Tips & tricks to record drum tracks (audio only)

Colonel Panic

Colonel Panic

Well-known member
I'm posting this in the cafe 'cause I'm not recording a video project- just a CD for fun.

I've got a pretty decent mobile recording rig (I've got better reference monitors at home) with a good selection of various mics and by all rights should be able to get a quality recording of my kit. However, that big, fat drum sound has always eluded me.

I seem to be satisfied with my drum mix on it's own, but when the keys, guitars and bass are mixed in, I have to fade the drum channels almost all the way up to keep them evenly in the mix (even though they are recorded close to zero UG).

Post here your tips and tricks to get that killer drum sound, even the obscure ones like putting 7 kittens in your kick to get that boomy "thud" low end.

Thanks all.
 
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I suggest visiting www.recordingreview.com as that site focuses exclusively on home recording. It's really a wealth of knowledge, and is focused more on techniques using available gear than buying a bunch of stuff to chase marginal improvements.

Room treatment is a big deal.

Getting the right sorts of mics, as well as the right approach to micing. Lately the trend has been toward fewer mics, at least as a starting point. Look up the recorderman technique on YouTube, it shows how to get a complete phase coherent stereo image of your drum set with just two condenser mics. You can then use that as a base, and fill in anything that's missing with additional mics on the kick, snare, toms, and so on.

If you're happy with your drum mix by itself, but not when the other instruments are added, perhaps your drum mix is too thick. Much like in filmmaking, the song (instead of the story) is the overall focal point, and all decisions should be geared toward making the song sound good, even if the kick drum isn't quite as awesome as it could be all by itself.

One way to thin things out is to do frequency slotting with your EQ. For instance, if you boost the kick drum at 80Hz and 3kHz (just for example), you may need to pull those same frequencies out of another instrument, like the bass guitar.

Parallel compression on the drum bus is another awesome trick. Basically you mix your drums normally, but then you also route the drums using aux sends into a separate bus. You then squash the living daylights out of the parallel bus with extreme compression and a big over the top EQ smile curve. Now you have two drum busses: the normal one, and the squashed one. The normal one retains the transients, dynamics, and natural sound of the drums. The squashed one fattens them up, and can be mixed under the normal drum bus to taste.

If you're really interested in this, you will probably find the Killer Home Recording e-book on Recording Review invaluable. It's not free, but I would recommend it if you think the money might be worth it. It's packed full of useful information.
 
Robot has hit the high points; it's a lot simpler and a lot more difficult than that. Just a few quick addendums...

These days a lot of drums are replaced with samples.

A lot will depend upon the mics and the pres, of course, but another thing is proper technique. If the mics aren't set up properly you may end up with phase cancellation, either outright or at certain frequencies.

You may also need help with your mix technique - too many instruments occupying the same frequencies.

Another good website for is recording.org.
 
Colonel....can you reference a band, album, or song that best represents what you'd like the drums to sound like?

I've been a pro drummer for many years...there quite a bit of nuance with a "big" drum sound. it's illusive but not impossible.
 
Hi Chris,

I was wondering if I'd hear from you. Before I answer your question, let me address a couple points...

I know that the CDs I listen to are produced with pro gear, pro ears and pro hands in an acoustically optimal environment. And I know that the mastering process has a lot to do with what a finished product sounds like, so I'm not looking for a miracle- Just a good full sound that I think the gear I have is capable of delivering.

I don't know if you clicked on my gear link, but I'll just be using the mic pres in that analog A&H board with some of these mics: EV RE20, AKG D112, MD421s, SM81s and a few others into my DAW.

Having said that, here's a list of some bands/albums that I like the drum sound of in no particular order:

*Dream Theater's live albums Score and Budokan (and that killer snare from Train of Thought)
*Our Lady Peace/Gravity
*Live/Secret Samadhi
*Alter Bridge
*Porcupine Tree
*and of course Rush/Moving Pictures

I also like how punchy the drums sound in bands like Incubus and Hoobastank's first album.

Some of the lesser known songs from Tears For Fears' Seeds of Love have a great open, full drum sound too with just the perfect amount of reverb.

I can send you some MP3s if you like.

Thanks everybody for your replies. I will check out those links.
 
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I agree with everything Uncle Bob said.

Another thing you might want to consider is to post your mixes to the "Bash This Recording" section of Recording Review. I know I've mentioned them twice now. I don't get any money from them or anything. I just think it's probably exactly what you're looking for.

Mastering makes a bit of difference, but the mix should sound great even before it gets to that point. Mastering can probably take your finished track up one letter grade, at most.

Also, don't let anyone tell you that you need to go buy super expensive preamps or anything. From the things you see on internet forums, you'd expect that the preamp is the most important part of your sound. It's just not true. There are differences, but they are in the realm of that "last five percent".

