Anyone got a step by step on recording drums?!?
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Posted on Oct 04, 2008 12:26 am
mattoci667
Member Since: Oct 04, 2008
I'm talking everything. When should I use compression, where, how? Here's my setup:
Zoom 1608 16-track recorder
Shure PG mic kit...PG56 on the kick, PG52's on rack toms and floor tom, SM57 on snare, and 2 AT-2020 condenser mics as overheads.
I put the kick drum mic about halfway in/halfway out in the bass drum, towards the beater but facing to the left or right a little. Snare drum mic pointed just past "dead center" of the snare, about 2 inches from the head. Tom mics about 1-2 inches from head, pointed usually towards the center. Overheads about 3 feet from the tops of the crash cymbals, about 4 feet apart and 3 feet out from the bass drum. I'm just plugging my mic cords into the inputs on my Zoom 1608 with no compression or anything. Should I use compression when recording, or record the signal dry with nothing and add compression later? I turn all the mics up and play as hard as I normally play, until each mic clips, then I turn them down just enough to where they don't clip, but no farther than that. My drums themselves sound great, and I'm recording in a room with very high ceilings, and about 12-15 feet of space surrounding each side of the drums. The floor is concrete, and the walls are aluminum, but insulated, and I make a "wall" of blankets around the drums in the shape of a square, with each blanket about 4 feet from the drums. The drums sound lifeless. I don't know how to get any punch, and there's no clarity after I add other instruments. Could someone please give me a good step by step? I've been to just about every site on the internet, tried all kinds of different techniques, and none of them really help my recordings. I usually just end up EQ'ing the living hell out of the tracks and adding lots of reverb to get a still-shitty sound. They sound okay by themselves, but once you add other instruments, there's no clarity, definition, punch, anything! Oh, and how do you GET punch? I know they say to get the best sound possible with just the instrument and the room, but I've got what I consider a fairly clear drum sound, I just don't know how to use compression, I don't understand it, and yes, I've read about it. Does anyone here have any experience particularly with the Zoom 1608 and drum sounds? If so, please let me know! Any and all advice is appreciated, from anyone and everyone!!!
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Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Oct 04, 2008 04:03 pm Well, recording them dry is the way many do it. I do most times as well, then compress if needed after the fact.
You may find you want to check and see if you can bring the recorded level down even a bit more, which will leave you more headroom to add effects later.
Are you EQing any of the drum tracks with the Zoom as they are recording? That could cause issues that cannot be fixed later.
If you have a raw drum track you can put up for us to listen too that would help us try and hear what might be going on.
But one thing as well is to probably get rid of the blankets. If you record the drums too dead that can also suck the life and punch out of them.
Oct 04, 2008 09:04 pm Thanks for the reply! I will try to upload a raw track of just drums in the next 2-3 days. I know you have better things to do than wait on me to post some recording, but please check back in the next week or so and give it a listen and maybe I can get some help with this stuff. Thanks!
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Oct 05, 2008 03:34 pm No problem. As far as better things to do. This is one of the better things to do, so no worries there.
