Trying to achieve huge drum sound, help on drum mikes need!

[acappa]

Hey guys, It´s been a long time since I opened my latest post.
I´m in a new place recording since october and now I´m very used to how the room sounds, my mikes, preamp choice and so....
I´m very happy with my drums results if I think I´m recording in a rehearshall room, not a studio and I have also mid range equipment.
The fact is that a producer that´s going to work with me on an album has given me some directions on the sound he wants to achieve soundwise, and he has mentioned Lamb of God´s Wrath drum sound.He is not interested in a super ringy snare so he´s in how the drums fill the mix. Well, at that point I realized: Man, you remember you´ve got the producer edition of both Sacrament and Wrath? So yesterday I started to listen to the drums alone and how bad I started to feel. I must say, man, I cannot achieve that huge drum sound.
I´m able to achieve a good snare, kick and tom sound, and if there´s some good cymbals a good stereo overhead...but that hugeness, it´s more from the room the drums were recorded than mikes and preamps. So now, everytime I listen to my drums I feel the lack of a pair of great room mikes/tracks that would make my drum tracks much bigger.
So my question is: For those who aren´t able to record in a super studio, with wooden floor and walls and so...how can I recreate a room track???

(My room is 19m2, there I record&mix and the place where I track drums is covered by rookwool with some sort of coating, so If you clap against the wall, you can realize it "eats" the sound, it´s completely dead)

And as a reward for having read my sermon here you can find some clues about LOG last recording drum sessions

Thank you so much!

 

[Trevoire520]

Go to the local timber yard and get a bunch of sheets of plywood. Pop 2 underneath the drum kit and lean the rest against the walls with the bottom of the sheet kicked out by about a foot. Instantly adds some liveness to the drum room and brightens up the sound of the drums in the overheads.

Only problem is that the drums might slide a bit on the wood. So screw some blocks of wood into the edge of the ply where the kick drum pegs will sit. This will stop the kick from moving forward as it has nowhere to go.

If your hi-hat is creeping away you could try these, I find they work pretty well:
http://www.stageworksgear.com/produ....htm#../files/images/heroImages/slipMat05.jpg

 

[B36arin]

You can reinforce the direct sound of the drums with room ambience samples. Slate has some really good ones.

 

[Sloan]

I need to try that plywood trick. Last year I tracked drums in my bedroom which is way smaller than this room, but the floor and walls are all hardwood. It made a huge difference and everything just sounded so much clearer. This room here is drywall with a carpet floor, everything sounds shit.

 

[acappa]

You can reinforce the direct sound of the drums with room ambience samples. Slate has some really good ones.

Hey, you mean the NRD and SSDR files that comes with every snare, toms and kicks????

Go to the local timber yard and get a bunch of sheets of plywood. Pop 2 underneath the drum kit and lean the rest against the walls with the bottom of the sheet kicked out by about a foot. Instantly adds some liveness to the drum room and brightens up the sound of the drums in the overheads.

Thanks trevoire! I have actually two sheets of pine wood, like 2cm thickness, I usually used them over my carpet floor but I recently stop using it because it´s not big enough for certain drumkits. What do you think it will add more effect, having the wood under the kit, on the wall behind the kit, on the sides???? Thankss!

 

[acappa]

I took some pics to show you guys the exact place where I record. Behind the metalic grill there´s a 4cm rockwool sheet on walls and ceiling.

 

[Trevoire520]

I need to try that plywood trick. Last year I tracked drums in my bedroom which is way smaller than this room, but the floor and walls are all hardwood. It made a huge difference and everything just sounded so much clearer. This room here is drywall with a carpet floor, everything sounds shit.

Give it a go man. Seriously makes a huge difference. I've normally just got 2 under the kit but before my last drum session I grabbed another couple of sheets for leaning up the walls. Sounded really good. Just gets the whole room sounding more lively.
The live room I'm working in is pretty big and pretty dead, great for rehearsing but not so great for recording.
I plan on getting more but I'm running out of places to store it all!

Thanks trevoire! I have actually two sheets of pine wood, like 2cm thickness, I usually used them over my carpet floor but I recently stop using it because it´s not big enough for certain drumkits. What do you think it will add more effect, having the wood under the kit, on the wall behind the kit, on the sides???? Thankss!

I'd probably go for underneath the kit first as this will brighten the sound of the whole kit in the overheads. Leaning wood against the walls can help with room modes apparently. Best bet is to try both and see which sounds better as every room is different.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

In addition to the excellent advice already given here, you can also try mimicing a pair of room mics (or a mono room mic, naturally) by sending the the drum tracks into an aux track and processing it with some nice room convolution. I like the free Bricasti M7 impulses for this myself. Mix the sends the way you could imagine a room mic picking them up. Go heavy on the shells and ease up on the cymbals. After the convolution, some creative EQ (you can get some excellent low end from the room channels, but the highs can be distracting and harsh) and compression (something similar to a 1176 works wonders) and you might get a pretty decent room tone. I use this a lot with programmed drums to hide some of the plasticness.

 

[acappa]

I'd probably go for underneath the kit first as this will brighten the sound of the whole kit in the overheads. Leaning wood against the walls can help with room modes apparently. Best bet is to try both and see which sounds better as every room is different.

How thick is the plywood you´re using, maybe 0.5-1cm???

In addition to the excellent advice already given here, you can also try mimicing a pair of room mics (or a mono room mic, naturally) by sending the the drum tracks into an aux track and processing it with some nice room convolution. I like the free Bricasti M7 impulses for this myself. Mix the sends the way you could imagine a room mic picking them up. Go heavy on the shells and ease up on the cymbals. After the convolution, some creative EQ (you can get some excellent low end from the room channels, but the highs can be distracting and harsh) and compression (something similar to a 1176 works wonders) and you might get a pretty decent room tone. I use this a lot with programmed drums to hide some of the plasticness.

Thanks! I will try this out! So, I just have to set a send on every drum piece and send it to an aux (Oh´s included), where I´ll place the impulse and do some equing and comping, right??

 

[Trevoire520]

Can't remember to be honest. Thickness shouldn't matter too much though as it's just there to give a nice reflection. Just pick up whatever's cheap, make sure that the wood lies flat on the floor though, as if it's warped then your kit will never sit right. Believe me I'm speaking from experience.