| Home |
| Search |
| Today's Posts |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Recording Drums
Recording Drums
Drums are the fundamental component of music; "The Bed Track" as we call it. All other instruments are recorded to the rhythms of the drum performance. All instruments eventually trace their roots back to Africa where rhythm was essential to the spirituality of the tribal culture. To this day we notice the rhythm of the drum from the native peoples of Canada, to a dance hall, to someone just tapping their feet to a beat. We are all intertwined with rhythm. Recording drums is one of the most challenging situations you will ever come across in the studio. The microphones you use and how you place them is important in the initial preparation. A tuned kit with new heads is the standard operating procedure for all drummers. No amount of EQ or signal processing can resurrect a cardboard sounding drum kit after it's been recorded. The room you are recording in is very critical also. Rock prod/eng's prefer large live rooms to capture the ambience of the kit. As for pop drummers, they are often located in booths or small rooms that are reasonably dry sounding so you can get a present sound. The Kick Drum For the kick drum, you should use a dynamic mic - the bigger the diaphragm, the better low-end pick-up. I've used RE-20's and AKG-112's. The way I usually mic a kick drum is to stick the mic inside the kick drum (I always remove the front head) about 3-6 inches in front the front head. That's a good place to start - you can move the mic around and find the best sounding location. I usually stick a pillow or blankets against the rear of the drum head to minimize ring. You'll get more attack the closer the mic is to the beater - you'll get more overtones farther away. On certain occasions we use two mics. A small diaphragm dynamic (421) close to the beater to get the attack of the bass drum. The other mic, a large diaphragm, further away from the head to pickup the low end of the resonance of the bass drum. This allows you to have the flexibility to control the mix of the attack and resonance. With the close mic you can EQ from 2-4Khz to get the attack. Anything higher than 4Khz will just make the attack sound thin. With the close mic try to avoid aiming it directly at the beater. This prevents dramatic changes in the attack sound of the bass drum. If you place the mic slightly off axis and EQ the mid range (more than you would if the mic were on axis) the attack sound of the bass drum will be more even. With the large diaphragm mic place it closer to front of the drum (where the head has been removed) this will allow you to get more of the low end resonance. If using a large diaphragm condenser make sure to pad it down (use pad on mic) and place a Kleenex over the microphone to prevent the capsule from being overloaded by wind. With EQing the bottom end you need to know if you would like the bottom end to be heard or felt. EQing between 30-60Hz will allow you to "feel" the bottom end only on large speaker systems. If you need to hear the bottom end EQ between 60-100Hz. This will allow you to "hear" the attack of the low end on smaller speaker systems. The bass drum also produces a lot of low mid range frequencies that tend to not relate to themselves. This usually occurs between 300-600Hz. Be prepared to remove some of these frequencies, which will allow the bass drum to sound tighter and punchier. As in any situation using two mics you need to be prepared for phasing problems. This problem can be solved by flipping the phase on one of the mics or moving the position of one of the mics. The Snare Drum The best way to capture a great snare sound is by close miking it with a dynamic cardioid-pattern mic that can handle a high SPL and keep leakage to a minimum. The legendary SM-57 is an excellent mic for the snare, it is the choice of many professional engineers, and it's what I use myself. The classic approach for miking the snare is to place the mic 1-3 inches over the snare rim opposite the drummer and 1-3 inches above the top drum head. The mic should be at about a 35-degree angle downward. I usually try to also angle the mic inward (away from the hi-hats) to avoid leakage from the hi-hats. You can also mic the bottom snare head for some added top end but remember to reverse the phase. If the drummer is playing with brushes try using a small diaphragm condenser cardioid microphone. The condenser will have a larger pickup pattern to capture more of the performance. With EQ the snare drum has three basic regions: Low end 100Hz (depending on depth of snare drum), mid range (crack) 3-5 kHz and top end 10 kHz and above. In rock, snare drums you tend to desire a lot of the mid range/crack and low end. In Pop you tend to desire more of the top end over the mid range. The Toms It's best to mic each tom separately. Again, small diaphragm dynamic mics work the best, and SM-57's and Sennheiser 421's are a good choice for their tight pick-up pattern and high SPL. Small diaphragm condenser mics are great for getting more top end but remember to insert a pad so the mics don't overload and be prepared for cymbal leakage. The best approach to miking toms is to place the mic 4-6 inches above the drumhead at about a 45-degree angle over the head. If you pick up a lot of overtones, a little duct tape in the right spots will kill the overtones, or if you have a noise gate you can gate out the overtones. I always move