Recording Drums!!

[MrWiegand]

Until yesterday, every song I have ever written and recorded in my home studio has either had percussion built from various samples, or generic drum patterns generated with my handy Strike plug-in. They usually turn out dull and my songs seem to lack life.. so I figured it was time to step it up and finally record some live drums.

I record with Pro Tools M-Powered on windows XP, and I use an M-Audio FastTrack Ultra interface, so my input options are limited (6 inputs in all, with 4 built-in Octane Preamps). I also only have a few microphones to choose from, so I decided to try out the Glyn Johns miking technique. The most important factors when using this technique are:

1) a good sounding kit
2) a good drummer
3) a good sounding room

Well it just so happened that my pal Joe Barrick (from the Sam Grow Band) just acquired a new DW kit that sounds great, and he wanted to break it in (#1... check). Joe is a pretty solid, if not awesome drummer and will work for Chinese food, pizza, and cookies (#2... check). Finally, I figured my living room would sound pretty juicy with its hardwood floors, china cabinet and big ass windows.. potential for an open, interesting sound (#3...eh check).

Setup:

For the Kick I used an AKG D112, compressed about 1-2dB, into one of the Octane Preamps.



I used an SM 57 for the snare, also with light compression, into one of the Octane Preamps. (we dampened the snare a little to get rid of some funky overtones)



For the overheads, I used two AT2020's, roughly 46" each from the center of the snare, both going into the Octane Preamps.



I also had a CAD GXL2400 large-diaphragm condenser that I moved around a few times.. once down the hall and once facing toward a glass door at the far end of the room. I ran this mic through a Mindprint EN-Voice MKII channel strip and squashed it pretty heavily.. In hindsight I wish I would have tried using the MKII on the kick and the snare, but there will be other times. I forgot to upload pictures of the room mic placement, so if anyone would like to see them just ask.

Overall I am happy with the way the drums turned out. We recorded six songs in all.. four of which were just with click and scratch guitar, and two of which were songs that I had previously completed with drum samples. I plan on making time to mix one or two of them tomorrow and posting the finished product when I am done..

Here's a few more pics from the session..

kit


kit


Me.. you can see the room mic down the hallway on the far right on its broomstick/guitar stand - mic stand


Joe

[jgimbel]

Man, your first step into recording live drums, and this is looking more solid than my setup. I've been recording live drums for a few years. Not that my recordings are perfect, but you're starting out with a setup that I've ended up using most often now after years of moving things around. Awesome. And if you're happy with how it sounds, that's awesome! Feel free to upload some sounds!

[cgarges]

You should totally post this in this thread. Seems kind of perfect to me. Kind of like "awesome drummer and will work for Chinese food, pizza, and cookies." Totally excellent!

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[MrWiegand]

Yeeaa, I saw that thread right after I posted this one

Two of the tracks, Jump and Party Girl, are at the bottom of my website.. they should just play automatically.. enjoy..

http://www.mattwiegand.com

[boid]

wow

[dsw]

Can't wait to hear the mix. Nice post.

[MrWiegand]

Can't wait to hear the mix. Nice post.

Hey, check out my website www.mattwiegand.com

The mix for Party Girl should play automatically at the bottom of the page... let me know what you think !

[dsw]

Damn. Nice song. Good singing. Tight rhythm section. Very cool. What's not to like?

[MichaelAlan]

Dude the drums came out awesome. Good song too. Well done.

[W DeMarco]

Nice man! Be careful with those compressors...Especially on that kick...

Those drums sound great man! GOOD JOB

[kevin206]

I love your sample track! I've played it ten or more times...let your PRO know about that. I've always personally hated the D112, but it seems to set well in your mix. I can't believe how good those drums sound. How much room mike are you using?

[MrWiegand]

Honestly I was really surprised at how well the kick turned out, but i couldn't get the attack I was hoping for because i couldn't get inside the drum due to the lack of the access hole, but I blended the kick with a sample that I have that has a lil click to it and really matched well with the kick that I had recorded..

And as for the room mic, I didn't have to use much at all. The overheads are a little further away from the kit than I have seen other setups and they provided a lot of that room sound.. I'm glad you like it though, I have plenty more that I'm working on and will be up sometime this summer.

Its always nice to hear positive feedback, so thank you everyone..

[@?,*???&?]

EMI Publishing had a studio in their offices on Sunset Blvd. Had a DDA console and an Otari 2" machine. Two booths. One was long and rectangular and the other looked to be about the shape of the room in this picture. I worked over there for a project with an EMI writer that was between deals.

Those close, parallel walls were a nightmare to control. Direct reflections off those surfaces directly back into the mics has made imaging of kit and hi frequency clarity a nightmare- particularly with regard to the hi/hat. You must suffer the same fate with your set-up.

I remember tracking at that place in Hollywood and just hating it. No way to capture any sizeable 'room' either sound because the walls were encroaching on the close mics. There was no way to get any kind of distance between room mics and kit.

The material I was cutting was straight ahead rock. With no size of space, the drum tracks were much smaller than they should have been to support the songs.

I'd need to hear this place in your picture in recordings before I would opt for such a limitation. At least some treatment on the walls at about the height and spacing of the mics would clean up what you're getting. I guarantee it.

[MoreSpaceEcho]