70's Drum Sound?

[theenvycorps]

I am going for that 70's ultra-dead rock drum sound. Most recently I heard something like it on Beck's Sea Change and I think the same vibe will work great for a song I am doing. What are some tips as far as tuning the drums, micing techniques, and effects that I should look into?

[mjau]

I tend to like a really dry snare sound for that kind of vibe. Since my snare drum sucks, I end up using lots of moongel on it.

[Keith]

close mics
dead drums
small, dead drum booth

...at least that's what it sounds like to me.

Personally I'm glad that trend in recording is gone for now. I know things have a way of coming back around from time to time, but drums are not meant to be dead.

One good thing about that type of setup is that it catches every nuance very well, especially ghost notes on the (dead) snare.

The best drum tracks that I've ever laid down were with my drums finely tuned, played hard, and wide open. That's just my own personal opinion, though.

[LeedyGuy]

moongel is a great for deadening i totally agree. i cant always get the sound that my ears hear to be recorded on the snare mic though when i use a lot of it.

mic the hi hat too. dont just depend on the area or overhead mics to get it.

i think this sound is also about sing the close mics high in the mix and not a sweet overhead blend which is more a part of the wide open thing.

i havent decided which i prefer though. depends on the room for me. i like to deaden my drums in a live sounding room because i feel like i haev more control over it.

[Red Rockets Glare]

towel on the snare drum, draped across the top, so that it dosen't all lay on the head.

[Shawn Simmons]

Try small pieces of cloth on the snare, use paper clips to attach the cloth to the rim of the snare. Tune your drums kinda low. Ribbon mics are your friend. Use a lot of the close mics in the mix. Try taping bandanas on the cymbals. Short reverbs (if any) around 500 msec with the high cut set around 1 Khz or lower. Add some lows and low mids in the mix, if needed. Adjust to taste and serve while hot.

shawn

[LeedyGuy]

Did i forget to mention that Moongels can take some of that shrill high out of your cyms and leaves you with some warmer sounds? yeah...ithink i did...try that too

[soundguy]

remove all the resonant heads from all your drums minus the snare. Thats a pretty good place to start. Close mic everything and keep the tom mics up really high in your mix. Thats a pretty good step towards a disco sound.

dave

[eeldip]

so the other thing about this sound the cymbals.. did they just use like bright condensors, and then cut all the bass out of them?

how do they sound so glassy?

actually maybe i am thinkng 80's more than 70's.

[Red Rockets Glare]

remove all the resonant heads from all your drums minus the snare. Thats a pretty good place to start. Close mic everything and keep the tom mics up really high in your mix. Thats a pretty good step towards a disco sound.

dave

Reading the latest EQ mag last night and they said that's ho Hal Blaine (the most recorded drummer in history) got his toms to sound so wonderfully boxy.

I'm trying it.

[drumsound]

It's all about muffleing the drums by any means available. No bottom heads on the toms or front on the BD. Use a very dry room or put up a bunch of packing blankets around the drummer. No room mics!

[mcaff]

"15ips is the sound of the '70s and 30ips is the sound fo the '80s." - Tony Visconti

If youre really want to duplicate the sound of the '70s adding tape to the above suggestions would go a long way if it's an option.

[cgarges]

Don't forget to record the drums in a small, dead-sounding room. Nothing like the old cedar-shake-roofed "tiki hut" type drum booths from that era. It's all over those records. I've had good luck getting those type of drum sounds using two-ply top heads, no bottoms, tuned relatively loose and usually with some type of totally destructive muffling. Dynamic mics tend to work well for this sort of thing, too, and I have had luck using 421s, 57s, and RE20s. An EV666 is a gorgeous thing in a kick drum for this stuff. There was also a trend in the use of gates in those days, since they were the newst, baddest things, so often that's an important component to the sound. Use the close mics for volume and impact and keep the overheads a bit lower in the mix.

Hope this helps.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[dadamnashbird]

One way to get that ultra-close, ultra dry snare sound is to put a towel over at least half of the snare head, make sure the drum is being struck on top of the towel, i.e. not hitting the head, but the towel on top of the head...and then put a dynamic mic (SM57 works well) so that the windscreen is actually sitting on the towel. With a good tight mic stand you can get the mic to just rest on the towel without deadening the head anymore. It is important when using this technique not to hit the snare too hard, unless that gets the sound you want

[soundguy]

perhpas the most succint way to look at that sound, to my ear at least, record the sound of the skin, not the shell. Yeah yeah, it all works together, but if we are thinking about the same sound, its not resonant at all, its just dead.

dave