Drum Recording, Selecting Kit and Shells

M

Michiel

New Metal Member
Jun 29, 2012
22
0
1
Hi There

Firstly I’d like to thank everyone on this forum for some of the most amazing production techniques i have ever read and for your kindness in sharing:worship: I apologise for my rambling before actually getting to the point.

I have been recording bands on and off for the past two years in line with my career as a music teacher at a local music college, I have always tried to record each band/group regardless of genre to the best of my abilities. I have finally come to a point where I am getting a decent amount of inquiry and a steady income of new bands on a monthly basis. Here lays my dilemma, I have been offered a great opportunity working on a compilation album with some big hitters in the SA metal scene. I am dead scared but will give it everything to my last breath.

The project is to start middle October, my typical process is to book relevant studios for drums while usually tracking guitars, bass and vocals myself. I really enjoy the art of reamping, so I track dry which really helps me shape the sound I want when producing. However this time around i want to take full control of the process and focus on what i know is my weakest point: "Drum Recording":cry:. I trust the people I use and they typically get me a great raw sound, but we have the opportunity to get some awesome sponsors involved and I want to know exactly what is to be achieved before presenting the press package.

We have a standard collection of amps and cabs to do the job (5150II, 6505, JSX, Krank Rev, Fender Deluxe Hotrod), (Mesa 4x12 Oversized, Orange 2x12, Marshall 1960B)

I need a recommendation on a 5 piece drum kit, shells sizes, skins and cymbals (2xcrash, 1xride, 2xchina, 2xsplash), the style of music is modern metal. We have Pearl, Yamaha and Sonor available in SA, I think all known skins are also available here. I typically hire a techie for the tuning so that’s not an issue.

Any recommendation would be greatly appreciated. Apologies for the long post.

Kind Regards
Michiel
 
I know I sound like a broken record, but in my opinion you can't beat Tama Starclassic kits for hard rock and metal. The birch kits are my favorite but are unfortunately discontinued, though they do offer an excellent birch-bubinga option and an ungodly-huge-sounding full on bubinga kit as well. If you can find a used birch Starclassic Performer (which isn't too difficult) you'll be all set.

As far as cymbals go, I'd recommend heading to the local guitar store and trying everything out, and putting together the best sounding assortment you can. Generally modern metal pairs well with smaller, thinner cymbals. Zildjian A series and Sabian AAX are good options.

As for heads:
Kick - Remo Powerstoke 3 clear
Snare Top - Remo Controlled Sound, Emperor, Ambassador, or the "X" variations of them. Bring some moongels. Thicker / more treated heads will generally give more "thunk" and be more durable, while thinner heads will sound more crisp but will wear faster and ring more.
Snare bottom - Remo Ambassador Snare Side
Toms Top - Evans G2 clear or Remo Emperor clear
Toms Bottom - Evans Genera or Remo Ambassador clear
 
^^^ Hard to go wrong with any of that. I'd only add GET A TUNE-BOT tuner and learn how to use it, and I also prefer just remo coated ambassador on snare. They're the snappiest sounding head, but thinner, so I just always plan on replacing them more often. Oh, and get plenty of moongel.
 
Hey Michiel,
Sounds really positive and good for you that the process is going so well.
Between the Pearl Yamaha and Sonor i think you have some good brand kit's to work with and although i could potentially say that i would choose the Yamaha i wouldn't definitely do that until i knew more information on the drum kit's you have available to you.
Example are they all Birch or are they all Maple perhaps even another type of shell?

Typically those two types of shell are most common and it is a general notion that birch records better because of the quicker attack and shorter decay of the toms however if you want more tom sustain and a longer decay then look at maple.

The actual drum size's to use would probably be 10-12-14-16 and 22 kick drum however that then becomes a six piece kit if you add the snare so any combination that is comfortable for the drummer would work 12-14-16 / 10 -12-14/ 10-14-16 /12 -14 -16 i think you get my drift here.

Some people tune starting with the lower tom first others tune to 3rd's or 5th's but since your hiring a techie to be there I'm sure that assessment will be best resolved between the two of you on the day.
Once again you will yield different results on the heads you do use be it Evans / Remo / Aquariun or any other manufactured head that fails my memory at this stage.
Single ply heads will give your toms a more open natural sound but at the expense of wearing out quicker whilst double ply will give you more of a tighter sound and be more durable.Be it that you said modern metal i would most likely be leaning towards double ply heads for the top and single ply heads on the bottom.
Another consideration is clear over coated.
I've used both with great result's however i would probably suggest clear and go on further by suggesting Evans G2 but again it's personal preference.My most recent recording was done using a Yamaha custom kit ,Maple with a 10 12 14 tom set up using Evan's heads had a 22 kick with an Ayotte snare.

Bit of a mixed bag but it suited what we were working on.

Cymbals i would suggest a 16 and 18 crash an 18 china a 10 and 12 splash and a 20 ride.I'm not going to suggest manufacturer as once again so many good options available....and until on the kit and listening to it from the control room it's really hard to say.

Drum recording can be daunting but i think you're approaching it with the right attitude and i don't doubt that the more you do record drums the more you will shake off those nerves and enjoy the challenges presented with it....hope that what I've suggested here is of some help and perhaps gives you a little more insight and clarity not confusion on the task ahead.
Best Of Luck.
 
wait a minute, i thought everyone on here was supposed to be hostile and condescending towards newbs? this guy has last 8 posts...we're not allowed to help him out! :err:
 
This week I contact Lasse for some drums advice...
Yamaha Recording Custom were the consensus...
Unfortunately I couldn't find a good used one, so I pulled the trigger for a Starclassic Bubinga and a John Tempesta Snare.
 