the mics around to capture the right balance of attack and resonance. In EQing toms there are four different ranges: Low end 80-120Hz (depending on size of tom) Low Mid range 300-600Hz, High Mid range 2-4kHz and Top end 10kHz and above. In an average EQ setting on a tom you would see a boost in the Low end, High Mid range and High end as well as a cut in the Low Mid range. The Overheads The drum overhead mics are really supposed to capture the overall sound of the drums, not just the cymbals. Condenser mics such as U-87s and AKG 414s are the first choice for overheads, and one popular miking technique is with a spaced pair of mics (on boom stands) mounted 2-3 feet above the drums -the right mic pointed at the right cymbals, the left mic pointed at the left cymbals. Remember that when raising overheads the acoustics of the room will factor into the sonic equation. When mixing direct drum mics with the overheads this most likely causes acoustical phasing problems, this happens in the low frequency range. The low frequencies in phase with the snare drum mic have a tendency to be out of phase when the overheads are mixed in, due to the wavelength of low end frequencies. When checking for phasing problems on drums assign all mics to a mono listening position. It is hard to detect phasing problems with mics panned to different positions in the stereo image. If you notice phasing problems just reverse the phase button on the input strip or move the mic positions. EQ overheads if you need a brighter sound and insert shelving curves in the high end try to avoid rolling off the low end, for this will make your snare and toms sound thin. E.g. +3dB @10Khz (shelf). The Hi-hat Use a small diaphragm condenser mic like an AKG 451 placed about 6" above the high-hats, pointed straight down at the center of the top hat. Sometimes high-hats have a tendency to produce unwanted midrange frequencies around 1.5 kHz which tend to make the high-hat sound trashy. Omitting some of this frequency range will allow the high-hat to sound more defined in the high end. Room Mics Use at least 2 omni mics of the same model. Place them in the centre of the room to get an even room sound. This often requires the use of hard surface baffles between the room mics and the drum kit. This removes the initial direct sound in the pickup allowing the engineer/producer to utilize more of the room resonance. Drum Compression Drum compressing and limiting is often used to control dynamic problems and/or create a desired effect. When using a live performance you tend to get excessive dynamics. For example: when the drummer hits a kick drum and crash cymbal on the downbeat of a chorus, even though the transient is of short time duration it will limit you into how much level you can translate to a CD in mastering. This transient causes the drums to separate themselves from the rest of the elements in the mix. Because the duration of the transient is so short it is hard to correct this dynamic problem through manual fader riding. A good solution for this is to bus all the drums to two tracks and bring this two track stereo sub-mix of the drums back into more inputs. At this stage you can insert limiting to control the extension of the transient. You will need to incorporate an attack time of less then 1millisecond due to the transient nature of the drums. The release time should also be very fast 5-10ms so the only transient is affected and the rest of the performance is left untouched. A limiting ratio of 10:1 or higher will suffice. Remember to allow headroom so some amount of the transient will pass through, rather than being hard limited. This is accomplished by first setting a limiting ratio, with a fast attack time and a fast release time. Next, set the threshold to a setting where the limited audio information is approximately 2-3ms in duration for the nature of drum transients is a very fast attack and a very fast release with little duration in between. The goal here is to limit only this fast transient without affecting the resonance of the drum sound. Another advantageous use in dynamic control is getting your drums to sound punchier. This is achieved by first eliminating the random transients and then inserting compression with a ratio 4:1 to 8:1. The attack time should be any where from 20-50 ms which allows the louder attacks of sound to pass through unaffected. Once the attack is cleared the compressor will kick in, lowering the sustain part of the drum signal. Next set the release time (1-200ms) so the sustain part of the signal is compressed and decays until the approach of the next transient comp/limit. When you are sub-mixing drums to a stereo bus remember to insert the stereo link function on the comp/limiter. In dealing with dynamic control on separate drums allow yourself to create a certain characteristics to achieve great sounds. With snare drum a common problem is getting a good attack but with no sustain which causes the drum to sound inconsistent and weak. The problem here is that even though the attack of the drum is heard on a consistent basis the length and level of the sustain changes randomly. In dealing with this problem split the snare drum over two input channels. Over the first input try to maximize the transient quality of the snare drum by utilizing transparent limiting and EQ in the mid range and high end. On the other channel first gate the signal so all you hear is the snare drum. Next insert a limiter with a very fast