I'm recording a 2 piece rock band and I'm wanting to get a very loud drum sound... kind of like a dirtier black keys, and I'm working in a decent sized studio but I'm a little overwhelmed with my selection of gear and thought i'd ask for some advice on my selections.
Im recording with Pro Tools HD3 with a few outboard pres and a Yamaha DM2000 digital console.
Here is what i came up with so far and i'd really appreciate your sugestions and advice with it.
this is all the nice preamps i have here before i start using more of the Yamaha ones.
mic selection is fairly wide, i also have access to a Neumann TLM 170, a pair of Royer R-121 s, plenty of 451s, 421s and 57s and a few other mics...
Kick Out D6 UA 610
U47 UA 610
kick In Plate Mic Yam DM2000
Snare top Beyer M69 UA 610
Snare Bot SM57 FAT 2
Hats AKG 451 YAM DM2000
R1 Top MD421 SSL Alpha VHD
R1 Bot Audix D2 YAM DM2000
Fl Top MD 421 SSL Alpha VHD
Fl Bot Audix D4 YAM DM2000
OH L AKG C414 SSL Alpha VHD
R AKG C414 SSL Alpha VHD
Rm L U89 Avalon2022
Rm R U89 Avalon2022
Topic Tags
Comments
TUNE TUNE TUNE those skins man!!!! a great mic is only as good a
TUNE TUNE TUNE those skins man!!!! a great mic is only as good as its source!!!!!!
here's what i do, i (yes Me, and im no drummer, but have talked with all the great drummers of our world, Alan White, Vinnie, Tony Snow, Steve Smith, Paul Wertico as to how they do it) tune the drums with a guitar tuner that has a small mic on it.
nothing is worse than guitars and bass hitting root notes perfectly and the floor tom is pitched way off!!!! with 2 rack toms and a floor tom i go with the small tom and floor tom an octave apart with the 2nd tom in between, snare possibly in tune with the second tom or a different note all together. im telling you IT WORKS.. also the resonant head (bottom) needs to be pitched higher than the top and the drum should deliver one tone only without the wavering effect like BOOOOOOM not BUUUOOOAAMM get it!!??
once you have accomplished that your mics will be happy, the client will be happy and you'll be happy.
also watch for the phase of the Overheads, between the OH and th
also watch for the phase of the Overheads, between the OH and the Kick/Snare, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE watch the placement of the snare mic to the hihat and the hihat mic to the snare and the rest of the kit. make sure the hihat and the cymbals work for the room and the song. you need to check the transients of the cymbals on the wave draw to see if they get brutal or are nice and airy.
on the drums snare , kick and toms, watch your gain stage input on the pre's.....too much and your going to kill the transients of those drums. after recording a bit of the drums as a whole open the wave draws to the maximum to see if your flat topping the sample, i fyou are backoff of the gain a bit. i did that ONCE when our Neve was installed and it wasnt pretty sounding... the Neve 8108 pre's are F'n LOUD so i end up tracking drums at -26db (once click up from min) and use the small fader to fed the input to the converter. just a thought......good luck and post some dry samples of the tracks when you can!!
planet10, post: 347122 wrote: TUNE TUNE TUNE those skins man!!!!
planet10, post: 347122 wrote: TUNE TUNE TUNE those skins man!!!! a great mic is only as good as its source!!!!!!
here's what i do, i (yes Me, and im no drummer, but have talked with all the great drummers of our world, Alan White, Vinnie, Tony Snow, Steve Smith, Paul Wertico as to how they do it) tune the drums with a guitar tuner that has a small mic on it.
nothing is worse than guitars and bass hitting root notes perfectly and the floor tom is pitched way off!!!! with 2 rack toms and a floor tom i go with the small tom and floor tom an octave apart with the 2nd tom in between, snare possibly in tune with the second tom or a different note all together. im telling you IT WORKS.. also the resonant head (bottom) needs to be pitched higher than the top and the drum should deliver one tone only without the wavering effect like BOOOOOOM not BUUUOOOAAMM get it!!??
once you have accomplished that your mics will be happy, the client will be happy and you'll be happy.
I havent really spoken to this in my discussions about drum recording, but as is being said, the drums should definately be in some sort of harmonic frquency of the key signature of the song. An album I did years ago, we made sure and tuned the drums to every key for every song. It wound up being the easiest drum mix I've ever had to deal with.
Tune the drums in this room until they sound incredible and THEN
Tune the drums in this room until they sound incredible and THEN and only THEN, put up the mics.