Recording drums in dead vs live rooms
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Posted on Jul 16, 2002 08:33 pm
Wight
Member Since: May 11, 2002
I was under the impression that if you could get a good drum sound in a live room go for it - I have heard people talk about live rooms allowing drums to 'breathe' better, natural reverb sounding better etc.
My experience to date has only being with dead room recording of drums, and (i might be imagining it!) the drums do sound confined and smothered. I have heard a drum kit played in a number of live rooms before (mostly friends practicing)but in a couple of the rooms, the kit sounds great, really full and large (this was a school music room with sound diffuses and also a friend's living room that had a new hardwood floor + paint on the walls and minimal furnishings)
The reason for this post is that I came across a friend that is willing to let us use his living room (different to the one above) to record drums - it is a large L-shaped room probably 8-10m along two of its dimensions, 10 foot ceilings, hardwood floors and at least 3 of the walls are wooden panelling. I was all geared up to go in and then bumped into a friend who mentioned that you never want to record drums in a live room because of the overtones - he reckons just capture the attack of each drum and nothing else - is any one way recommened or industry standard? Is any way easier to work with?
Thasks
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cruxTypo SzarMember
Since: Jul 04, 2002
Jul 17, 2002 04:06 am I'm no expert but i'm recording my drummer in a huge choir room over at my school... back when we recorded it in our own small practice room, pretty dead, it sounded really dry and though it had attack it had no tone or life. But now we had to move into our school choir room and instead of miking the whole kit close up i put two overheads about 5 metres away from the kit... (not actually overhead at all) panned each one hard left or hard right and left the eq's flat, then i miked the bass drum from about 6 inches out. Amazingly we caught everything very clearly, and i think it gave alot of room for the crashes and other cymbals to develop their sound perfectly (especially the ride bell). The toms and snare cut thru really nice. Actually kind of dumb of me, but i used Shure SM58's for the whole thing, and i know their more a vocal mic, but i think this was great to capture the live sound that i think most ppl look for on drums. The ambience of the room was good and it saved alot of time eq'ing and mixing coz everything kind of fell into place.
Once again this isnt a pro technique, and im only 17 and recording my band, but it worked really great for me. Just a thought!
Jul 17, 2002 06:44 am What I have seen many people do in their studio is make a little corner just for drums and partially wall it off with temporary (or permanent) walls and cover that inside with very thin carpet. Doing this keeps some of the "liveness" (is that a word?) of the room, but also, is just enough absorption to reduce the really obnoxious overtones and frequency bouncing.
Maybe that can help you keep a happy-medium in your sound, ya get some benefits of both types.
Myself, when I have recorded live drums I do them in a live room, but that room usually has some furniture or something that absorbs some of the sound, or at least keeps it bouncing all over and getting in the way.
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
Jul 17, 2002 10:36 pm I like to record drums in a room with a couch or a few big coushony chairs. Put a few mics around the room to capture how it sounds in the room. But I've only recorded drums twice... I use machines for my drum sounds
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jul 17, 2002 11:32 pm Once again, I will be the voice of reason here. There is no good reason not to try it. I have sampled drum's (both large and small) in a variety of room's. I once used a cathedral to get a really cool overtone and with a huge echo sound. It is really a matter of getting the micing right. In a room the size you are talking about, I don't think you are going to have much trouble with big echo or overtone. But as a precaution. I would bring some blanket's and towel's and such to dampen the room if need be.
And don't forget to move the mic's around some untill it sound's good. And if you have the mic's and track's to do it. Make sure and record alternate mic' on differant track's so you can try mixing them in later.
Jul 19, 2002 09:29 am I recorded my last album in a professional studio (Mars - Near Cleveland, Ohio. Where Mushroomhead records their music)and we recorded our drums in the main room which is pretty "live" hugh room made of wood from top to bottom. Our engineer miced each drum individually and "gated" each to prevent most of the bleeed through noises and room reverberation. But the over head condenser mics pick up the "live" sound of the room along with the cymbols and give the kit that extra flavor.
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