Due to popular demand, here's my guide for recording drums. I'm going to break it down into five parts: Intro, essentials, setup/mics, tracking, and mixing. These will be spread out over the next two weeks or so, as I'm balancing my day job with studio demands, so please be patient!
Once again, this is my way of giving back to the board, as you guys have helped me fine tune my guitar recording techniques more than you could know.
Authour's note: If you're a drummer, you're going to find this article offensive. It never amazes me how easily big, tough heavy metal drummers get offended.... But what I'm about to write down is based on my personal experience.
So, here we go:
INTRODUCTION
For the record, I'm not going to hide behind my handle for this article. My real name is Glenn Fricker, and i'm located in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.... right across the river from Detroit. I've got about 15 years experience in the studio, mostly doing indie bands. I've also got a few small label albums under my belt, and I even record the occasional rock star. Making records is what I love to do... and the foundation is the drums.
That being said,
I fucking hate drummers. I really do. These are the meatheads that show up to the studio with broken cymbals, a shit kit, with six year old skins held together by duct tape, give a crap performance, wonder why they don't sound like Lars on "the Black Album" then look at you, the engineer, like it's your fault.
Don't get me wrong, I've had the pleasure of recording some truly amazing drummers in my time, but they're rare birds. As an indie engineer, I mostly have to record "the other kind."
My passion for recording drums goes back to 1990, during my college years. I was doing a music video for my band, and needed to record the audio track. After spending a day in the studio, I found myself asking, "Why do the drums sound like shit?" It took over ten years to find the answer.
This arcticle isn't going to be a magic bullet. Don't expect to be cranking out the next "When the Levee Breaks" tomorrow. Learning to record drums is like learning a whole new instrument. It takes passion & perserverance. The whole point of this article is to be a guideline.... to hopefully save you some time in the trial & error process. Here's a really important rule of thumb: "If the drums sound like shit, the whole mix sounds like shit." You can have the heaviest guitar tone known to man, but if the drums are lame, your song will sound weak. Unforntuately, drums are a bitch to record if you're a newbie.
I take an "old school' (or so I've been accused of) approach to drums. I like the sound of wood. Snares should go "crack" and not "clang." Bells go "clang." Toms should go "boom" not "tick." But I do love speed metal "click kicks." In other words, I'm not a very big fan of the drum sound on Metallica's "St. Awful."
Drum sounds I DO like: Iron Maiden, "Where Eagles Dare." or "Powerslave." Wonderful toms on that record! Judas Priest: Anything on "British Steel" and the snare on "Heading out to the Highway." I also really dig Les Bink's work on "Stained Class."
Of course there's Slayer's "Seasons in the Abyss," Metallica's "Black Album," and Pantera's "Cowboys." Those go without saying.
I'm also a big fan of the drum sound on Corrosion's "Blind" album, and Kyuss' "Blues for the Red Sun" ....I guess you could say I'm into organic, natural sounding drums.... for the most part.
Ok, Ok, I realize there wasn't much meat on the intro, but it's important to know where I stand on things before I start in on mic techniques & that sort of shit. If you know where I'm coming from, hopefully it'll get my suggestions across better. But, time is winding down, and I've gotta get my ass to work. I build Minivans at my day job
Tomorrow or the next day, will be part two: CRITICAL ESSESNTIALS or "shit you really need to know."
In the meantime, check out the drumsound on this clip. There's no sound replacement going on here... it's all natural.
http://www.spectresound.ca/sound/In4Life - clip.mp3
--Glenn
Once again, this is my way of giving back to the board, as you guys have helped me fine tune my guitar recording techniques more than you could know.
Authour's note: If you're a drummer, you're going to find this article offensive. It never amazes me how easily big, tough heavy metal drummers get offended.... But what I'm about to write down is based on my personal experience.
So, here we go:
INTRODUCTION
For the record, I'm not going to hide behind my handle for this article. My real name is Glenn Fricker, and i'm located in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.... right across the river from Detroit. I've got about 15 years experience in the studio, mostly doing indie bands. I've also got a few small label albums under my belt, and I even record the occasional rock star. Making records is what I love to do... and the foundation is the drums.
That being said,
I fucking hate drummers. I really do. These are the meatheads that show up to the studio with broken cymbals, a shit kit, with six year old skins held together by duct tape, give a crap performance, wonder why they don't sound like Lars on "the Black Album" then look at you, the engineer, like it's your fault.
Don't get me wrong, I've had the pleasure of recording some truly amazing drummers in my time, but they're rare birds. As an indie engineer, I mostly have to record "the other kind."
My passion for recording drums goes back to 1990, during my college years. I was doing a music video for my band, and needed to record the audio track. After spending a day in the studio, I found myself asking, "Why do the drums sound like shit?" It took over ten years to find the answer.
This arcticle isn't going to be a magic bullet. Don't expect to be cranking out the next "When the Levee Breaks" tomorrow. Learning to record drums is like learning a whole new instrument. It takes passion & perserverance. The whole point of this article is to be a guideline.... to hopefully save you some time in the trial & error process. Here's a really important rule of thumb: "If the drums sound like shit, the whole mix sounds like shit." You can have the heaviest guitar tone known to man, but if the drums are lame, your song will sound weak. Unforntuately, drums are a bitch to record if you're a newbie.
I take an "old school' (or so I've been accused of) approach to drums. I like the sound of wood. Snares should go "crack" and not "clang." Bells go "clang." Toms should go "boom" not "tick." But I do love speed metal "click kicks." In other words, I'm not a very big fan of the drum sound on Metallica's "St. Awful."
Drum sounds I DO like: Iron Maiden, "Where Eagles Dare." or "Powerslave." Wonderful toms on that record! Judas Priest: Anything on "British Steel" and the snare on "Heading out to the Highway." I also really dig Les Bink's work on "Stained Class."
Of course there's Slayer's "Seasons in the Abyss," Metallica's "Black Album," and Pantera's "Cowboys." Those go without saying.
I'm also a big fan of the drum sound on Corrosion's "Blind" album, and Kyuss' "Blues for the Red Sun" ....I guess you could say I'm into organic, natural sounding drums.... for the most part.
Ok, Ok, I realize there wasn't much meat on the intro, but it's important to know where I stand on things before I start in on mic techniques & that sort of shit. If you know where I'm coming from, hopefully it'll get my suggestions across better. But, time is winding down, and I've gotta get my ass to work. I build Minivans at my day job
Tomorrow or the next day, will be part two: CRITICAL ESSESNTIALS or "shit you really need to know." In the meantime, check out the drumsound on this clip. There's no sound replacement going on here... it's all natural.
http://www.spectresound.ca/sound/In4Life - clip.mp3
--Glenn
