Drums recording session: big room and lot of reverb

[::XeS::]

Hi
In march I'll record a promo for a band and I'll track the drums into a chalet in a very big room.
The room is very irregular, the walls are mixed (stone walls and plaster walls....I don't know if plaster is the right word. I mean a normal brick wall,covered by cement and painted) and the ceiling is very high.
Today I went in this house and I tried to clap my hands, to speak, etc and there's lot of reverb inside.
So...is this a problem if I'll track drums in there? I know that large spaces are very good for drums, expecially if the room has high ceiling.
Is it good to have reverb?

 

[MetalJonesy]

for that id be sure to mic the overheads closer than usual to reduce the balance of signal to verb ratio and also include a set of room mics.

 

[paladin shredder]

for that id be sure to mic the overheads closer than usual to reduce the balance of signal to verb ratio and also include a set of room mics.

+1, you may end up liking the reverb in the mix, but it should only really effect the overheads. you may want to mic the hi-hat or ride or any individual cymbal you don't want sounding too washy in the background. close mic everything, but also have some room mics.

 

[KeithTidd]

Don't worry too much, if it's a good sounding room, you won't have to work as hard to make the drums sound good. It's also ok if you decide to augment the drums with reverb after the fact.

also, on the issue of overhead placement I would place them where you normally like to. I've recorded in big rooms, and i find that it doesn't matter how high the overheads are, they don't pick up a ton of room sound. I usually place my overs 4 feet above the snare and floor tom mic.

 

[::XeS::]

Last time I tracked drums I place the OH's at 35-40cm from the highest cymbals (1meter ca. from the snare)...I think this placement it's not too much high so I think it will be good also in a big room

This is a photo from my last "very ghetto" drums session (this is not the chalet I'll use)

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah dude, jesus - I pity your ears, even with earplugs!

 

[Sly]

I think you'll don't have to change so much your habits, anyway having a pair of room mics in the corners facing the drumkit should bring something very cool to your drum sound.

 

[Seizure.]

You should embrace it man! Hi ceiling is great, and i don't know how the room should sound from your further description, but it sounds like a room i regularly use!

Put up some Omni's on the floor, L/R from the kit, about 2 meters away (or more..) and compress those to hell and back.. you'll never want anything else

 

[Seizure.]

You should embrace it man! Hi ceiling is great, and i don't know how the room should sound from your further description, but it sounds like a room i regularly use!

Put up some Omni's on the floor, L/R from the kit, about 2 meters away (or more..) and compress those to hell and back.. you'll never want anything else

 

[Machinated]

Yeah, get a load of room mics in there and love it!

 

[::XeS::]

What do you think about Behringer ecm3000 as room mics? I know they are from behringer but I know Lasse use it as room mic...
I have a large condenser mic that should be sets to Omni but I would like to use it outside the kick drum

 

[Machinated]

Id say go for anything you can as a room - obviously better mics would be prefered, but seeing as the sound of the room is so far out of your control, it doesn't matter too much how the mic affects the sound. A stereo pair would be really cool if the room as particularly good sounding.

 

[Seizure.]

What do you think about Behringer ecm3000 as room mics? I know they are from behringer but I know Lasse use it as room mic...
I have a large condenser mic that should be sets to Omni but I would like to use it outside the kick drum

They are awesome on rooms, i use them on all my stuff.

 

[Tesseract]

Depends if the room sounds good (regardless of size) ? And what style of music it is? If its metal with blast beats everywhere then yeah its gonna be an issue. If its slower...alot of half time style beats then it could be very cool.

Just got back from doing some recording at metropolis and the room is huge sounding. Usually not used for drums but it works for us...obviously its a well treated room though (with wood and granite walls). Check for flutters/parrlelelele walls etc.

 

[KeithTidd]

dynamics work great on rooms, if yo have extra 57's, toss em up.

 

[::XeS::]

Ok...I've shot some pics of the rooms. I'm thinking about different options.

FIRST FLOOR
a)
Highest ceiling but irregular back wall and un-parallel side walls..

b)
One side wall and back wall very close do the drums and the other side wall "open"


GROUND FLOOR
c)
Low ceiling but regular and parallel walls, with some glass wall in the back

d)
Parallel walls without glass in the back.

Obviously I'll move tables, chairs etc etc...
It's a very irregular house...with very weird building so it's a pain in the ass to find the right placement for a drumset
What do you think?

 

[Ermz]

That is a very strange house indeed. I would opt for the place where the ceiling is the highest and the room provides the most space to not have to set up too close to a corner. It has to also allow for stereo room mic placement that makes them equidistant from the kit. Clap around a bit. Make sure there isn't too much flutter echo where you're setting up.

I hope to get some pics up of a kit recording I did about 2 weeks ago soon.

 

[Morgan C]

I'd probably go for (c).. the carpet will offset some of the reflections from the parallel walls.. plus opposing walls are of completely different texture. And it looks as if you can open that glass wall/door up? Might be something to look at. Chandelier might get in the way though..

On the other hand, using (a) with some really high overheads and lots of room mics might produce a really cool sound. It all depends on WHAT you're recording.. I don't think you've said. If the drummers just playing some basic 4/4 beats then (a) could work really well, but if he's doing blastbeats and fast double bass and etc. I'd probably go for (c).

 

[::XeS::]

I'll record a death metal band (Dark Tranquillity style).
My first idea was for a and b, but watching better the room, it's good because it has an high ceiling, but it's also irregular in the back, it has one wall close to the drums and another wall very distant....
Today I thought it's better to record in the ground floor. I'll cover the glass wall with some carpets to avoid the bad reflections and I'm thinking to place the drums in the center (beetween c and d) facing the chimney.
What a fuckin' house

 

[::XeS::]

I'm still undecided.
Another question: where does it's better to have more space? Between the drums and the sidewalls or between the drums and the front/rear walls?
Do you think the irregular back wall in the first 2 pics could produce a bad sound?