How To Record Your Band - Part 3 Recording Drums - video Dailymotion

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The drumkit is the band's biggest beast and needs special treatment. Set it up in the right place and the right way. Add mics and acoustic aids. Get your beats sounding great the quick and easy way.

Transcript

00:00In this episode we're going to focus on miking the drums with a four mic setup.

00:13Before you start miking the drums make sure the kit is tuned and free of buzzes and rattles.

00:19You can tame unwanted ringing sounds with dampening products such as gaffer tape and

00:25gel strips. As we mentioned in the previous episode the dynamic close drum mics we're

00:30going to be using aren't going to pick up too much unwanted noise from the other instruments.

00:35This is also known as mic spill or bleed. This is because they'll be close to the loud sound

00:41sources of the kick drum and the snare. We'll be using condenser mics positioned overhead to capture

00:48the sound of the overall kit but inevitably they may be sensitive enough to pick up some of the

00:53guitar sounds too. There are numerous different setups for recording drums but we're using four

00:59microphones for this recording to show how to achieve a clean drum sound. We're going to address

01:05the two overhead mics positioning first. As mentioned before these are the mics that capture more of the

01:11ambient natural sound of your drum kit being played in the room and help produce a clearer cymbal sound.

01:17Positioning our two overhead mics six feet above ground level and aim down at the kit

01:22will help create a balanced sound for our drums. It's important that these two mics are equal

01:27distances from the kit to ensure the sound from the drums hits them at the same time and avoids unwanted

01:33phasing. As a rule of thumb to help with this think three to one. If the mics are positioned two feet

01:41above the cymbals make sure they are six feet apart. You can monitor for mic phasing by having one signal in

01:49the monitor headphone mix and then fading the second in, the sound should remain full with plenty of bottom

01:54end as you do so. If there's phasing between the two mics and the sounds are cancelling each other out,

02:00adjust the positioning of the mics as necessary. The batter head is the side of the kick drum which

02:06is hit and as a general rule the closer your dynamic mic is positioned to the batter head the more kick

02:12drum attack you'll get from the sound. Moving it further away from the batter head will give you a

02:18rounder sound. We're using a pillow inside the kick drum as a muffler too and this helps reduce unwanted

02:24overtones. There are specialist drum products available to do this too. It's an optional method

02:31some players prefer to give a punchier less boomy sound. From the top of the snare position the second

02:38drum dynamic mic a couple of inches above and an inch from the edge of the snare. Positioning here

02:44helps to retain the sound of the drumstick impacting the snare. The further you move the mic away from

02:50this starting point the more room air ambience and reverb you'll inevitably pick up. The closer you go

02:57the more bottom end you'll add. Experiment to find the sound you feel is best for the recording

03:03and make sure you feedback info and guidance to the drummer as you do so. For this session we're using

03:11an AKG mic kit but a Shure SM57 is also a reliable affordable dynamic mic for snare because it can

03:18handle the high sound pressure levels and mid-range frequencies well. Microphone spill from the hi-hat to

03:25the snare mic is a common problem with recording drums. You can help address this by making sure any other

03:32cardioid dynamic mic for the snare is directly facing away from the hi-hat. More importantly it might

03:38also be a matter of your drummer being more sensitive with their hi-hat work to ensure it's not overly

03:43dominant or even trying to move the hi-hat further away from the snare drum. Remember to experiment to

03:50fine-tune angles and make sure someone monitors the sound as you go along. Check the effects of each mic

03:56placement and feedback info to your drummer on how they might need to change their performance approach.

04:01Finally it's important for the drummer and indeed the band as a whole to remember to allow for the

04:07vocals in the dynamics of their performances. Musicians often respond to the vocal in their

04:12performances live so play with those vocals in mind, dropping down on certain sections to reflect

04:18the vocal lines. We're going to be overdubbing the vocals in a separate session later.

How To Record Your Band - Part 3 Recording Drums

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