recording drums in a 6'x6' room

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the riff
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recording drums in a 6'x6' room

Post by the riff » Fri Dec 02, 2005 10:05 pm

I have an opportunity to record some b sides for band I actually like lot this month, but they don't want to spend any money on the recording since they are just some leftover tracks.

In my studio I have a control room with a small 6x6 iso booth.

I thought of recording them in the control room since it's bigger but i would have no way to monitor.

Their drummer has small 4 piece kit that I'm sure would fit into the room.

Should I even attempt to do this or is it a lost cause trying to record drums in a room this small?

Anyone ever record drums in a room this size?

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Post by drumsound » Sat Dec 03, 2005 2:17 am

Put the drums in the CR and do a lot of trial and error. Once you have a sound, put on the cans like the players. Don't forget to turn the monitors down so you don't get feedback.

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Post by the riff » Sat Dec 03, 2005 3:49 am

drumsound wrote:Put the drums in the CR and do a lot of trial and error. Once you have a sound, put on the cans like the players. Don't forget to turn the monitors down so you don't get feedback.
I was trying to avoid that but in the back of my mind i knew that would be the better solution.... :roll:

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Post by Dave-H » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:27 am

How hard would it be to move the monitors into the other room?? :?:
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Post by jmoose » Sat Dec 03, 2005 1:48 pm

How hard would it be to find an altogether bigger room? Geez...even renting a VFW hall on a Monday shouldn't cost more then $200 and if they can't scrape that together... :?

Doing anything in a square room is bad, but I can't even imagine stuffing a drummer and a kit into a 6x6 room! I'm sitting at a table that's 5' long and I know my kit has a bigger footprint then that. I'd go with the one room setup and work slowly. Even with headphones on you won't be able to tell what's going on with the drummer playing live. Lots of trial & error and it'll take longer to get sounds but it'll be worth it in the long run.
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Post by Cyan421 » Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:04 am

I would be suprised, even if a small kit, if you could get mic stands in there after all the drums. Not to mention making adustments. Unless the drummer is studio savvy. The last vocal booth I used was 6' X 8' and im pretty sure that wouldnt work. I can imagine drums and mic stands in that room, Im pretty sure the door wouldnt even close with all those cabels running out.

Hopefully this is a really good learning experience for you!
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Post by the riff » Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:31 am

Yeah i agree. A dumb idea to begin with. Just thought I would throw it out there.

As far as finding other rooms, etc, I'd trying to avoid moving my HD system around...

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Post by LeedyGuy » Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:25 am

I have a really small room i record drums in with a low ceiling. its not 6x6 or anything, but its probably 10x8. i actually love the sounds i get using my own 4 mic technique. I mic the kick, snare and i put up 2 overheads (oktava mc-012 of course) pointing at the toms for the most part. this gives me some nice stereo seperation because the toms move through the speakers when theyre played. i spend LOTS of time getting the overheads to really be nicely in phase with eachother which can make or break this low ceiling tiny room situation. also, no loud playing! the room is small enough that there's really no need to play loud. i have used this setup for my solo stuff (drum n bassy programmy type thing with live drums in it too) not so heavy rock and some jazzy RnB.
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Post by I'm Painting Again » Sun Dec 04, 2005 9:14 am

I record drums a lot in the CR and my work around is to use isolation headphones on an extension chord up real loud to hear the sound to make judgements on everything..works pretty well..

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Post by davedarling » Sun Dec 04, 2005 9:35 pm

Depending on the style of music, this can work. Years ago I had a home studio
with a 6 X 8 room that I recorded drums in from time to time. I would use a kick mic, and one overhead directly above the snare with a little compression.
This will only work with stuff that's not to bashy - it's great for lo-fi, hip hop,
folk, and artsy mono drum i the back of the room shit.
If your looking for a money kinda sound...it's not gonna happen.

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Post by gregnrom » Mon Dec 05, 2005 4:46 pm

Since they are b-sides, and you've thrown out the idea of recording it "fancy," feel free to have it little fucked up sounding. Try a bunch of arrangements until you're sick of it or find something really cool. There aren't too many options (which is sometimes good to have these days). Don't over think the issue just go for it.
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Post by nacho459 » Tue Dec 06, 2005 2:54 pm

I record all my drums in a 8x11 room and get good sounds. in a 6x6 room where would you put the mics?

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Post by drumsound » Tue Dec 06, 2005 4:33 pm

the riff wrote:Yeah i agree. A dumb idea to begin with. Just thought I would throw it out there.

As far as finding other rooms, etc, I'd trying to avoid moving my HD system around...
You could go to a room that can export broadcast waves ot SDIis and import them into your HD rig.

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Post by Ethan Holdtrue » Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:09 pm

As everyone has stated: a 6x6 would be pretty tight... and this is coming from a guy who's main booth is a 8x8.

However there are some things you can still do to make it hapen I would think. Rather than mic stands, use clips on the toms and snare. You wont get as full as a sound due to the closeness of the mics to the drums, but it will save you the headach of making room for stands. Also, have the drummer loose his front head (which it my oppinion is the way to go anyway) and cram your mics on in there with weighted base mini stands. Then all you'll have to worry about it getting your overheads set up on boom stands.

I hope this helps...

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