novice sounding drums. what can i do?
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Posted on Jun 02, 2002 01:15 am
sean
Member Since: May 26, 2002
ok,
i just recorded some drums and they sound "ok" but i want them to sound as close to professional as i can get them. the only mics i have are a set of 3 drum mics from audio technica, a sm58, and a sennhieser 835. is it my room? can i add some sort of effect such as eq or compression or something. what can i do.
thanks,(i'll try to help somebody after i gain some more knowledge)
sean
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MSHARCMember
Since: Apr 05, 2002
Jun 02, 2002 03:02 am Being a drummer myself, as well as a slightly better than novice but not much, home recordist, I can tell you that drums seem to be the hardest thing. First, compression will help tighten up things, like a kick drum, and maybe even give it some punch. Reverb is a good diea on the snare, a little can give it a little "flavor" and make it fit in the mix. A good rule of thumb is to use the same amount of reverb on your toms that you use on your snare. All of these things help, but the real deal is spending some time getting the closest sound as you can before soing any of these things. First, tune! I had to do this when I started getting into it, i won't go into a lenghty process but if you are unfamiliar, check out some websites and I am sure they can give you some great tips, I tihnk Modern Drummers website has articles on it but not sure. ANyways, not knowing what kind of AT mics they are I can't say, but I have some, the "Kit-Pak" and they are pretty decent. I would put one, if you have one specifically for it, on the kick. I experimented a lot with this and I found that putting the mic IN the drum gave more of a mid range, but no real punch to it and not very much lower end. Alsk, tune the kick!!! Lower isn't always better. What I found after many tries was that a mic placed about six inches away from my sound hole on the kick gave me the best that I could get with the drums that I have. Then, I went in, boosted the eq at 80Hz, and a little at 50, cut up until about 4K and then cut again after. The 4K gives some nice whap to it. As far as snare, the 57 will probably work really well. Closer to the edge more tone, adn the closer to the center more attack. Also, I found that leaving the snare without much dampening and more ring give it a better sound. SOunds like crap while you're playing but the recording comes out good. The toms, you can clowe mic them. Now, I am not sure but that Sennheise, is that a condensor mic? If it is, that will give you a great sound probably. I played with all sorts of arrangements and this was the key as far as I am concerned. I only have one condensor mic, two would be better but hey, I am poor sometimes. ANyways, place it OVER the kit, I do it somewhat over the toms but as close to my head area as I can, but a good foot or two up form it. This mic gets the sound that YOU hear and gets some natural room acoustics. it really sounds a lot better, more "real." That is what i can tell you. Eq after you get the best sound that you can, same with compression and reverb, but try to achieve what you can with mic placement and use eq's to fix, not make the sound you want. Good luck and let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. But the people here are really cool and they are great about helping new people. Helped me a lot and still do. Welcome to the community.
Marc (da Sharc)
Jun 02, 2002 08:35 am Scroll down and read the thread "A Little Less Than Conventional..."
Jun 02, 2002 09:30 am yes, the thread Dingo is referring to is a good one. Also, for drums to differentiate the kick from the others, I have an old trick I have always shared and that is a tape a quarter on the inside of the head right where the beater hits it, it gives a sharp, more defined sound, especially useful in the double kick setups, but does some good to single kick setups as well.
Hey, Msharc, if you ever care to join the "Contributor" ranks of this community, consider righting a small article on drum recording...you seem to have come a long way in your opinions and techniques, I would be curious to see what ya have to say. And, of course, the same goes for you dingo if you want to...
Just a thought :-)
Jun 02, 2002 10:13 am Sure... gimme a couple days and I'll see what I can come up with.
MSHARCMember
Since: Apr 05, 2002
Jun 02, 2002 11:49 am I think I would be up for that. Drums have been my recording nemesis, so I have tried to learn as much as I can. I guess I will see what I can do as well.
Marc (da Sharc)
Jun 02, 2002 08:54 pm any other topic is good to, it seems many people ask about drums in particular, which is not my personal area of expertise, so that is great, but if you have any other topic you wish to contibue, please, feel free, this community could always use a bigger group of contributors!
And myself, Noize, george, Mark O and the others are most spreciative of the help, with our combined efforts we can be the biggest, coolest home recording community on the 'net...of course, we already are the coolest ;-)
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jun 02, 2002 10:00 pm Ok, I'm ok now. I had to go wipe the tear's from my eye's. I have to say it make's me proud to see where this community has gotten to after being rebuilt for the fourth time, or is it the fifth. Either way you guy's are really starting to chime in, and that is what this is all about, everybody give's a little bit when they can.
I am proud to give out this URL to any one and know they will come here and be impressed by what they see. I have visited many board's out there and there are none like this. As far as collest, we alway's have been, hehehe. And biggest, I think we'll get there soon enough, just keep doin' what we do.
Thanx again guy's for all the help. and thanx to those who join us and participate in the future.
Noize 2 U
Jun 03, 2002 07:04 am I think the contributor base is going to be getting big enough where I will need to make a forum just for the contrib's to talk about story ideas, where I can share the occasional perk that comes along and stuff like that...
And Noize, I was thinking about it and I think we can live without being the biggest....that's too much work, haven't we already learned that lesson ;-) But the coolest, well, as we said, we already have that base covered!
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jun 03, 2002 06:06 pm Very true, like they say. "Be carefull what you wish for, you just might get it." Being big almost killed both of us ambition wise, so I guess were we are is just fine with me.
MitchMember
Since: Apr 14, 2002
Jun 04, 2002 06:34 pm Man, I hope you guys can forgive my complete ignorance here, (hey, remember I`m new at this stuff) but you said something about adding reverb to one piece of the drumset and not the others. How do you add reverb to one piece without adding it to the whole drumset?
Do you guys record every piece of the drumset as a different track? Cause I thought everybody just plugged all the drum mics into a mixer and then recorded that as one track...
How do you guys do it?
Mitch
Jun 04, 2002 09:18 pm On the occassion I do record live drums (as I usually sequence in FruityLoops these days) I have recorded the drums on 4 tracks, one for the kick, one for the snare/hihat and two between the toms and cymbals...on occassion I have also added overhead mics on either side of the kit but not very often. If you sequence in FruityLoops, Acid or anything like that it's easy to add reverb to one drums, as each drumsound is totally different, but on a live kit, I just have tried to gate the kick and snare mics to isolate those two, and kinda let everything else blend.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jun 04, 2002 11:04 pm The reason for doing a single drum reverb is to bring that particuler drum to life and make it come out in the mix even though it might be in the back. I use that alot on the snare, to give it a nice ring or tail. Used sparingly it is nice effect.
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Jun 04, 2002 11:27 pm One "how" is to use a wave editor. This method worked very well for me when I had a piece where there was nothing much happening except a cynble roll. The piece was flat at that point and needed tension. I singled out the cymble roll and put a creshendo with reverb on it and walla! Instant anticipation and tension for the begining of the next phrase when the bass and full drum set kicked in. Obviously not technique one would want to use on a snare all of the way through a piece however. And as noise always points out. Make a back up first! See, I can learn!