attack and very fast release time. The goal here is to limit the attack of the signal heavily. This allows the sustain to be consistent in level and adds more length in duration. To add more body to the sound, EQ in the low mid range and low end. Now mix in this signal with the more transient snare drum signal which will allow you to add in more body to the snare drum that will make it sound bigger and more consistent. In effect, you are decreasing the dynamic range between the level of the transient nature of the drum and the sustain properties of the drum. Room Microphones Use two large diaphragm condensers of the same model placed at an even distance from each other and closest walls. If the room is 36' wide place the mics 12' from the walls to get maximum diffusion. If the room is 48' deep place the mics 18' from the walls. The biggest problem with room miking is the noticeable delay between the audio from the close mics and the original audio arriving to the room mics (diagram A). The solution is to remove the direct signal from the drums from entering the room mics (diagram B). This will allow the room mics to only pick up diffused early reflections and the room reverb, allowing you to mix it in at a higher level without any noticeable flam. |
|
#2
|
|||
|
|||
|
You know, SOME of us record all of the instruments at the same time as the
drums - you know, that playing together thing... But lets see - I record pop and country drums in a large room, I don't remove the front head on the kick drum - hell, I do a lot of things different from what you say is the 'best' way to do them. I hate when that happens. -- Dave Martin Java Jive Studio Nashville, TN www.javajivestudio.com "Matrixmusic" wrote in message oups.com... Recording Drums Drums are the fundamental component of music; "The Bed Track" as we call it. All other instruments are recorded to the rhythms of the drum performance. Recording drums is one of the most challenging situations you will ever come across in the studio. The microphones you use and how you place them is important in the initial preparation. A tuned kit with new heads is the standard operating procedure for all drummers. No amount of EQ or signal processing can resurrect a cardboard sounding drum kit after it's been recorded. The room you are recording in is very critical also. Rock prod/eng's prefer large live rooms to capture the ambience of the kit. As for pop drummers, they are often located in booths or small rooms that are reasonably dry sounding so you can get a present sound. The Kick Drum For the kick drum, you should use a dynamic mic - the bigger the diaphragm, the better low-end pick-up. I've used RE-20's and AKG-112's. The way I usually mic a kick drum is to stick the mic inside the kick drum (I always remove the front head) about 3-6 inches in front the front head. That's a good place to start - you can move the mic around and find the best sounding location. I usually stick a pillow or blankets against the rear of the drum head to minimize ring. You'll get more attack the closer the mic is to the beater - you'll get more overtones farther away. On certain occasions we use two mics. A small diaphragm dynamic (421) close to the beater to get the attack of the bass drum. The other mic, a large diaphragm, further away from the head to pickup the low end of the resonance of the bass drum. This allows you to have the flexibility to control the mix of the attack and resonance. With the close mic you can EQ from 2-4Khz to get the attack. Anything higher than 4Khz will just make the attack sound thin. With the close mic try to avoid aiming it directly at the beater. This prevents dramatic changes in the attack sound of the bass drum. If you place the mic slightly off axis and EQ the mid range (more than you would if the mic were on axis) the attack sound of the bass drum will be more even. With the large diaphragm mic place it closer to front of the drum (where the head has been removed) this will allow you to get more of the low end resonance. If using a large diaphragm condenser make sure to pad it down (use pad on mic) and place a Kleenex over the microphone to prevent the capsule from being overloaded by wind. With EQing the bottom end you need to know if you would like the bottom end to be heard or felt. EQing between 30-60Hz will allow you to "feel" the bottom end only on large speaker systems. If you need to hear the bottom end EQ between 60-100Hz. This will allow you to "hear" the attack of the low end on smaller speaker systems. The bass drum also produces a lot of low mid range frequencies that tend to not relate to themselves. This usually occurs between 300-600Hz. Be prepared to remove some of these frequencies, which will allow the bass drum to sound tighter and punchier. As in any situation using two mics you need to be prepared for phasing problems. This problem can be solved by flipping the phase on one of the mics or moving the position of one of the mics. The Snare Drum The best way to capture a great snare sound is by close miking it with a dynamic cardioid-pattern mic that can handle a high SPL and keep leakage to a minimum. The legendary SM-57 is an excellent mic for the snare, it is the choice of many professional engineers, and it's what I use myself. The classic approach for miking the snare is to place the mic 1-3 inches over the snare rim opposite the drummer and 1-3 inches above the top drum head. The mic should be at about a 35-degree angle downward. I