So what exactly are you asking?

thanks for telling us how you record drums, i'll be sure not to do it that way.

;ljlk;jl;j

He should write a book.

Guys, guys, guys. Patience please!

If you read between the lines in this desperate post, you get to the question that is REALLY being asked. I think I have the answer:

If it were me, I'd choose, a revolver to the temple. Quick. Painless. Hanging oneself or other more technical methods can get gruesome pretty fast if something goes wrong...

I will say one thing. If you can get a good mix with both hands tied behind your back like this you deserve the George Martin award. If there isn't a George Martin award we should create one.

Aaaaaand now!!!!

Survivor: Recording Engineer!

(cue music) "oaoaaahoaohoahaaoooahaoaahaoahao"

Okay, I'll play:

1-Get the kick sounding good, including a bit of compression. Not too much or it starts to go Phil Collins on you. I'd add a bit of 80Hz, and take away some 175-350. I'd also knock down everything above about 500 in a big way.

2-Move the snare/hi hat mic to concentrate solely on the snare, because if the snare sounds good, the whole rest of the recording can be shit and at least people will listen to it. i'd compress this a bit too. I'd knock off the bottom end, below 150, so it doesn't conflict with the kick, and add a bit of 4K, and take out some 2K, but that's just me.

3-have one overhead, in the centre, in front of the kit, that captures an overall picture as well as room verb. I'd take away everything below about 400 Hz. Reverb on a kick sounds gross IMO so best to get rid of all that low stuff. I'd add some 10-12k for shine.

4-use the 4th mic to try to angle it in such a way that it catches a reasonable signal from all 3 toms, yet not too much from the overhead...yeah right! Maybe put some acoustic foam between the mic and the rest of the drums so it takes out some of the high end of the cymbols/hi hat, etc. The acoustic foam would probably have to go right in the way so that a tom roll, instead of da dum-da dum-da DUM, it would go:

da dum-da dum-foof!

I'd take out above 3K and below 150, again, to sort of avoid conflicts with other drums. I'd also take out whatever I put in the snare, to seperate them a bit.

5-make a practice recording

6-mix it

7-go for beers

8 repeat steps 5-7 as often as necessary over the next few days, so you're always mixing with 'fresh,' albeit hungover, ears.

NOTE: Rag on the drummer as much as possible. Make sure that by the end of it he is convinced that any problems with the drum tracks are solely his fault, and that it is only through your stupendous prowess as an engineer that the tracks can be saved, if at all, and that he should thank his lucky drumsticks that he has YOU, instead of a mere mortal, at the desk.

After about 3 or 4 days, you could possibly have an acceptable recording...in mono.

Now where did I put that revolver?

Cheers
Keith

Ghetto Drums . . . . . . . . hmmmm . . . . . . . I used to use an old tape player with a pillow over it so the built in microphone could handle the spl. That's pretty ghetto.

Wes

Ah wes, true analog str8 to tape. Sure beats my old way of digital recording which involved me moving my computer monitor which had a built in mic close enough to the kit and running it all thru the fantastic soundblaster software that came with my crappy soundcard. thats ghetto

thanks

thanks

johnnyc, that's what I'm talking about! All these darn fancy people with their "handheld microphones" and "preamp whatzits" making their recordings "sound good".