Drum Recording Problems

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 10:56 pm

k i am trying to record drums and the drums sound amazing before micing. then after micing they sound great trough my PA speakers. then they run to my firepod and... CRAPPPPPPPP first the eq is all wrong then one of the toms is louder than all the others. i have turned this channel all the way down and still louder than everything... kick sounds like it has no definition all i get is wu wu wu wu instead of du du du du (lame but if you say it out loud u will get it) what could be causeing this no matter how much i eq and change settings i still get same results.

Drum Set:
Gretch Catalina Birch set

Drum Mics:
Audix Fusion 7 Pack + Audix I5

Mixer:
Yamaha MG24/14FX

PC:
3.2Ghz P4
ASUS MB
512MB RAM
120 GB HDD
200 GB HDD
Belkin FW card

set up runs like this:

Recording:
Drums->Fusion 7->16ch Snake->Yamaha Mixer->Insert Outs->Patch Bay->Firepod->PC

Playback:
PC->Firepod->Patch Bay->Yamaha Mixer->Power Amp->PA Speakers

sound ranking:
awesome
great
good
ehh
poor
crapppp

sorry this is long its late im bored... please help me out why could i be having these problems cable have been tested and are OK

the yamaha mixer DOES eq before the insert outs(just so that doesnt come up)

this is the 4th forums i have posted on and i cant find a solution hopefully you guys can help

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:58 pm

try bypassing the inputs on the mixer and go straight into the firepod. i have a firepod too and when i record drums, i go straight in and have pretty much no problems. i don't eq at all before recording, i do that all when i mix it, and they come out fine. check it out for yourself.

www.myspace.com/drocstudios

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 11:56 am

is there a better way to eq than in sonar i HATE having to do it through that program

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 12:18 pm

Can you improve the sound by repostioning the mics?

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:20 pm

I agree that you should go straight through the firepod. Also maybe you should use cubase instead of sonar, its eq is pretty good

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:08 pm

really The standard eq is cubase is better sounding than sonars? Interesting.....I have Nuendo 3.0 and I don't often use the standard EQ, I prefer the Q plug in included.

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:07 am

Crankitup wrote:

Also maybe you should use cubase instead of sonar, its eq is pretty good

Thats bizarre advice: like replacing your car because the windscreen wipers are worn! If you don't like the EQ your DAW provides, load up an EQ plug. That's the whole point of Plug-ins!

There are free EQ plugins available that are better than the Cubase EQ, and even the 'expensive' ones are mostly cheaper than Cubase.

eg; check out the free IIEQ by ddmf:
http://www.ddmf.eu/freeware.html

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:22 am

Yeah...but see, to those who don't PAY for software, it's pretty cheap to replace your DAW because of a crappy EQ.

Okay -
First, unless you absolutely HAVE to go through the mixer, don't. Go straight into the Firepod.

Also, coming out of the box, don't go back through the mixer. It and the patchbay are simply more trash for the signal to flow through and it's degrading it in both directions. (Besides, you're going from a preamp into a preamp or "cascading preamps." This is unnecessary and often quite detrimental to the sound.)

If the drums sound good in the room, it should be pretty easy to capture them well on tape. Start small - use only a few mics at a time - start with overheads and kick. Get them sounding as good as humanly possible by moving them around to get your desired sound. (This may take as much as an hour!! Don't give up - you may get 100% of the sound your after but you should only stop when you've got at least 90% of the sound you're after. Don't stop at 50% and then assume that the other mics will get you the rest of the way.)

Once you've got your overheads and your kick mic where you want them, place only the mics you need on the rest of the kit.

Don't resort to EQ. 99% of the time, it's not necessary.

Also - are you monitoring on PA speakers? Don't. You'll never get an accurate picture through those and your mixes will sound absolutely horrible. You'd be much better off even using your home hifi system.

Good luck -

J.

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 7:49 am

Do as Cucco said.

If you use a stereo overhead see to that the snare has the equal distance to both OH mics (prevent annoying snare).

-

The tom must bleed into some other mic in your current setup. Bye following Cucco's advice you should avoid that. If it occurs, use solo/mute to isolate the mic catching the bleed and triy alternative placements.

-

when it comes to eq you can have no standard answerer. Every setup is unique. I can give you my standard first approach.

Kick:
Boost 60-80 for fatness.
Cut HARD at 180-280 to reduce muddiness.
slight boost at 3500-4500 to achieve kick/smack/definition.

Snare: Cut HARD around 900 (sweet up and down and you will find a nasty BOOOONG sound on almost all snares).
Add high pass.

HH:
Apply a high pass filter, frequencies vary allot.

Toms & Tams:
Treat them as kicks, but move everything a bit higher up in frequency.
Add high pass.

Overhead:
HEAVY low cut/high pass

-

This is NO standard. This is just how I usually do it when i have the

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 8:25 am

....the...have the what?????

Brien

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:50 pm

i love the late 60's live sound. I found a performance by Grand Funk Railroad from '69 on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x6chChxzV0

and at about 3 minutes into the song, the drums are very clear, and i wonder why doesn't a snare or a kick sound like that anymore? How was it mic'd? And another thing. I LOVE the sound of my drums with certain headphones on. Is there any way I can convey this sound in a recording??

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