What is your drum setup/micing time like?

[ArroldW]

Just trying to see what everyone's setup time is like. The factors I am talking about are as followed;

-the drummer getting his gear in studio
-the drummer setting up his kit
-you micing the entire kit and cymbals
-making sure the mic placement sounds good

I don't know if it's just me, but i seem to be taking a long time. And I noticed the time change in setup once I stopped using triggers a couple of months back. There are times on bigger project's [5+ songs] where I have the drummer bring his kit the day before tracking so I can mic and tune the kit. I am also sure that having a bigger room would benefit the time as well. My drum room isn't that big at all.

My time has been estimated anywhere between 2-4 hours [smaller projects].

 

[Scott C.]

I don't think that's too long at all if you are getting good drum tones both you and the band are happy with. alot of larger/mainstream albums they take days to get the right tones. (mic placement,trying different heads,different snares checking phase on all the mics etc..)

 

[ArroldW]

alot of larger/mainstream albums they take days to get the right tones. (mic placement,trying different heads,different snares checking phase on all the mics etc..)

I really really REALLY need to start doing this. Especially for the toms..

 

[mva801]

Drum set up can easily take 4-5 hours. In a bigger studio especially/ Getting the drums setup and tuned can take a bit if the drummer sucks at tuning and the kit doesnt sound great. Setting up with 14 or so mics also takes a while. I rarely do a larger setup that takes less than 3 hours. Dialing in/ checking phase/ moving mics, all takes time.

 

[pitoga]

when i was studying AE, they told me that it's convenient to setup the drums the day before the actual recording because the wood tends to change with the environment. The next day you make another tuning check and ready you are.

 

[Seth Morris]

In a pinch, I can get it done in a few hours, but I prefer to have a day set aside for it.

 

[RandomAwesome]

5 hours is about my average setup/mic placement/tuning time. Some shorter, some longer.

 

[Contra Studio]

What do you guy best the phasing around?? Like over heads first or toms or snare.

 

[mva801]

^^^^ uh...... What?

 

[sebby123]

I think he means the order of setting up mics and how where balancing phase Example: Checking Overhead to snare and so on.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I'd love to have a day for drum setup, but usually that's not possible, so anywhere from two to six hours. I track at other studios, so the time usually includes figuring out the routing and setup of the studio as well unless it's a place I'm already familiar with.

Regarding the phasing, it's not that big of a deal, really. Use common sense when micing the kit, and if you hear a phase problem, flip flip flip.

 

[vespiz]

In a pinch, I can get it done in a few hours, but I prefer to have a day set aside for it.

This.

I check phase on everything, especially snare vs. oh & snare vs. room mics. Sometimes flipping only the OH works the best.

 

[Contra Studio]

^^^^ uh...... What?

Sorry was drunk last night

 

[if6was9]

Usually if they load in at 10 we might be ready to track around 2ish. Sometimes earlier, sometimes a little later but usually it takes around 4ish hours.

Bands can be so different! Some want to take the time to get it perfect and get the best drum sounds we can with the gear we have so tuning all gets messed with, mic placements get changed and thats awesome. But then there's tons of bands that just don't get why it takes so long and go crazy with you setting up and testing things.
I've had a few drummers that I had to ask to leave the room because they just couldn't handle the waiting. Some of the same drummers then ask why their drums don't sound as good as other guys do. Hmmmm I wonder!

 

[jangoux]

Well...Usually I record with the drums that we have at the place I work on and I tuned 'em all...AND drummers dont care for the tuning, so I tune it as whatever I feel it is best for the project. Some drummers dont even like to setup, so sometimes I do it myself and make small adjustments when the drummer ins in. Right ? I dont think so, but we gotta do what we gotta do. I also try to mic the drumset before the drummer arives...so, 1 hours to tune/mic the kit, 1 hour moving mics around and setting levels and stuff.

 

[Sloan]

I set one whole day for just setup stuff. For the shit that I do I don't get to experience the luxury of swapping heads/snares etc but it still takes a while to get it to sound what we need it to sound like and fix all the broken shit on the drummer's kit. I highly suggest investing in your own high quality kit. I have a really cheap gretsch kit, but it will pay for itself when a drummer brings his $50 wal-mart kit.

 

[Trevoire520]

Getting drums in, tuned and mic'd up normally takes me about 3 hours or so.Though I'm working with low budget bands so they don't really have enough money to spend an entire day just getting drum sounds down. I wish they did mind you as I LOVE recording drums.

 

[jangoux]

I might add that after 2 to 3 hours doing setup, I am not 'fresh' and 'excited' enough to endure 6+ hours of tracking drums. Start tracking on the next day is MUCH better.

 

[tempe]

I get the band to come in the night before for setup, reskinning and tuning. Then they leave and go all mad scientist on the room and mic placement, whole process is between 4 and 6 hours.

 

[C_F_H_13]

I'd say 4 hours is about the most time I ever can spend on it, and it usually takes me about 2-3 hours to get my end setup, and then another hour of tweaking the actual kit.

I've been doing drums in the same room for 4 years now, and have literally done probably 100 or more drum days. Because of this in a pinch I could get setup in like 30 minutes if I had to and be ok with it. It's still rare for me to get more then a few hours though. Longest I ever got to take was 6 hours...