usually try to also angle the mic inward (away from the hi-hats) to avoid leakage from the hi-hats. You can also mic the bottom snare head for some added top end but remember to reverse the phase. If the drummer is playing with brushes try using a small diaphragm condenser cardioid microphone. The condenser will have a larger pickup pattern to capture more of the performance. With EQ the snare drum has three basic regions: Low end 100Hz (depending on depth of snare drum), mid range (crack) 3-5 kHz and top end 10 kHz and above. In rock, snare drums you tend to desire a lot of the mid range/crack and low end. In Pop you tend to desire more of the top end over the mid range. The Toms It's best to mic each tom separately. Again, small diaphragm dynamic mics work the best, and SM-57's and Sennheiser 421's are a good choice for their tight pick-up pattern and high SPL. Small diaphragm condenser mics are great for getting more top end but remember to insert a pad so the mics don't overload and be prepared for cymbal leakage. The best approach to miking toms is to place the mic 4-6 inches above the drumhead at about a 45-degree angle over the head. If you pick up a lot of overtones, a little duct tape in the right spots will kill the overtones, or if you have a noise gate you can gate out the overtones. I always move the mics around to capture the right balance of attack and resonance. In EQing toms there are four different ranges: Low end 80-120Hz (depending on size of tom) Low Mid range 300-600Hz, High Mid range 2-4kHz and Top end 10kHz and above. In an average EQ setting on a tom you would see a boost in the Low end, High Mid range and High end as well as a cut in the Low Mid range. The Overheads The drum overhead mics are really supposed to capture the overall sound of the drums, not just the cymbals. Condenser mics such as U-87s and AKG 414s are the first choice for overheads, and one popular miking technique is with a spaced pair of mics (on boom stands) mounted 2-3 feet above the drums -the right mic pointed at the right cymbals, the left mic pointed at the left cymbals. Remember that when raising overheads the acoustics of the room will factor into the sonic equation. When mixing direct drum mics with the overheads this most likely causes acoustical phasing problems, this happens in the low frequency range. The low frequencies in phase with the snare drum mic have a tendency to be out of phase when the overheads are mixed in, due to the wavelength of low end frequencies. When checking for phasing problems on drums assign all mics to a mono listening position. It is hard to detect phasing problems with mics panned to different positions in the stereo image. If you notice phasing problems just reverse the phase button on the input strip or move the mic positions. EQ overheads if you need a brighter sound and insert shelving curves in the high end try to avoid rolling off the low end, for this will make your snare and toms sound thin. E.g. +3dB @10Khz (shelf). The Hi-hat Use a small diaphragm condenser mic like an AKG 451 placed about 6" above the high-hats, pointed straight down at the center of the top hat. Sometimes high-hats have a tendency to produce unwanted midrange frequencies around 1.5 kHz which tend to make the high-hat sound trashy. Omitting some of this frequency range will allow the high-hat to sound more defined in the high end. Room Mics Use at least 2 omni mics of the same model. Place them in the centre of the room to get an even room sound. This often requires the use of hard surface baffles between the room mics and the drum kit. This removes the initial direct sound in the pickup allowing the engineer/producer to utilize more of the room resonance. Drum Compression Drum compressing and limiting is often used to control dynamic problems and/or create a desired effect. When using a live performance you tend to get excessive dynamics. For example: when the drummer hits a kick drum and crash cymbal on the downbeat of a chorus, even though the transient is of short time duration it will limit you into how much level you can translate to a CD in mastering. This transient causes the drums to separate themselves from the rest of the elements in the mix. Because the duration of the transient is so short it is hard to correct this dynamic problem through manual fader riding. A good solution for this is to bus all the drums to two tracks and bring this two track stereo sub-mix of the drums back into more inputs. At this stage you can insert limiting to control the extension of the transient. You will need to incorporate an attack time of less then 1millisecond due to the transient nature of the drums. The release time should also be very fast 5-10ms so the only transient is affected and the rest of the performance is left untouched. A limiting ratio of 10:1 or higher will suffice. Remember to allow headroom so some amount of the transient will pass through, rather than being hard limited. This is accomplished by first setting a limiting ratio, with a fast attack time and a fast release time. Next, set the threshold to a setting where the limited audio information is approximately 2-3ms in duration for the nature of drum transients is a very fast attack and a very fast release with little duration in between. The goal here is to limit only this fast transient without affecting the resonance of the drum sound. Another advantageous use in dynamic control is getting your drums to sound punchier. This