, ‘OK, now guitar.’\u00a0 Do you have a secret processor or something?”\"DRUMS<\/a><\/p>\n

I do not.\u00a0 I have no secrets of any kind, and I have never substituted a drum sound using sample-replace software.\u00a0 It just seems so unfair to the drummer.\u00a0 Hey, guitar player, I don’t like the tone of your amp; let’s replace you and your little dog too.<\/p>\n

There are a couple of things that I’ve done over the years that have given clients consistent results.<\/p>\n

I present these with the humility of someone who has been in situations where nothing really worked and despite my best efforts the drums didn’t sound like they should have.<\/p>\n

\"DRUMS<\/a>Assumption One:<\/strong>\u00a0 The drummer can play.\u00a0 He\/she actually strikes the drums with authority and confidence.\u00a0 Touch drummers do not record well.\u00a0 You really have to be on your game when recording a jazz oriented player who strikes lightly.<\/p>\n

Assumption Two<\/strong>:\u00a0 The drums aren’t complete garbage.\u00a0 I tracked a kit once that was cobbled together from three different below average drum sets.\u00a0 However, the top heads weren’t dented and he hadn’t removed the bottom heads (important).\u00a0 Once we removed all of the duct tape and retuned, they recorded fine.\u00a0 I am partial to maple shells, though.\u00a0 They just seem so focused.<\/p>\n

Assumption Three:\u00a0 <\/strong>You have some idea how a kit is supposed to sound, and you aren’t afraid to help the drummer tune it.\"DRUMS<\/a><\/p>\n

Good Idea One:<\/strong>\u00a0 Two heads are better than one.\u00a0 You can’t fake this.\u00a0 There’s a reason that drums have two heads.\u00a0 The kick drum can be the exception, however.\u00a0 If it has a hole, put the mic inside the drum, and you’re in business.\u00a0 Otherwise remove the front head.\u00a0\u00a0 If you’re going for a flabby\/indie\/70’s sound you may have to keep it and mic from outside the front.<\/p>\n

Good Idea Two:\u00a0 <\/strong>Get two good overhead mics.\u00a0 They are<\/em> your drum sound.\u00a0 I’ve used different ones over the years,\u00a0and I found that I liked affordable, natural sounding microphones.\u00a0 I settled on ADK Area-51’s.\u00a0 Properly placed, you can shut off all \"DRUM<\/a>of the other mics except the kick and hear the real drum sound.\u00a0 If you’ve been searching for overheads, I highly recommend you audition these.\u00a0 You won’t need a hihat mic either.\u00a0 I’ve never<\/em> used one.\u00a0\u00a0 Part Two.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are hundreds of dissertations on this subject around the web.\u00a0 Many written by people far more qualified than I.\u00a0\u00a0However, since I’ve\u00a0recorded 400+ different kits over the years, and customer satisfaction has generally been high…\u00a0 This is Part One. After recording and mixing a session one day, a band member asked, “What did you do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11,19,31,10,13,12,32,28],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-techniques-and-technologies","tag-audio","tag-diy-media-2","tag-drums","tag-music","tag-music-industry","tag-recording","tag-techniques","tag-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t