Tracking drums for first time tomorrow!

Mark Legat · Post by **Mark Legat** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:06 pm

Ooooo. Did you try to compress? I know compression sucks on overheads mostly but if it was loud then maybe you could bring the loud part down? I am sure this is nothing new to you however.

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:16 pm

no, I walked into the room, and tried my best to look like I was spacing the overheads apart a little while quickly turning the one that was facing the ceiling around, hoping the drummer didn't notice.

mk219s are crappy mics.

Mark Legat · Post by **Mark Legat** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:02 pm

Haha yeah. Man, he brought in like 2000000 extra cymbal extension things. I was trying to get the mic stands set up and it was so tricky!

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:41 am

Sweet, 4hrs for setting up and tracking drums isn't a very long time. I like to at least get a full day of just getting the drums sounding right before even thinking about tracking!

Mark Legat · Post by **Mark Legat** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:11 am

Sloan wrote:Sweet, 4hrs for setting up and tracking drums isn't a very long time. I like to at least get a full day of just getting the drums sounding right before even thinking about tracking!

Yes that would have been nice. Would have been able to work on a lot more technique and placement. I got a lot of bleeding, but I gated the big stuff out for the most part. I really need to get some reverb plugins man. I think the worst part that got the bleeding was on my high hat. I had the 451 up like half a foot, maybe that was too much? I dont know, someone told me it should be a little ways away from it.

lunatic · Post by **lunatic** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:45 am

Good work, Mark. How about a sample? Let's hear the reverse overheads!

Had a session with an e604 on the floor tom. Sounded great! Half way through the session, listening to drum tracks... wait... what happened to the floor tom?? Took a look through the glass to see the drummer had SOMEHOW managed to smack his ride cymbal so hard that it hit the top of the e604 and repositioned it so that it shot across the drum and pointed straight at the snare side. Next time he comes in, we'll try and track his floor tom from underneath too

Not necessarily anyone's fault but a funny moment in time.

Or the time we were trying a Blue Kickball on the bass drum and wondered why it just sounded... bad... very bad... as in no matter what we tried the sound was horrible. Oh, look at that! The phantom power isn't on

That reminds me, I gotta get something different. That kickball doesn't quite do it for me

Anyway, we've all made our mistakes and you are only going to get better the more you do it. So, let's hear some samples of the session!

syrupcore · Post by **syrupcore** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:50 am

If it makes you feel any better, some people do the reverse overheads on purpose - a trick to make the room seem larger. I like it sometimes.

syrupcore · Post by **syrupcore** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:52 am

and I'm with lunatic, all of these threads should be followed up by audio samples.

Mark Legat · Post by **Mark Legat** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:08 am

Alright cool. How can I post it on here? I know how to bounce it down to a wave or make it an mp3 but I dont know how to make a link to go to it?

lunatic · Post by **lunatic** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:28 am

You'll need a web server/site to place the MP3/WAV file and then you add a URL to your post. There are many free file hosting sites. I cannot really recommend one or the other as we have our own web server. If the file isn't too big I'd be happy to place it on my site for you - if you cannot find decent free space somewhere.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:30 am

make an mp3 and upload it to http://www.mediafire.com then post the link here.

fossiltooth · Post by **fossiltooth** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:42 am

Don't sweat it on the overheads Mark. When you're just starting out you're supposed to suck a little!

Hell, just last month I put up a Mojave MA200 up backwards for a vocal! Both sides look the same, aside from the lettering on the front... which was covered up by using an alternate shockmount.

4 bars into the first verse, I knew the vocal was sounding a little.... roomy... and crap... it sure does need a lot of gain.... *blood rushes from face, shock sets in* ....oh crap.....

It's cool. I just stopped the take after the first verse. Said I wanted to "adjust" something, went in and made it look like I was flipping a hipass switch on the mic or something (the ma200 doesn't actually have any switches) and tried my best to conceal the fact that I was actually turning the mic around.

You have two options is circumstances like this:

A) Be brutally honest, poke fun of yourself, and keep people smiling.
B) Be sneaky.

I tend to prefer method A... It takes some real confidence, but done right. under the right circumstances, it can actually help build trust... but it's not always the best move with very new or very anal, or very high-dollar clients who you want to impress!

Everyone here has at least one story about putting a mic up backwards or dropping something fancy. Ideally, with experience we learn to catch these mistakes before we make them.

Good luck!

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:47 am

YEAH! POST IT HERE! YEAH!

I spend about thirty minutes on drum sounds.
I like'em dry and I am NOT cool.
I double check that everything is exactly where I want it at the front end.

Aquaman · Post by **Aquaman** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:50 am

fossiltooth wrote:Everyone here has at least one story about putting a mic up backwards or dropping something fancy.

Hey, you're right! Just last month I had a two-day full band session. All the mics stayed up after the first day, so in comes the band on day two, we recap the previous day for a bit then get down to recording.

Halfway through the first tune, the band is rocking, but things sound a little dull for some reason. I glance out into the live room and realize I forgot to take the dust covers off the 414 drum overheads.

D'oh!

No sneaky way out of that one. Just a sheepish "hold on a sec, guys" and a quick retreat back to the safety of the control room, where I'm a viking.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:56 am

last session i did i *thought* i had an AT4040 (cardioid) on the side of the snare...it was actually a 4050 in fig8. i was wondering why there was so much hihat bleed....

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Tracking drums for first time tomorrow!

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