Finally! I Have Some Drums To Record!

[Mark]

Well it's only taken, what? Ten years?. So now I have questions

Q1: There's no hole in the front head of the kick I can stick a mic in and I don't have the resources to make one of those drum shell and speaker mics people like to use. Do I just mike the kick up with the mike placed directly in front of the drum. Or should I risk taking the front head off?

Q2: Tuning. Is it still de-riguer to tune to the key of the song? If the song is in a minor key (or a mode of a major key) do I tune the drums to that or to the equivalent major key? Regardless I suspect I'll be wanting to tune the kick and snare to match the tempo of the song (higher and shorter for faster songs, lower and longer for slower ones). Is that correct?

Q3: There is no Q3. YET. Wish me luck.

[Drone]

All I know.

[Drone]

[Mark]

All I know.

So it can be done without making a hole in the front head or taking it off. Cool.

[kslight]

Yes it can be done without the front head removed.

However.

Depending on the type of music you are recording, it may be desirable to dampen that bass drum...I do almost always...but I usually record rock and heavier music. In which case you would remove the front head, put a heavy folded blanket in there (not big enough to stuff the whole drum!), and put a weight or rock on top of that to flatten it down so your mic can look at the beater head. Sometimes I like a mic inside, sometimes I like a mic outside. Just depends on the day. But I usually start like that.


As far as tuning, I don't ever intentionally tune drums to the key of the song, its more getting the drums in tune with themselves (their appropriate heads, etc), getting a good sounding spread on the toms, making the drums sound tight if the song calls for it (do you want snare rattle or only a little or none?), or tuning them low and fat...

[Mark]

Okay. Took the front head off the kick, stuffed a blanket inside (double crocheted, it was the best I had) and now it sounds a lot better (more thump less oomph). So...

Q3: I need to damp the toms. What's the best adhesive tape to use for this purpose?

[MoreSpaceEcho]

moon gel. one of the miracle products of our time.

if you can't get that use gaffer tape. make a little ridge in the middle of the tape before you put it on the head, much easier to get it off.

[Mark]

I'm sure one of the two music shops in Leicester city centre must have moongel

I'll try tuning first. There was no drum key with them, so I ordered one from Amazon.

[Drone]

Do you have an old clock winding key? Sometimes they can be used as a drum key.

If you can't find moongel, there is the old standby of small pieces of ladies pantyliner, if you don't have a gf, wife or mum, your gonna have to brave Boots yourself.

Or just plain old duct tape.

[Mark]

I thought cotton wool was the old standby.

When did it change?

Nope. No clock winding keys here.

[Drone]

Cotton wool? How are you gonna make that stick? There is the old rumour of the drummer putting his wallet on the snare, but I've never seen it done. Ditto for draping a T-shirt over it.

[Nick Sevilla]

Hi Mark,

Start the micing process one mic at a time, and stop when you have gotten the best representation of the whole drumkit. Start with a good room mic that gets as close to a full kit sound that is balanced as possible. Then go from there to enhance parts of the kit that could be louder within the context of the song you are currently working on.

Typically you may find that this is easier than micing everything up first, then chasing your tail when there is a phasing issue with a microphone.

Cheers

[Mark]

This is about pre miking preparation, Nick.

[The Scum]

This is about pre miking preparation, Nick.

Then you're getting a bit ahead of yourself. Drumset recording is a systemic problem - the drums and the microphones are both parts of that system, and neither can really be addressed in isolation. As are the room, the song, the performer, etc...

Making a drumset sound good on it's own is a worthwhile exercise, but it's rarely the final stopping point to recording it. What a microphone hears from a couple inches away may be totally different from what you hear sitting behind it or standing in front of it.

I find it's easier to approach iteratively - start with a reasonable basis, listen, and adapt as needed. I usually only muffle the kick out of the gate, and then only a little bit, unless we're looking for a 70's style dead sound.

And then I usually go for a rag that covers the top 1/3rd of the drum, taped to the hoop in a couple spots, but allowed to bounce a bit to keep a bit of life.

A dot of Moongel on the edge of the snare is usually the first thing I reach for when the snare is too lively on playback. Usually enough to tame the ping, but not totally sap all of the life from it.

Is it still de-riguer to tune to the key of the song?

Was it ever commonplace? Maybe if you're playing tympani, but not drumset.

Getting toms tuned to specific notes can be a hassle - sometimes they just won't speak when they're at the theoretically correct pitch - a floor tom that naturally tunes to a G may not sound good down at E. It also doesn't necessarily translate very well if all of your songs are in different keys.

That said, sometimes one tom is really sour to the song, and may get a little extra attention. Or left out entirely...

[Snarl 12/8]

Man, I always want to make the "it was good enough for Bonzo" argument. But then I stop myself because he probably could have farted into an SM57 and made it sound like a record.

Anyway, what kind of player, drums, room, music, microphones and outboard are we dealing with here? What's the end goal. There's no one way of prepping drums that's going to make everybody happy all the time. Or that's gonna work for every drummer on every tune in every room.