No it's not baloney...."we" do that all the time. Re-Amping tracks to give some "air" is very common and a very good idea for what you are working on. just use your ears.

Use an A-B stereo technique to ensure proper phase coheriency.....

Make sure the left speaker goes to the left mic...don't want your panning crossed..

This works great for song glue....

For giggles try piping the drums into the room where you are doing the vocals- might not be what you want, but... could give the performances some vibe. David

Thanx Guys - Will have an audio snippet in the next days ...

I'll just work hard on the panning and make sure that left goes left...

One question: should I try and process the individual pieces (i.e. eq, comp) prior to recording the fake OH ? Or leave it as is and process them during mixing?

Another thought : In the mix prior to recording the fake OH I should probably place, in regards to volume (from highest to lowest):

Cymbals;
Hi Hat;
Toms / snare
Kick

This (at least to me) would make some sense, as OH mics would probably be more sensitive to cymbals and whatever is closest ...

My worst nightmare would be getting an OH track with a kick drum blasting away...

Best,

M.

Cymbals;
Hi Hat;
Toms / snare
Kick

Actually, I would do the opposite, except watch out for too much kick. I would want to draw out the low end on the room sound to get that boomy, concert hall effect of multi-second decay. I love big, rolling thunder toms. Too much high end might just get annoying if you add in too many reflections. But that's me. Try it both ways.

For lots of fun - pipe it into the bathroom for that live "tile & Porcelain" sound. Yes, I am serious, just make sure you put a sign on the door.

cruisemates wrote:
Actually, I would do the opposite, except watch out for too much kick. I would want to draw out the low end on the room sound to get that boomy, concert hall effect of multi-second decay. I love big, rolling thunder toms. Too much high end might just get annoying if you add in too many reflections. But that's me. Try it both ways.

Pardon me. You are entirely correct. For one second there I imagined myself hearing OH's splattering in the high end. My only concern (which will only be solved by testing) is that I want the drums to sound, even if remotely, Beatles-like. This probably means that, during mixing, I shouldn't [insert favorite effect name here] it to death.

Best,

Marcus

Doc@BeefyTreats.com wrote: For giggles try piping the drums into the room where you are doing the vocals- might not be what you want, but... could give the performances some vibe. David

Chuckles, that AND Kurt's advanced engineering techniques (i.e. electric collar on vocalists, shock 'em every time they don't nail it).

mlessa2002 wrote: My only concern (which will only be solved by testing) is that I want the drums to sound, even if remotely, Beatles-like.

Try a ribbon over a speaker.

Preferably Coles 4038. They were used to record much of Ringo's drum overheads. But any ribbon in general will get you there more or less. Or other mics with EQ, but the ribbon is the easy way.

Speaker as "drum kit".
Coles as OH.

Mono

Thank you very much, recorder man !

Studio won't be free for 10 days or so, but will def post snippet once the nasty deed is done !

Cheers,

Marcus

btw.

the distance and placement between mic and speaker may well be nothing near normal distances associated your usual kit OH's. A speaker is never going to move air like a real drummer...well no normal speaker anyway. As such, placement will most likely be closer than for a typical live kit.