Chasing them live drum tones.

[RandomAwesome]

http://soundcloud.com/randomawesome/07-10-11-extended

Played this on my Mapex Saturn Pro kit. Still love how this thing sounds after all these years 14" Big Black Brass Porkpie snare (aka Black Beauty knock off). 13" riveted Zildjian A custom hats, 16" A Custom thin crash.

http://soundcloud.com/randomawesome/07-10-11-in-bloom

Same thing with this Nirvana cover I threw together. I know it's played wrong, but I've always been a massive fan of Andy Wallace's drum mixes. IMHO, some of the best ever put to record. The snare sounds totally different, but it's the same Pork Pie as the previous song. Same mic config and EQ, just tuned it up a bit from the previous song.

The purpose of these 2 tracks was just to test the difference in snare sounds between 2 different tunings. Just like a guitar, if you set it up for drop D, record something, then use the same guitar to record another piece but in drop A, it will sound like a completely different guitar.

The other purpose is just my ongoing drum tone chase and ironing out the flaws in my live room setup.

 

[Harley Barley]

Dude you get the best live/real drum tones!

+1 on Andy Wallace's drum mixes

 

[Teddyboy]

I listened the Nirvana clip and really liked it!!

Andy Wallace is one of the best out there and one of the few that has mixed so different styles so great.

 

[Estudio Blost]

Dude,....just fantastique!!! congrats

 

[Max Morton]

Those tones are huge! It this your room as well?
Might I also ask what skins are you using for snare and toms?

 

[colonel_claypoo]

sounds awesome! can you describe your room?

 

[jeid]

Mapex Saturns are damn fine kits! Sounds really good.

 

[Behind]

Great drums. If there's no processing, you've achieved an amazing sound and a great mic placement technique. Congrats!

OT: wouldn't be 'chasing the live drum tones' the correct title? Why 'them'? Is it some slang? sorry, i'm still learning English

 

[DanLights]

Great drums. If there's no processing, you've achieved an amazing sound and a great mic placement technique. Congrats!

OT: wouldn't be 'chasing the live drum tones' the correct title? Why 'them'? Is it some slang? sorry, i'm still learning English

Yeah it's sorta slang, grammatically wrong but it is used often, like Alice in Chains' song "Them Bones", same thing

 

[RandomAwesome]

Haha, yeah, it's just dumb slang. Leave it to someone who's just learning English to make me feel like a moron, haha

I love EC2s on toms. I know it sounds weird for the Nirvana clip because I believe Dave used 14" and 16" toms (maybe bigger?) for Nevermind, whereas I'm using a 10" and a 14".

My live room is just my double wide garage with some dampening foam in a few areas. I also hung a few rugs in there recently to help combat the insanely live cement floor. I feel like it's pretty close to where I want it. The fact that I can get a good, lively drum sound without a single reverb effect makes me very happy

My snare head is an ongoing love/hate relationship, haha. It's one of those Evans dry snare heads with the little holes around the rim and a little damener ring built into the head as well. It's SUPER dry, but it seems to work pretty well with the Black Brass. I wouldn't mind a *hint* more ring. I want to try a Remo power center and see what happens. Also looking to get die-cast hoops for it. Any drum nerds know where to get Tama die-cast hoops on the cheap?

 

[amarshism]

Sounds awesome. Got any pics of the garage? Your drum sounds are great!

 

[RandomAwesome]

Here's a video. This was done before I bought some extra rugs.

 

[AllanD]

I'm digging it minus the kick. What was the mic setup for the whole kit?

 

[acappa]

Insane sound man! Really digging it!

 

[RandomAwesome]

Yeah, I agree about the kick. Could definitely be better. I put an sm57 on the front but I forgot to shield it so there's a ton of bleed :\

Snare is i5 and sm7b on the top, sm58 on the bottom. Russian Oktava K012 overheads. Audix D2 on the rack, D4 on the floor. D6 in the kick, sm57 on the resonant head. M-Audio Sputnik for the room mic.

 

[Joshua Wickman]

Sick drum tones dude! I'm curious what you doing post to get things to the next level. Do you find your self flipping the phase around on a lot of mics? Transient designers? Gates? Lots of cuts? lots of boost? Maybe both?

Not looking for freq or anything like that, just more curious what you use and why you use in your post work.

Also I would think this type of thread should be in the rate my mix/tone section.

 

[acappa]

How are you dealing with such a bright room for recording guitars/bass/vox...??

 

[RandomAwesome]

Thanks Josh! Yeah, I should probably move this thread. Is there a way to do that at this point?

I do a fair bit of EQing in post. A few gates on snare and toms for sure. Most of the tools I use are the free ones that come with Reaper, so it's nothing fancy at all. Mostly just gates and EQs. The only phase I typically flip is the bottom snare mic. Sometimes the front kick mic, but it depends on how deep the kick drum is and how far away from the resonant head I have it. Tuning the drums properly also makes a big difference. It amazes how few drummers know how to tune their kits.

acappa, I have a few rugs that I'll throw on the cement floor if I feel the drum sound is too lively/trashy for a particular band. I have a few hanging behind the drummer to cut back on reflections as well.

 

[Behind]

OT:

Yeah it's sorta slang, grammatically wrong but it is used often, like Alice in Chains' song "Them Bones", same thing

Thanks dude. It's clear now.

Haha, yeah, it's just dumb slang. Leave it to someone who's just learning English to make me feel like a moron, haha

hahahah didn't want to be a dick. just curious about it!

 

[RandomAwesome]

Haha. nah, just playin BTW, I absolutely loooove your profile pic. Nintendo sixty fooooooouuuuurrr!! But with the Mesa head, lol