Recording Drums

Recording Drums, Percussion - & Dealing with People Who Like to Hit Things 1

 Here at The Coolest Recording Studio in London Town - we get a whole bunch of differing types of musicians - from rock steady session peeps - to those folks just trying to put forth their art the best way they know how. These are the folks that need a bit of groundwork - even before you start putting mics up, you need to sit 'em down - & have a little talk - be nice! 

They need to know. 

1. It's not a gig - there's no one to impress here - so Do Not smash the shit out of your drums - & most importantly - your cymbals! If you do - you'll lose drum tone - & badly/harshly hit cymbals will make any ambient mics or overheads useless - you're looking to capture the whole kit with All the ambient mics - session drummers know this - so play the kit in a balanced & musical way. Put some work in - get it right - don't be the weak link that lets the band down. 

Star bars - or anything with chocolate & peanuts in will keep a drummer going through the day. Stock up - & keep the coffee on. 

If they can't play to a click - don't go there - leave it - they'll just end up 10 takes in getting angry & feeling stupid. The producer will just have to deal with it.  

Let them set up first and tune the kit - get them comfortable & leave them to play for 10 minutes - then bring them in to discuss recording protocol for the session. 

What Style of Music do you Play 

You should have already asked for links or mp3's of the band / project so you know what their producer will need.  

Think about the recording environment - do you need your walls bright (Rock/Pop/Metal) or curtained / non reflective (Jazz, Funk, Reggae). 

Initail close mic setups. 

Kick / Bass Drum 

For Rock, Metal, Punk, & for general good recording practice - use a dynamic mic inside the kick drum - about a third of the way in from the front soundhole pointing to one side of the beater spot. You may well need a blanket or towel inside the drum to keep down resonance - some drummers fill a 5 litre paint tin with cement & sit that in the middle of the drum before putting the front head back on. You really don't want some woofy resonance haunting your kick sound ...... & you may like the tone of the drum with the front head removed.

internal mic

You'll need a mic outside the kick drum sound hole - this is also generally a dynamic mic - & at this position you'll get more body & Phoom - with a bit less Shmack than the internal mic - it's a go to position & usually yields great results. 

A condenser mic between 6 inches & a foot away from the front skin gives a very rich & full bodied tone - but you'll need at least one of the close mics too for focus at mixtime. 

A directional small diaphragm condenser mic pointed towards the floor or skin to the right of the kick beater same side as the drummer's sitting - it'll pick up all sorts of odd gnurks & squeaks as the player shifts in their seat - you'll find some absolutely funky, unique loops that will add interesting energies to the music as you add them - or they'll inspire a whole new song - it's live rhythm baby - it's gonna be full of some kinda magic eh!

Next Time - Snares & Toms!