Acoustic Drums for Metal: A Guide

[Trevoire520]

Glenn those drums from that Final Stage song sound AMAZING! Can't wait for the next video!

 

[The-Zeronaut]

EPIC. >.<
Thanks!!

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Thanks for the kind words, guys! I'll keep at it.

If you've got comments/suggestions, it would be great if you could post them on the youtube channel, as I really want to get the traffic up.

 

[joelplagues]

Dude that was badass. You should get into voice over work!

Exactly this. also nice closing line!

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Not quite sure how to get into voicover work, but If the opprotunity arises, I'll take the work for sure.

Thanks for all the kind words guys, honestly, I wasn't sure how this would go over....so far the response has been nothing but positive.... Makes me want to continue

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Very cool, thanks.

 

[Trevoire520]

Makes me want to continue

Please do! I expect weekly updates from you

Joking obviously, I know you're a busy dude. So I will wait patiently.

I'm really wanting to work on improving my natural drum sounds. Got some stems of Maiden's 2 Minutes To Midnight and I've been listening to the drums constantly. LOADS of room mic's and natural ambience and it sounds awesome, so full of life and character compared to the sample replaced modern metal sound.

As you said though, it's all futile at the end of the day if the drummer isn't up to scratch!

 

[kev]

Yeah, eagerly looking forward to these. Great quality, concise with a pinch of humour

 

[joelplagues]

As you said though, it's all futile at the end of the day if the drummer isn't up to scratch!

This is what bothers me most.

It sucks not working with clients with decent kits(or the budget to hire one) and most importantly players who as mentioned aren't up to scratch, which just leads to more sample replacement.

 

[DeclanWhite]

awesome video!

although two things i think worth mentioning are:
pushing on the drum head (or standing on in case of a kick head) is often seen as bad for the shell, and could possibly damage the bearing edge etc

and i find the drumdial recommended tensions a bit odd in my experience (i think they were way too high when i tried) and some people tune to the pitch of the shell for a more true tone. see this

 

[Glenn Fricker]

And I would kill for a drummer to come in & tune a kit like that. For us mere mortals, I still recommend the drum dial.

 

[DeclanWhite]

yeah haha your tom sounded amazing in that video

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Thanks, man!

FWIW, I tried out the method in the video you posted... it works surprisingly well. ....Obviously it will take some practice to get good at it, but my toms absolutely sing by tuning them to the shell.... I'd still recommend using the Drum Dial to get things in the ballpark, though.. but fine tuning by ear can sure help.

 

[ian diction]

Finally read the whole thread. Extremely informative. Thanks Glenn and every one for their input!

I've hired a practice studio (http://www.ascapestudios.com/index.php/rehearsals/studio_2/) to record drums at the weekend and I WILL be following some of the practices mentioned in this thread. I've got 10 channels to record in total so that's:
Kick
Snare
Toms 1,2 and Floor
OH L & R
Hi Hat
Ride
Scratch Guitar

Still not sure if I should have a Ride mic or save it for something else. Room mic maybe?

 

[Trevoire520]

Personally I'd ditch the hihat mic and throw a bottom snare mic in there. Close mic'ing the ride is always a good shout to help bring out the ping from the bell.

 

[ian diction]

I'll see how the kit sounds without it and that is definitely a worthy option. Cheers!

 

[Glenn Fricker]

+1 on the snare bottom mic. I prefer SD condensors down there. Don't forget to flip the phase!

 

[thePHexperiment]

Hey, Oz
First of all, this thread has been really really helpful for an inexperienced engineer. Can't wait to try some of the techniques mentioned here. But to my question. A buddy of mine and I are starting a studio to try and make some extra income. The way we're doing drums right now is miking each drum, 2 OH, and a hi hat mik. Due to the quality of our kit, we replace the snare, toms, and kick with samples and blend the samples with the overheads. Will this work as long as it's done right or do we need to completely rethink how we do drums?

 

[AndrewB]

Hey Oz, I was going through the thread, and I got together the links to all of the written parts of the guide. You might want to put this on the OP so someone doesn't have to go looking through the thread to find a specific part.

Intro: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/4223560-post1.html

Part 2: CRITICAL ESSENTIALS (the shit you really need to know: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/4230330-post11.html

Part 3: SETUP (gear): http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/4264367-post42.html

Part 3.5: PHASE ISSUES & SEPARATION: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/4304212-post77.html

Part 4: TRACKING http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/4505032-post200.html

Part 4.5: REVISIONS & AMENDMENTS http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/4950080-post312.html

Part 5: MIXING: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/5199933-post357.html

 

[Trevoire520]

Good idea dude.

Waiting patiently for the next video One day....