how do you record drums? (the recording forum is dead)

[Rain King]

my band tried recording drums last night with a shure sm57 infront of the kick drum and a rhode nt1 (i think?) hanging overhead by the cymbals. all our recordings prior were done with just the rhode and have expectedly sounded as if they were recorded in a cave. but with the extra dynamic mic, we were hoping to get a noticeably better sound, albeit with limited resources.

but aside from getting the bass drum to be more pronounced, the recording still sounded really damp and had even more room noise to it. a band we're friends with, who recorded some songs for us over the summer use just the two mics in more or less the same fashion we do, but into a laptop program rather than a 4-track, and the sound they got was professional quality. the room they use is smaller than ours and may be cluttered with equipment in all its corners, but i can't figure out why the results we get are so crude compared to theirs. is it the fact that they're using a better quality program, or could it be the room differences? it was our first time using two mics so we were just testing things out, and didn't bother to take out these separaters that my drummer's dad has laying around. if we used that would it help, or do we need more mics? is it that we're recording into a portable 4 track? any advice that anyone has would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

[teleman]

but it still belongs in recording.

:rolleyes:

[Moo]

Yeah, recording's not dead, just slow. This forum's even slower!

Recording drums is tough, enough said. The drumkit is one of the hardest things to record. There could be a lot of reasons why the sound is different - I've no idea what mics they used or you used. The difference between tape and digital recording isn't that big - just digital makes editing and mixing easier for folks who like computers.

The biggest difference is probably recording experience. A good engineer could get a great sound out of that 4 track. There are a lot of subtleties about mic placement, and if you fool around and be patient, you might hit the right spot. Mics are very sensitive. Something can sound worlds different if you just turn the mic an inch or so.

If you only have one mic, try the condenser in the 'crotch position.' I've heard you can get a good sound with the mic a few inches from the drummer's crotch. The more mics, the better, but that doesn't mean you can be lazy. Just adding mics isn't going to help the sound if they're all poorly placed.

Another big part of it is the drum sound itself, and the room. Tune the drums! Listen a little bit harder. All the little flaws about the sound that you don't notice live come out in a recording.

The most important thing is to Be Patient. Listen for the subtleties and don't worry as much about comparing to the other recordings. A lot of the pro sounds come from post production, but you can't turn a crap recording into a professional one, and the less mics you use, the less control over the sound you have in post. Do your best, and please try the recording forum. We'll get to you.

[dimebaglives321]

if you get a book such as home recording for dummies it will tell you a lot about microphones, mic placement, drum mic placement and so forth. one thing i do know is that you need to spend lots of time tuning a drum and fooling with mic placements.

[bad smell]

I've had some stupidly good luck recording drums with just ONE shure SM57 on a carpeted floor about 5-7feet from the kick just slightly closer to the snare/hihat (by about a foot) off center. This didn't require much EQing to get a good sound. It was a touch lowfi, but it sounded fantastic when mixed with the whole song.

I guess the secret was mainly a carpet floor, a drop ceiling, and VERY cluttered walls which all equals to a dead quiet room. I did have to boost the overall volume, and I added a little reverb, (plus this was a really nice older pearl kit).

What you're using should be fine, but make sure the room you record in is dampened. Carpet floor and blankets on the walls help a ton for recording drums.

last but not least, listen to the recording WITH music too. They may sound a little lacking by themselves, but they may end up mixing very well.

[ScottS]

A little off topic, but some quick (and cheap) things that made a big difference when we recorded drums...

TUNE THE DRUMS. Our drummer did not do this regularly until recently, it makes a big difference.

Put your wallet on the head of the snare drum when you play it. It sounds stupid, but seriously try it. We kept getting this tom-like sound on the snare recordings, pretty much it just made the snare sound like a snare and really stand out amoungst the other drums.

Buy some Moon Gels (I think that's what they are called). They are these little jelly-like things that you put on the drum heads. Before we started using these, all of the drums sounded too bouncy and cartoony.

Put a pillow in the bass drum. One of the more widespread drummer's tricks, but it helps.

[bad smell]

+1 to everything scotts just said.

Though it's not a "roomnoise" ringing drums can sound like $h!#, and will probably muddy up your sound. I forgot to mention that the pearl kit I recorded had built in padding to stop the toms from ringing, a small quilt in the kick, and dampening rings on the snare.

I think the deeper (top to bottom) a drum is, the more sensative they are to tuning the resonant (bottom) head.

[ElderberryRyan]

I'd really try to get my hands on an extra mic, either another sm57 for the snare or a PG52 to place in the hole of the bass drum. the rest will come through enough.

The room has a lot to do with it too. Try putting come carpetting down, sheets the wall, etc. If you can get the ambient mic high, just above the space between the drummer's crotch and the drums, at least 2 or 3 heads above his own. That'll provide some depth. Did you EQ before recording?

The other suggestions are great as well. It's all a matter of experimenting. You'll remember it more BECAUSE it gave you a headache!

[ben_murphy]

if you start with good drums, know how to tune drums properly and use new, quality heads there really is no need to dampen drums with pillows, sheets, tape or wallets! i prefer to tune drums undampened to get the maximum resonance out of them. nothing worse than a big rock song with dead dull drums.

but yeah, scott s is right it all starts with propper set up and tuning.

as far as the actual recording techniques i usually start with an overhead mic run threw a compressor. i use this as the "core tone" and then use kickdrum and tom mics to fill in the sound. usually i find that i don't need a snare or hi-hat mic but if you have a particularly heavy handed drummer you may find a snare drum mic necessary.

i used to record in a fairly large bedroom with hardwood floors. i often would drag a futon mattress into the room to absorb some of the sound vibrations. cut back on the "roominess".
any thick blanket or quilt will do the job.