Proof that even under NON OPTIMAl conditions you can get damn good drum tones!!

[guitarguru777]

Ok so yesterday out of total boredom we set up the Tama Star Classic and grabbed the worst drum mics we had just to see if we could get anything usable out of them. Now keep in mind the heads on the kit are OLD AS FUCK too, but I think this actually sounds pretty fucking bad ass considering all the "shit factors" involved.

Microphones:
OH's - Sterling Audio ST31
Kick - Digital Reference DR-KX1
Snare - SM57 (only good mic on the entire kit..lol)
Toms - Digital Reference DR-STX1
Room: Audio Technica AT2020 (NON USB Version)

I think the kick mic for being such a piece of shit sounds pretty damn good. Took a bit of EQ to get everything where it is sitting now, but hell this is pretty fucking impressive for a $99 set of drum mics. Snare got some verb and some there is a bit of comp on the snare and toms. Then on the whole kit there is another smaller room verb but not much.

Not too shabby if you ask me....lol

http://www.jasoncohenitservices.com/Drum_Test.wav

 

[Nuno Filipe]

This sounds quite good, especially the kick.

 

[guitarguru777]

Tell me about it. I am totally in shock....lol

 

[Melb_shredder]

I had a similar experience recording the EP i'm currently working on... Living room recording with average mic kit... Drums sound cool as! It's not always about the gear.. you need to know how to use whatever you can get your hands on. If Andy Sneap can get THE BEST *imo* metal guitar tones with just an SM57.. nothing else. Then fuck it!

 

[~BURNY~]

Sounds quite thin to me to be perfectly honest .

I'd blame the cheap mics (as well as the drum heads and the phase but mostly the mics).

Get a nice real mic set asap and never look back.

 

[Nuno Filipe]

The overheads and toms sound good also. Must be the drummer more than the mics!lol

Quite thin but more than usable. It´s all natural and most of mics are shit. If we have that in mind , sounds quite good. I´ve heard lot worst with much better gear.

 

[StefTD]

I had to mic the cheapss school drumkit from my old school once, using a 120€ mic set
consisting of 6 mics.
It didn't sound to bad, the only real problem was, I only had a 2 track interface, so
I had to use a cheap mixer from the school and sum it up, no samples or anything
like that, just a bit reverb from the mixer on the ohs and alot of use of the semi-parametric
eq from the mixer
compressed the whole signal in the end, used another reverb (just a little bit) and it was
not as fucked up as I thought, actually very decent.
But for metal, it would have sucked soooo hard

 

[guitarklown]

Sounds quite thin to me to be perfectly honest .

I'd blame the cheap mics (as well as the drum heads and the phase but mostly the mics).

Get a nice real mic set asap and never look back.

He didn't say "Hey guys! Listen to how AmAazInG my drums sound"
Just stating to others starting out that you can get a half decent
sound out of cheap mics.

 

[mva801]

This doesn't sound too shabby at all. If whoever was playing hit the snare about three times harder it would sound even better.

 

[zakky]

not bad at all! good job!

 

[Skyweaver]

sounds great - what size room and what was the rest of the chain ?

 

[~BURNY~]

He didn't say "Hey guys! Listen to how AmAazInG my drums sound"
Just stating to others starting out that you can get a half decent
sound out of cheap mics.

And my point is you can't. Just my honest opinion. Guru is a big boy you know. I'm sure my opinion won't hurt his feelings.

 

[guitarguru777]

wwhhhaaaawhhhhaaawhhhhaaa Burny you hurt my feewings ......lol

REst of the chain was really basic, only the snare had anything decent to run though, my Focusrite Isa One. Everything else was direct into my pro 40. There is some Comp on the toms, snare and OH's a LA-2A Emulation. Some verb.... the room is 20x24 3/4 inch Maple on the walls, and there is a Stone surface behind the kit to break up some of the relection and standing waves. Check the video tour of the studio and you will see the room .....

http://www.constantinestudios.info