The mics you have are all really good. You may want to consider a pair of condenser mics (large or small diaphragm) for overheads if you don't have two SM81's. And watch out for the drummer hitting the 421's if you're putting them on the toms :)
 
To my ears DreamTheater's drums sound like they're recorded in an anechoic chamber (not a bad thing)... really REALLY FAT sounding. Their songs sound heavily produced (again, not a bad thing)... Unless you're in a great acoustic space, you'll want to get lower sensitivity mics closer in. I'd probably use a couple cardioids w/10db cut caps. If your kit is arranged in a semi-circle... I'd hang the mics above like a frown :( but space them wide enough (or tight enough) that the cymbals don't over-load 'em... and lower if you need to.

It shouldn't be too hard to get the kick to sound fat... and a hard tom or snare hit shouldn't be that much quieter then a crash.

I gotta' agree that fewer mics will probably sound good... recorded at 24/96 with peaks not clipping... and place the mics where you get a relatively even recording level... which I think will be the frown-face... aimed down and in at the kit (using the rear of the cardioid's rejection to help reduce room echo). You could kick this up a notch by raising the two cardioids and then add an iso-channel kick mic... then simply dial in "thick" to your taste on that sweet mixer.
 
Close mic as much as possible and with as many mics as possible in the deadest environment you can find. Add your ambiance in post where you can control it as opposed to being stuck with it on the tracks. 2 overheads for cymbals.
 
I like the "Bash My Recording" thing. I'm not above criticism by any stretch. When I get something on "tape" I'll let you guys bash my sound as well as my drumming!

In case anyone's interested-

All mics go into the mixer who's direct outs are hooked up to the +4db ELCO connectors of my ADAT XTs. I have a MOTU interface connecting my Mac Pro (those pix are kinda old) via optical/Audio Wire and since the analog signals are always present at the outs of my ADATs, I use those as "splitters" to send another independant signal to the FOH. I think the A/D converters in the ADATs still do a decent job even though by today's standards are out of date.

We record in a small church whose acoustics are pretty good for drums but the rig can only be so far from the drums so I need to rely a lot on headphones to get an idea of how the mics are picking up the drums.

I built the rig to be modular so it could easily be moved and also so I could breakdown, carry and transport the whole rig from place to place by myself.
 
The other posters are right on regarding acoustics. If you have a standing wave sucking out the low end, you will never get a punchy kick sound no matter what (unless you replace it with a sample). Also, eliminating phase shift is important. Gates help.

One thing you can try is to use a room mic, run it into a Distressor on Nuke, or an 1176 with all four buttons pushed in for an instant Led Zep sound. :)

Speaking of which, compression is good for tweaking a drum kit's sounds. Play around with different compression settings. I like dbx-type compression for drums, like 160, 161, 162, or 165. They are "grabby" and "punchy".

Drums are challenging to record, but the most fun! Check out gearslutz.com and recordingconsoles.net also for some good archives about recording drums.
 
A small church should be a FANTASTIC place to record drums! Typically the worst problems occur when people try to record in a 10x12 spare room, and get standing waves all over the place.

There's even a professional recording studio in Asheville, NC that was set up in an old church. I'm sure it sounds great.

You may get good results if you put the mics over the drums so they look like a frowny face, but I fear that if you don't carefully listen to the results with a critical ear, it would be very easy to have things go out of phase.

There are two schools of thought in drum recording. One is to capture the drums as an overall instrument, relying on the overheads for the overall sound and then augmenting it with additional mics. The other school of thought is to close mic every drum, and then also add in some overheads to cover the cymbals. Having listened critically to both approaches, I strongly favor the first (overheads first, with some close mics), even though my analytical brain and what I thought I knew told me to favor the second (close mics first, with some overheads).

It sounds like a subtle distinction, but if you get the overheads right first, I've found that the overall kit tends to sound better.

Watch this video on the recorderman technique. You can use this as a starting point, and then add in one or more mics on the kick and snare, and mics on the toms and maybe the hi-hat as well. Each mic you add beyond the first stereo pair from the recorderman technique adds the potential for phase problems though. You'll want to go through and make sure every mic is in phase with a "master" mic if you mic up the whole kit individually.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiFOD1EeKhQ

Room mics are also a good idea. I forgot to mention that!

A standing wave may suck out the low end, or it may add to the low end. If the room is too small and not dead enough, you'll get modal ringing and flutter echo for sure though. Also, you don't want the room to be like a dead iso booth though. Otherwise your drums will just sound really dead.

The ideal drum recording room would be really big and not entirely a square. Basically, a small church :)

If I was in your situation, I would probably set up the two condenser mics first using the recorderman technique, then set up mics on the kick, snare, toms, and possibly the hi-hat. And a room mic. I'd set up the gain for each mic so that they're recording at the correct levels. Then I'd record a small clip of the drums being played in a fashion that was musically appropriate for the song. Now, do a quick rough mix of what you recorded, adjust your mics, and repeat until you're happy with it. I'd also save all the compressors, gates, EQ, and effects for the mix. In other words, don't use any of those things while you're recording.

If it doesn't sound pretty good without all of that stuff, go back and tune the drums, adjust the drum playing technique, mute some of the mics, move the mics, try different mics. In that order.

It sounds like you have a pretty good setup, and a fantastic room. Good luck with your recording!
 
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