The new name of the game is
QUICK AND DIRTY. I really love doing things the right/best way, but sometimes, if I wait for that to happen, nothing ever moves forward. I've been putting off finishing up the drum booth because I felt like I needed to finish the windows before doing anything else (weakest link, right??). That hit an extra snag when, as I may have mentioned, one of the outside windows busted on the move from our old apartment to our new house a few months back. So now, on top of getting custom glass for the "inside" (the prospect of which gives me huge anxiety for some reason), I also have to replace a oddly shaped piece for the front little window of the trailer, which may involve removing the window frame that I've possibly sealed in there really tight when I was doing my initial soundproofing/sealing up of things.
Long story short, I decided that I really can't put off being able to recording drums in my own space. Despite the fact that I had a very pleasurable and positive time tracking at noeqplease's spot recently, there's really no reason why I can't do it myself, sooooo...... quick and dirty.
I decided to make window plugs. I knew they wouldn't have the same effect as a properly sealed up and hefty double window setup, but I figure, even once the windows are good, I'll still probably want the window plugs to help out if I need to rock out later in the day/evening. I was thinking about picking up some rigid fiberglass, but along the QnD route, I said "fuck it", I've got an entire bag + leftover of Ultratouch. Sure, it's not going to look as clean and pretty as 703, but it's here now, AND I've already paid for it. I framed out some MDF with 1x3 strips, sealing everything as I went with silicone. Then I lined the inside of that frame with a piece of 5/8" sheetrock. The outside got the ultratouch, covered in some red burlap I was saving for the Control Room area, but again, QnD. Slapped some handles on so I could lift these damn things, and.... voila! window plugs.
and then up in the windows in the drum booth. You'll also notice the very rough absorber panels I put up to combat some of the flutter echo on the non-wondow side of the room. Again, they were supposed to be prettier, and I was (and still am) planning on throwing up some of those homemade 3D QRD diffusors, but I needed something NOW.
I forgot to mention the motivation behind this big push, besides just needing it done in general. I've been putting off recording drums for a song project I was working on with a friend of mine out here, nothing pro, mostly for fun. My personal situation earlier in the summer made it so he wasn't bugging me about finishing it up, but he (and his other friend who sang) were starting to get antsy, so I figured if I just scheduled the drum session, I'd HAVE to get things ready enough at least to get through it, so I did... and I did. I was still putting things together in there a half hour before he showed up (which was yesterday), but I made it.
The first thing I noticed was how good the drums actually sounded in the room. I had been expecting to be dissapointed to some degree, but everything was really full sounding and not overly dull. I also didn't hear any "ping"-y flutter, though I was still getting just a bit when I clapped my hands. My mic setup was as follows:
-Spaced pair Front-Of-Kit - Elation KM201 (similar to Oktava SDC's)
-414TLII as a "Room" mic up and behind my head, facing the wall and squashed a bit with a Summit TLA-50. I usually use an Oktava 319 for this, but I've been having grounding issues with mine since I modded them
.
-421 just inside the Kick hole. I was going to use my Audio-Technica ATM25 but I couldn't find it. It's somewhere around, I just don't remember where everything went in the move. whoops.
-AKG D190E on snare. Again, I was going to use my Senn 441, but forgot that the clip broke recently and I haven't gotten a new one. This was actually a blessing because I had forgotten how much I loved the AKG on snare, which now frees up the 441 for bigger and better things.
-EV 635A as a heart/crotch mic. I ran it through an old presonus BlueTube with a bit of overdrive to give it some bite. Worked well. Noisy as fuck, though. I think somethings wrong with the mic, maybe I'll send it in to EV when I finally send them my RE20. I ended up eq-ing a lot of the hiss out on the board.
Pre's on everything else were all through the Toft ATB. I ran the kick and snare also through a DBX project1 comp before going to Logic. Used a little EQ on the Kick and snare as well, but not much. I felt very happy with how the Toft EQ's applied themselves to stuff. Very quick to find the right spot.
I was playing the drums as well, so there was a bit of back and forth to get sounds. My friend was hitting stuff for me, but he really doesn't play the drums at all. In an ideal situation, I'll get to spend a bit more time with mic placement, but all in all, I was happy enough with the result.
Here's a close up of the snare and crotch mics:
and
HERE's a snippet of the drums as I quickly mixed them this morning. I've obviously applied some verb and delay to them, but that's all so far.
It's nice to get some momentum again
Now that you've been at it for a few months, how's the trailer working out?
