Need a lot of advice.. Recording drums for the first time.

[abaga129]

I finally have the opportunity to record a decent kit and for the first time ever I will have the resources available to halfway pull it off. I say halfway because a lot of the mics that im using are less than ideal.

I have a CAD drum mic set that includes
SN210 for snare
2 x TM211 for toms
1 KM212 for Kick

I have 2 Behringer C-2's for OH's

and a Modded MXL 990 as a room mic.

I'm hoping that you guys can really help guide me to make the best possible recording with my current equipment and experience.

Aside from low end mics, the room im recording in could be a very big problem. It's the living area in my house and isnt very big. The floor is carpet, and the area that we will probably record at has a very big window right behind it. I'm planning to buy some foam pads that are used as exercise mats. I'll try my best to find the points of early reflection and use the pads to dampen the sound. I figure since they are pretty dense, it would be better than blankets.

My main concerns:

1. Avoiding Phase

2. Really bad bleed between mics.

3. The room killing the recording

4. The mics just wont cut it.

Hopefully you guys can give me some really good advice on this! You've never let me down before!

Also if the overheads sound bad, I can just program the cymbals. And if the shells sound like a floppy piece of shit, I can resort to using the mics as triggers for samples. But I would really like to use the whole kit in the record and blend samples with it.

Thanks for your time guys

 

[mva801]

Focus first on getting a good overhead sound. I'd start with a spaced pair pointing at the left and right cymbals about 2-3 feet off them. If you can make your cymbals sound good, you're halfway there. The kick, snare and toms are easier to place. Just point them so that the null points are toward the cymbals. Sometimes pointing your snare mic such that it's positioned for less bleed rather than what might be ideal, will result in a better sound.

If you're struggling with the overheads you could try micing the cymbals from a bit in front, or under. I usually have best results with spaced pair right over the top though.

 

[nichiz]

focus on overhead. make a doll recording and lissen to it only with OH Mic Left and Right Pan. if it sounds like a whole Kit and u like your sound on cymbals the u good to go. rest of the close mic will follow. just dont mic the close mic to close say 1-2 inch over the skin. my point of reference is. if you can get u palm of hand under u not to close. im no expert but i can record drum and it sounds good. sorry for my bad english im swedish and drinking whiskey right now.

 

[nichiz]

btw never ever replace cymbals bad cymbals sound better the sample. replace kick, snare & toms ok

 

[abaga129]

Okay thanks guys. So OH's are main priority.

I'm going through a nightmare right now. The C-2's I ordered got back ordered and I just got an email about it. They are estimated to be in stock on July 31st... so I'm trying to cancel my order asap and get them from another place right away so I can have them by the 10th.

Should I worry about phase while tracking or just fix it ITB?

 

[Revson]

Dude, go talk to Brandon Drury, who runs RecordingReview.com. He's just down in Scott City or Sikeston.

 

[abaga129]

I actually know a guy who interned with him. Had no idea how high up he was though. I wish I could go to him for advice or something but I've never met him or anything.

 

[BLUElightCory]

Your top priority should be making sure the drums are tuned well (and preferably have new(ish) heads on them) and also that you've got the best possible cymbals to record with. Most cities have a handful of guys who are good at tuning drums, ask around the music scene, music shops, other studios, etc. If you don't take this step, nothing else really matters.