is achieved by first eliminating the random transients and then inserting compression with a ratio 4:1 to 8:1. The attack time should be any where from 20-50 ms which allows the louder attacks of sound to pass through unaffected. Once the attack is cleared the compressor will kick in, lowering the sustain part of the drum signal. Next set the release time (1-200ms) so the sustain part of the signal is compressed and decays until the approach of the next transient comp/limit. When you are sub-mixing drums to a stereo bus remember to insert the stereo link function on the comp/limiter. In dealing with dynamic control on separate drums allow yourself to create a certain characteristics to achieve great sounds. With snare drum a common problem is getting a good attack but with no sustain which causes the drum to sound inconsistent and weak. The problem here is that even though the attack of the drum is heard on a consistent basis the length and level of the sustain changes randomly. In dealing with this problem split the snare drum over two input channels. Over the first input try to maximize the transient quality of the snare drum by utilizing transparent limiting and EQ in the mid range and high end. On the other channel first gate the signal so all you hear is the snare drum. Next insert a limiter with a very fast attack and very fast release time. The goal here is to limit the attack of the signal heavily. This allows the sustain to be consistent in level and adds more length in duration. To add more body to the sound, EQ in the low mid range and low end. Now mix in this signal with the more transient snare drum signal which will allow you to add in more body to the snare drum that will make it sound bigger and more consistent. In effect, you are decreasing the dynamic range between the level of the transient nature of the drum and the sustain properties of the drum. Room Microphones Use two large diaphragm condensers of the same model placed at an even distance from each other and closest walls. If the room is 36' wide place the mics 12' from the walls to get maximum diffusion. If the room is 48' deep place the mics 18' from the walls. The biggest problem with room miking is the noticeable delay between the audio from the close mics and the original audio arriving to the room mics (diagram A). The solution is to remove the direct signal from the drums from entering the room mics (diagram B). This will allow the room mics to only pick up diffused early reflections and the room reverb, allowing you to mix it in at a higher level without any noticeable flam. |
|
#3
|
|||
|
|||
|
Great article....thanks a ton! Now I just wish I had all these mics =)
-- Jonny Durango "Patrick was a saint. I ain't." http://www.jdurango.com "Matrixmusic" wrote in message oups.com... Recording Drums Drums are the fundamental component of music; "The Bed Track" as we call it. All other instruments are recorded to the rhythms of the drum performance. All instruments eventually trace their roots back to Africa where rhythm was essential to the spirituality of the tribal culture. To this day we notice the rhythm of the drum from the native peoples of Canada, to a dance hall, to someone just tapping their feet to a beat. We are all intertwined with rhythm. Recording drums is one of the most challenging situations you will ever come across in the studio. The microphones you use and how you place them is important in the initial preparation. A tuned kit with new heads is the standard operating procedure for all drummers. No amount of EQ or signal processing can resurrect a cardboard sounding drum kit after it's been recorded. The room you are recording in is very critical also. Rock prod/eng's prefer large live rooms to capture the ambience of the kit. As for pop drummers, they are often located in booths or small rooms that are reasonably dry sounding so you can get a present sound. The Kick Drum For the kick drum, you should use a dynamic mic - the bigger the diaphragm, the better low-end pick-up. I've used RE-20's and AKG-112's. The way I usually mic a kick drum is to stick the mic inside the kick drum (I always remove the front head) about 3-6 inches in front the front head. That's a good place to start - you can move the mic around and find the best sounding location. I usually stick a pillow or blankets against the rear of the drum head to minimize ring. You'll get more attack the closer the mic is to the beater - you'll get more overtones farther away. On certain occasions we use two mics. A small diaphragm dynamic (421) close to the beater to get the attack of the bass drum. The other mic, a large diaphragm, further away from the head to pickup the low end of the resonance of the bass drum. This allows you to have the flexibility to control the mix of the attack and resonance. With the close mic you can EQ from 2-4Khz to get the attack. Anything higher than 4Khz will just make the attack sound thin. With the close mic try to avoid aiming it directly at the beater. This prevents dramatic changes in the attack sound of the bass drum. If you place the mic slightly off axis and EQ the mid range (more than you would if the mic were on axis) the attack sound of the bass drum will be more even. With the large diaphragm mic place it closer to front of the drum (where the head has been removed) this will allow you to get more of the low end resonance. If using a large diaphragm condenser make sure to pad it down (use pad on mic) and place a