Drummicing question to Mr.Slate.

[Seizure.]

Ofcourse i'm asking the following questions because i still have to soundreplace my kick and sometimes snare, by answering my questions my/our kicks/snare would maybe become alot better and we maybe wouldn't need samples.. which could affect your sales in samples haha (eventhough we would have to become REALY good in a REALY short time then )

So if you want to keep some of your recording techniques a secret i would understand.

But if you are willing/wanting, i have these following questions for you since i am still strugling with my kicks, and in a lesser amount my snares.

Kick:

Do you use only an inside mic or also a extra outside mic?
If so.. what mics and how do you place them.. especially details/tips on how to place inside kickmics would be much aprecciated!

Second: how do you gate/eq/compress those?

Obviously the source matters aswell so any advice on what you do tuning wise to kickdrums before recording it?

what are good drumskins in your opinion?

those were it for now!

The main thing is, is that i can't get the highs and lows to sound as good/solid as i hear them on records and other samples, which leads me to drumagogging..
But you can't drumagog every band/style right?

My only qeustion on snare would be:

How do you treat/prevent cymbal bleed when recording snare? allways a big issue of mine and i would think other..

Any question answered would be wonderfull man!

mvg,

JB v/d wal.

 

[Slate]

hey bud, I'd be happy to answer all of this. I actually have a video coming out with Audix mics soon where I record and mix two different kits.. stay tuned for that...

I use a lot of mics on drums. The reason is options. I don't have to use them all, but the fact that I can always helps me. For kick I start with an inside mic. There are many great mics for in the kick, Audix being some of my favorite, but try everything you can to see what fits you.. AKG D112 is a popular bet as well. For outside the kick, I use a homemade WOOFER mic, which is basically an 8 inch woofer wired backwards. It adds that sub impulse and body to the inside kick. I'll also mic the room and get some kick ambience that way. Sometimes I'll also have a condensor about a foot out of the kick, and then I'll wrap a blanket around it to isolate it.

I point my kick mic pretty close to the beater, I like the attack, some guys point it a few inches off but I usually like it pretty direct on.

I'll send each kick mic to its own eq and compressor, usually modifying the low mids, and accentuating the highs. The compressor always follows the eq for me, and I'll compress kick with HIGH ratio, slow attack, and medium release so it holds the transient a little bit.

For snare, I really love the i5. Its similar to the 57, but with a bit more air on top. Under the snare I like an Audix scx5 pencil condensor. I'll also make sure that the bleed of the snare in the overheads sounds good, as well as the sound of the snare in the rooms. Room sound is such a huge part of snare tone its ridiculous. If you hear one of my Z1 samples alone and then add the Z4 ambeince, this dramatic difference can be heard quite easily.

The i5 is good on bleed, but you can always use a crafty gate, maybe even on a mult. I usually don't, but if the snare was recorded dull and I need to pull a lot of highs back into it, then I'll have to.

For eqs, I like the URS CSP, as well as outboard API 550As, Neve 1081s, and my Neotek console eq which is really sweet sounding.

MAKE SURE YOUR MICS ARE IN PHASE OR YOU'LL NEVER GET THE LOW END. Check this by soloing the overheads and then soloing each close mic and flipping phase. One option will have more lows, keep it there! This is VERY important.

Hope this helps.

 

[Seizure.]

That helped for sure, thanks alot!
Lots of homework for the next recording session
I'll let you know the results!

Gotta love forums when your stuck on something!

Thanks!

Jb.

 

[Soundlurker]

Thanks for all the info

 

[broken81]

Sweet info!!

 

[Ermz]

Thanks for that Steven. Speaking of phase, do you ever phase-align your drum mics after tracking in ProTools? I've heard that this is a fairly popular procedure, even if just shifting the room mics forward to the OHs, or the OHs forward to the snare, or whatnot.