Hahaha!! Wow!:OMG: You guys are fantastic! Thank you so much for the excellent advice, I checked out the Tama Starclassic and it seems to be an excellent choice with a very inexpensive price tag, I also checked and saw that they are an available brand here, the local shop here has some pearl masters and reference kits as well as spaun custom available.

The drum teacher i work with reccommends the masters as a midranged kit with a good variety of applications but unfortunately he is schooled in bossa and latin playing and therefore he's ears are suited to these styles, reference and spaun will be a long shot in regards to what i think we could get. I'm not gonna lie and will say straight up that my knowledge of wood is about more or less but not equal to 0, all i know is what i've heard from local drummers i've worked with. Your opinions are absolutely mind blowing and i value the information from this community almost religiously. I'll check into the model names and research a bit more, I think i should get one of the drummers to take a trip with me to go and try them out to get a good idea with your advice in mind. Thank you

Kind regards

Michiel
 
Ok so further work brought in the assistance of a bunch of gents I helped out with a reamp session on their upcoming album. They were kind enough to offer me their studio for the drum and reamping sessions for the upcoming project. They recently recorded a young drummer (Spencer Harvey from The Dead Will Tell) who got signed to a Spaun endoresment, they own a video company as well and tracked and did the project in a single day's notice. The drums were kept fairly dry with mininmal processing (some) to showcase the potential of the kit. Based on the quality would you guys think its good? Tracked to rough backing track of guitars and bass:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
fenixdoido said:
This week I contact Lasse for some drums advice...
Yamaha Recording Custom were the consensus...
Unfortunately I couldn't find a good used one, so I pulled the trigger for a Starclassic Bubinga and a John Tempesta Snare.
Click to expand...

That's going to be a godly sounding kit. Let us know how the Tempesta snare is, I've been considering getting one.
 
fenixdoido said:
This week I contact Lasse for some drums advice...
Yamaha Recording Custom were the consensus...
Unfortunately I couldn't find a good used one, so I pulled the trigger for a Starclassic Bubinga and a John Tempesta Snare.
Click to expand...

We've gotta Starclassic Bubinga at the studio; it records great. The kick (which is a bit on the deep side: 18" as opposed to the usual 16") in particular just sounds amazing. The toms have a really nice tonality; a very melodic sound with clearly-defined pitches. Plus, they're very easy to tune, which is a major bonus.

I myself play a Yamaha Oak Custom, which is extremely well-suited to metal, particularly heavier, deeper drum sounds. Those drums are extremely loud, with a low fundamental. They excel at filling a room, so you can really get a lot of mileage from room mics (not necessarily ideal for fast or intricate metal, but freakin' awesome for sludgy stuff). Throw on some Pinstripes, coasted Emperors, or something along those lines, and if you can't get a heavy drum sound from these, you gotta serious problem.

My favorite snare (for just about any genre) is the Pearl Steve Ferrone. Sadly, it's discontinued, but they can be found pretty easily second-hand for about $300.
 
Snares are such a fucking asshole. The snare seems to dictate what head sounds good on it. :lol:

For example my snare (metal shell) sounds good with an evans reverse coated power center head (at least that is what I dig on it).

But then my brother's band has a drummer with a mapex saturn (walnut interior plys IIRC) snare, and that thing sound horrible with the above head. Needed something thicker with less resonance, I can't remember what we ended up using but it was clear and thick. :lol:

I kind of like the EC2 head on toms and the superkick 2 on kicks. Again, all personal preference of course.
 
Here's a video of me playing my kit in the studio. It's a Tama Starclassic Performer Birch. With the heads listed below:
Toms: Top - Evans Ec2s Bottom - Evans G1s Clear
Kick: Aqurian Super Kick 2, Evans Ported EQ3 front.


I absolutely agree, you can't beat the big sound of a Tama Starclassic Birch, they're amazing.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Decent thread.

Not a lot to add. My favourite snare heads are controlled sound (good balance of ring, attack), genera HD dry (less ring, suits some styles better) and emperor x's. I prefer emperors on toms, although g2's are very similar. Always end up going back to power stroke III's on kick, lovely full tone with enough attack and 'click' in there. Be sure to stretch them out well and check the tuning every so often. Moongel is great to have around, and sometimes you'll want to dampen the res heads with tape if they're ringing too loudly with the kick. Make sure you stick a pillow or 2 in the kick and make sure the res head on the kick is tight enough that it doesn't produce another tone.

Also make sure the hardware is all good, have plenty of washers/felts etc and make sure that the cymbals aren't recoiling horizontally off the stands. Also, stands that wobble about are a pain in the arse so really try and get hold of the best ones you can.

I loved basically every black panther snare I've recorded (birch,maple,walnut,steel,brass) and they are usually easily available. Lots of different models/sounds, but all turned out great. Want to try the vinnie Paul 14x8 snare still.....

The room really makes a huge difference to the drum sound, make sure you pick the right place for that. And then just make sure the drummer plays great :)
 
Great Thread!!

It's a litte bit OT, but how different will the sounds of e.g. the toms be if you remove the res heads? Can you still get a good tone out of it?
I'm asking this question because our drummer wants to remove the res heads, but we still haven't tried it yet. How big would be the difference?
 
colonel kurtz said:
the 80s was a pretty facepalm era...
Click to expand...

i think it was a great era because people weren´t afraid of experimenting. nowadays everybody is using the same amps, the same settings, the same samples, etc.
somehow i miss those days. but maybe i´m just an old bastard. :loco:
 
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