recording drums in a dining room, tips and concerns?

[joeymusicguy]

this week i plan to do something i've never done before, which is record drums in my dining room of my house.

i already know there are reflection problems i should be concerned about, but do i really need to worry about this based on the fact that i'm not actually keeping anything but the cymbal mic's in the final mix?

also, any recommendations of how to temporarily treat the room to get a decent cymbal sound and help eliminate the reflections??

i have a little money to buy some real-traps or something if need be.

honestly i will save money in the long run if i can record drums in my dining room instead of recording drums at the old studio (which literally involves tearing everything down at my current studio and moving it to the old studio just to track there).

 

[derfbonker]

I would at least throw a rug down under the drum set, and put some heavy duty blakets up around the kit too. We just hang 'em on spare mic stands.

 

[Soundlurker]

High frequency reflections are easy to get rid of, however this doesn't mean there won't be a ton if you don't treat the room. I'd go with DIY panels. It will be pretty cheap if you're aiming at reducing high frequency reflections alone, as it is not necessary to have thick or dense absorbtion material. You'll have to be careful not to overdo it, since you don't want dull sounding OHs. An even simpler solution would be to strech some thick blankets across some microphone stands and see if that works ok.

 

[Nebulous]

If your sounds anything like mine, flutter echoes will be a big problem, especially on hte cymbals. I'd be treating the roof abit, as well as the walls/ floor.

Stand in the centre and have a snare hit or clap your hands. Treat untill you're happy with the results.

 

[::XeS::]

I recorded a drum tracks in a dining room a month ago, with lot of reverb and it turned out pretty well, without reflections or weird bleedings. I used 12 mics.
And don't worry, I've seen studio reports when big names record drums in really ghetto styles

 

[ahjteam]

Remember this thread?

 

[Trevoire520]

I've recorded drums in dining rooms a couple of times. Reflections can be a problem particularly if the ceiling is quite low. Pick up a Auralex Aurel Expanders kit or similar and that should help to stop too much in the way of reflections getting into the mics. As already said blankets hung on mic stands also work a treat.

 

[Nebulous]

Maybe even keep some furniture near the walls for some diffusion, rather than having it completely dead.

 

[Ermz]

Not all reflections have to be bad. Drums benefit from live spaces, but the condition is that the liveness is somewhat diffused and open. Flutter will likely be your biggest problem. Make sure the drums are a fair distance from any adjacent walls to stop early reflection comb filtering in the OHs. If the ceiling is low, keep the OHs themselves low. Clap around in your dining room a bit and see if there are any positions that are more acoustically pleasing than others. Treat the flutter points/parallel walls.

 

[joeymusicguy]

If your sounds anything like mine, flutter echoes will be a big problem, especially on hte cymbals. I'd be treating the roof abit, as well as the walls/ floor.

Stand in the centre and have a snare hit or clap your hands. Treat untill you're happy with the results.

the ceiling is pretty reflective
the floor is carpet
the walls (there's only 2) are painted dry wall, with two very wide and open "doorways" and a brick fireplace taking up one wall

the other wall is a back double door to the backyard (glass)

 

[Dom Ostarig]

Some weeks ago, i start to play in band that's supposed to be death metal... i'm out now.... but in that time i had to rec some reherseal.....i was afraid that the naked walls could ruined the sound to the lowest level of shittiest things..... but no...for my surprise, the walls reflections were someway cool..... but the room was big.....like a corridor...

 

[joeymusicguy]

Not all reflections have to be bad. Drums benefit from live spaces, but the condition is that the liveness is somewhat diffused and open. Flutter will likely be your biggest problem. Make sure the drums are a fair distance from any adjacent walls to stop early reflection comb filtering in the OHs. If the ceiling is low, keep the OHs themselves low. Clap around in your dining room a bit and see if there are any positions that are more acoustically pleasing than others. Treat the flutter points/parallel walls.

as it stands now, the flutter can be heard more when standing in a corner, and barely when in the center

 

[lolzgreg]

as it stands now, the flutter can be heard more when standing in a corner, and barely when in the center

I know this is off topic, but where did you track the drums for that Burden of a Day album? The guitars and bass sound great, (POD for those?) and the drums are nice, but I'm not a huge fan of the band.

-Greg

 

[colonel kurtz]

if i was in the same position as you, i'd probably buy a couple piles of OC 703 and make some portable bogos that you can move around the room to avoid some of the reflections

 

[spioraid]

Forks go on the left, spoons and knives on the right.

 

[joeymusicguy]

i was thinking about a pack of t'fusors
and some portable real traps?

in this situation would you go cardiod or hyper cardiod for spaced stereo pair overhead mic'ing?

 

[joeymusicguy]

 

[joeymusicguy]

the space is 13.5 feet by 13.5 feet and 8 feet tall

 

[lolzgreg]

the space is 13.5 feet by 13.5 feet and 8 feet tall

OH NOES. Walls with the same dimensions

http://www.mcsquared.com/modecalc.htm

Find out what you have to watch out for/what frequencies the room will emphasize in tracking. I would make gobos/bass traps and compeltely destroy the corners.

Also, I would put a reflective surface down under the drums (even if you end up putting a tiny rug on top) to brighten up the room a bit. Carpet is synonymous with dullness for drum recording (99% of drum rooms have a wood floor, non-reflective ceilings and semi-treated walls).

Set up your overhead mics and experiment with what sounds good, that's your best bet. I would recommend COMPLETELY deadening the wall behind the drum set which would help you eliminate any direct reflections off the walls back into the mics causing phase coherency issues.

Good luck-

Greg

 

[joeymusicguy]

those room calculations are bassed on enclosed spaces
have a look at the pictures, you'll see there are 3 very large openings to the room

thanks for the tips, i didnt even think about dullness being a problem, but it very well could be.

i plan to treat with lots of diffusion instead of absorption

what would be better, placing the drum kit in front of the glass doors or in front of the fireplace

OH NOES. Walls with the same dimensions

http://www.mcsquared.com/modecalc.htm

Find out what you have to watch out for/what frequencies the room will emphasize in tracking. I would make gobos/bass traps and compeltely destroy the corners.

Also, I would put a reflective surface down under the drums (even if you end up putting a tiny rug on top) to brighten up the room a bit. Carpet is synonymous with dullness for drum recording (99% of drum rooms have a wood floor, non-reflective ceilings and semi-treated walls).

Set up your overhead mics and experiment with what sounds good, that's your best bet. I would recommend COMPLETELY deadening the wall behind the drum set which would help you eliminate any direct reflections off the walls back into the mics causing phase coherency issues.

Good luck-

Greg