Critique my drum sound please

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Cone Poker
Member Since: Apr 07, 2002

hey guys. Got a new mp3 up called Flight Test (cover of the flaming lips). This was my first attempt at recording an entire drumkit with only two mics, so I want some feedback on how that sounds. Nothing in this song is mixed, aside from a little bit of pan and volume riding. Overall quality of the song is pretty poor, but what I'm really interested in is what you guys think about the drums, dry, and unmixed.

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The fat one always watches us.
Member
Since: Nov 08, 2002


Jun 05, 2008 06:40 pm

sounded not so tasty. but i suppose as long as you have good signal on all of it you can mix and tweak and double and make it good. 2 mics = 2 tracks for the hole drum file as well. doesnt that limit you in the long run?

Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Jun 05, 2008 07:04 pm

it does limit me, which is why I need to get a new mixer. Problem I have is that I want a nice clicky kick but with two mics I can't really do that. I only have two preamps to use right now (or one, thats a dual channel).

It's hard as hell to do any mixing as well, because like you said the entire drum mix is all on two tracks so yeah.

I've thought about laying down the drums like one at a time or something... but that sounds like a huge pain in the ***.

Frustrated right now, aside from getting another pre or two (which I don't have the money for this month), I don't really know how to improve the sound.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jun 09, 2008 04:43 am

Where did you put the two mics just curious?

Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Jun 10, 2008 01:48 am

In that song the two mics are positioned to be both overheads, 3 feet apart, pointing down towards the throne, 3 feet above it, so I had an equilateral 3 foot triangle.

What I've found to sound a wee bit better is to put one overhead directly above the floor tom pointing down wards and towards the high hat, and one mic a little in front of, and to the right of the kick drum, over the tom, pointing away from the beater.

www.TheLondonProject.ca
Member
Since: Feb 07, 2005


Jun 10, 2008 11:11 am

Consider using the recorder man technique. Should work great for you. Here is a thread about it.

www.homerecordingconnecti...11101&frm=1

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jun 10, 2008 12:48 pm

I was gonna say the same thing. I use it exclusively and love it much.

Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Jun 10, 2008 04:13 pm

Neat, been playing with mic placement all morning, tried the recorderman technique and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. Two new samples are up, showing what I've got soundwise now. Again, unmixed or effected, only thing on them is a bit of compression and the sound of my preamp. They definitely sound better this go.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jun 13, 2008 02:09 pm

I agree, they sound much better. Love the recorderman! :)

One thing you could try is inserting your drums twice and EQ'ing one stereo pair for highs and one for lows. I did this with a summed drumset from a mixer and it worked pretty ok. It let me get a little more thump from the kick\toms on the low end while getting snare crack, cymbal shimmer and a little click for the kick drum on the high end.

www.TheLondonProject.ca
Member
Since: Feb 07, 2005


Jun 13, 2008 02:38 pm

...one other tip that can really help is to line up all the drum tracks manually. I do this all the time and it only takes a couple of minutes to get great results. Look for a good transient spike... usually something like a snare hit. Zoom right in on that spot... really, really zoom in on that spot that is. Make sure all of the spikes line up. If they don't then move them until they do. This will give you a lot tighter drum sound.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jun 13, 2008 02:54 pm

Good call BH, I actually always have them do a couple little clicks with the sticks before the song. Very easy to line up that way. Suprisingly I get very very close with my placement though.

Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Jun 13, 2008 03:59 pm

not sure that I follow what you mean by "line them up" if we're talking about time wise the rythem section is usually recorded first and everything else is played to the rythem section... so I don't really understand what you mean.

www.TheLondonProject.ca
Member
Since: Feb 07, 2005


Jun 13, 2008 04:08 pm

Sorry, let me explain. When you zoom on a waveform you will notice peaks and valley's. You can usually see spikes in the waveform when a snare hit happens for example. As you can imagine, the closer the mic is to the snare, the sooner it will pick up the sound. Mic's that are further away take longer to pickup the sound. The object is to get all the mics to pickup the sound at the same time. IOW's mic's that are further away should be nudged forward a bit to compensate for the distance it takes the sound to reach the mic.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jun 14, 2008 02:20 pm

Yup, even though I measure the distance from center snare for both mics, a little bump to makie sure the snare is hitting at the exact same time is needed.

www.TheLondonProject.ca
Member
Since: Feb 07, 2005


Jun 14, 2008 03:25 pm

oh ya, it doesn't have to be out by much... we are talking milleseconds.

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