Mar 28, 2007 12:00 am I have used the behringer c-2's for OH's. If going cheap they produce an alrighty tone for ~$60.
A Punch list for drum recording
Posted on Mar 27, 2007 11:22 pm
jgainva
Member Since: Mar 26, 2007
Hi All,
I'm a drummer first, and a studio guy last. That being said, i was wondering if someone could let me know what kind of gear is generally needed to record a decent drum track.
I do understand that the drums and how they are tuned, etc is very much one of the prime factors. Also mic placement and mic type are also key.
What I am unsure about is this:
I use a Korg D888 mixer/recorder. I use Shure 57's for the toms and snare, a Beta 52 in the kick and some cheaper mics above the kit to pick up the cymbals. I run each mic directly into the Korg.
It seems I get a pretty decent sound with the toms, however the kick tends to sound weak. Should I be running this through a pre-amp or other type of equipment before it hits the mixer/recorder?
It could be that I just need to play with the placement a bit more...
Thanks for your help....
keep drummin...
- jon
[ Back to Top ]
Mar 28, 2007 12:00 am I have used the behringer c-2's for OH's. If going cheap they produce an alrighty tone for ~$60.
Mar 28, 2007 03:37 am Where are you putting that beta 52? It might be largely down to placement. Tell us a little more dude.
Mar 28, 2007 09:14 am Well your starting off with the toughest part first for sure. Getting a kit down is an art. A lot of folks use two mics on the kick. One inside the kick about 4" from the batter strike point and one (your 52) 4" or so away from the front head.
Kit recording can go anywhere from either two overheads or two knee highs (placed a few feet in font of the kit) to two mics on every drum a dedicated mic for the high hat, overheads and knee highs on the kit as a whole.
Keep experimenting with it. Per Rigsby: Placement is just like tuning your drums, keep playing with the placement.
Mar 28, 2007 11:11 am Not to disregard the 'good source' part of the equation,
but,
kick can be helped in mix, with EQ and/or other helpers. Even a replacement/triggered sample is very common, I think. I seem to hear about it quite a bit.
Also, adding a triggered sample into the mix of the current kick isn't bad, blending them together. Maybe a chorused low-end kick, but only added in at 40/60% or so.
But certainly, get your source as good as humanly possible first, then resorting to 'Mix Fix' only when the track is good to start with.
Mar 28, 2007 12:01 pm Depending on what you are referring to by "weak". It could be a phase issue. As others have said, try working on placement. It may only take a small adjustment to correct.
Mar 28, 2007 12:23 pm Thanks everyone. I'll work on the placement with the kick mic. I was putting it just outside the drum. I'll try moving it around a bit. I like the idea of adding a second mike to the batter end of the kick.
I kinda figured it was just a matter of trial and error, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything else.
Thanks again...you guys are great!
- jon
Mar 28, 2007 12:50 pm I would try inside the kick for sure. The closer you get it to the batter head should produce more of that clicky tone that you would need for metal. The farther away, less click with a lil more boom. EQ aftewards to taste.
Mar 28, 2007 05:48 pm Hey, brother, I'm using the same recorder you are, as well as a Beta 52. I don't have any secrets per say, but I know I get my best kick sound with the Beta inside the drum, three or four inches away from the batter head and pointed right at the beater. I rarely have to do any EQ'ing other than a 40hz high pass.
This is on a standard Export kit using an Aquarian SuperKick head with a 3" ported resonant.
Hope this helps. The Beta 52 is a pretty versatile mic, so it's really a matter of what kind of sound you're looking for.
And by all means, keep drumming!
Mar 28, 2007 06:24 pm Oh, by the way, I just a put a tune in my profile called (jokingly) March of the Milf Herders. It's a pretty kick heavy mix if you want to check out my sound. (yours might be better, and if so, just ignore everything I've said!)
:)
Mar 29, 2007 03:23 am Beerhunter may have a point about phase. Does the kick sound like it's sucking in air rather than pushing out? If so, invert the kick track or switch the polarity on the mic or mixer depending on what you have that can do that.
Mar 29, 2007 06:39 am THis guide to drum machines can be a great help: pickyguide.com/musical_in...ines_guide.html
Apr 06, 2007 03:29 am My personal favorite for bass drum is the AKG D112 sounds really great but the beta 52 works also very nicely, the sm57 is excelent for the snare and i would also add another sm57 below the snare (remember to invert the phase), the Shure pg56 is a good budget mic that works fine for the toms aswell as the sm57, and if you have the money i would go for a pair of Neumann KM 184 to use as Overheads and in many other applications you may want (Neumann = sound quality), but remember that it all depends where you place the mic's, the quality of the preamps you use and the quality of the instrument you are recording (and the player). By the way... try placing the beta 52 a little bit closer to the outer rim of the BD, you could also try adding another mic just outside the bass drum to get more boomy sound, play with both microphones (in and out the bass drum).
Apr 07, 2007 08:52 am ^^^^^
The man knows what he's talking about.
I placed my Beta 52 about four inches from the head, about halfway towards the rim, then put my D112 just inside my port hole, and viola! Awesome!
Unfortunately, I'm limited to eight tracks, and generally record live, so I'm out of inputs to do that on a regular basis.
It's going to work great multitracking, though.
Thanks for the tip, Dualflip.
Apr 07, 2007 08:54 am And, hey, Dual, welcome to the board!
Apr 07, 2007 01:21 pm Thanx JF Omalycat, im glad the tip worked for you, when your are limited to 8 tracks, what you can do is make a subgroup of both mics, if the mixer board has subgroups (or at least one) you may route both mic's outputs to a desired subgroup, and just play with the levels of both mic's (mic out, and mic in) that way you may record the two mic's with only one track. Thanks again for the nice welcome!!
Apr 07, 2007 03:47 pm Yeah, I've toyed with that idea, too. I've got a little Yamaha MG/10 that I rarely use for anything, so that might be the ticket. It's even ocurred to me that I might want to try sub mixing all of my toms to one channel, saving some track space, at least until I can upgrade my recording chain.
From looking at your profile, that's a nice set-up you've got there.
|
Related Forum Topics: |
If you would like to participate in the forum discussions, feel free to register for your free membership.