Kleenex over the microphone to prevent the capsule from being overloaded by wind. With EQing the bottom end you need to know if you would like the bottom end to be heard or felt. EQing between 30-60Hz will allow you to "feel" the bottom end only on large speaker systems. If you need to hear the bottom end EQ between 60-100Hz. This will allow you to "hear" the attack of the low end on smaller speaker systems. The bass drum also produces a lot of low mid range frequencies that tend to not relate to themselves. This usually occurs between 300-600Hz. Be prepared to remove some of these frequencies, which will allow the bass drum to sound tighter and punchier. As in any situation using two mics you need to be prepared for phasing problems. This problem can be solved by flipping the phase on one of the mics or moving the position of one of the mics. The Snare Drum The best way to capture a great snare sound is by close miking it with a dynamic cardioid-pattern mic that can handle a high SPL and keep leakage to a minimum. The legendary SM-57 is an excellent mic for the snare, it is the choice of many professional engineers, and it's what I use myself. The classic approach for miking the snare is to place the mic 1-3 inches over the snare rim opposite the drummer and 1-3 inches above the top drum head. The mic should be at about a 35-degree angle downward. I usually try to also angle the mic inward (away from the hi-hats) to avoid leakage from the hi-hats. You can also mic the bottom snare head for some added top end but remember to reverse the phase. If the drummer is playing with brushes try using a small diaphragm condenser cardioid microphone. The condenser will have a larger pickup pattern to capture more of the performance. With EQ the snare drum has three basic regions: Low end 100Hz (depending on depth of snare drum), mid range (crack) 3-5 kHz and top end 10 kHz and above. In rock, snare drums you tend to desire a lot of the mid range/crack and low end. In Pop you tend to desire more of the top end over the mid range. The Toms It's best to mic each tom separately. Again, small diaphragm dynamic mics work the best, and SM-57's and Sennheiser 421's are a good choice for their tight pick-up pattern and high SPL. Small diaphragm condenser mics are great for getting more top end but remember to insert a pad so the mics don't overload and be prepared for cymbal leakage. The best approach to miking toms is to place the mic 4-6 inches above the drumhead at about a 45-degree angle over the head. If you pick up a lot of overtones, a little duct tape in the right spots will kill the overtones, or if you have a noise gate you can gate out the overtones. I always move the mics around to capture the right balance of attack and resonance. In EQing toms there are four different ranges: Low end 80-120Hz (depending on size of tom) Low Mid range 300-600Hz, High Mid range 2-4kHz and Top end 10kHz and above. In an average EQ setting on a tom you would see a boost in the Low end, High Mid range and High end as well as a cut in the Low Mid range. The Overheads The drum overhead mics are really supposed to capture the overall sound of the drums, not just the cymbals. Condenser mics such as U-87s and AKG 414s are the first choice for overheads, and one popular miking technique is with a spaced pair of mics (on boom stands) mounted 2-3 feet above the drums -the right mic pointed at the right cymbals, the left mic pointed at the left cymbals. Remember that when raising overheads the acoustics of the room will factor into the sonic equation. When mixing direct drum mics with the overheads this most likely causes acoustical phasing problems, this happens in the low frequency range. The low frequencies in phase with the snare drum mic have a tendency to be out of phase when the overheads are mixed in, due to the wavelength of low end frequencies. When checking for phasing problems on drums assign all mics to a mono listening position. It is hard to detect phasing problems with mics panned to different positions in the stereo image. If you notice phasing problems just reverse the phase button on the input strip or move the mic positions. EQ overheads if you need a brighter sound and insert shelving curves in the high end try to avoid rolling off the low end, for this will make your snare and toms sound thin. E.g. +3dB @10Khz (shelf). The Hi-hat Use a small diaphragm condenser mic like an AKG 451 placed about 6" above the high-hats, pointed straight down at the center of the top hat. Sometimes high-hats have a tendency to produce unwanted midrange frequencies around 1.5 kHz which tend to make the high-hat sound trashy. Omitting some of this frequency range will allow the high-hat to sound more defined in the high end. Room Mics Use at least 2 omni mics of the same model. Place them in the centre of the room to get an even room sound. This often requires the use of hard surface baffles between the room mics and the drum kit. This removes the initial direct sound in the pickup allowing the engineer/producer to utilize more of the room resonance. Drum Compression Drum compressing and limiting is often used to control dynamic problems and/or create a desired effect. When using a live performance you tend to get excessive dynamics. For example: when the drummer hits a kick drum and crash cymbal on the downbeat of a chorus, even though the transient is of short time duration it will limit you into how much level you can translate to a CD in mastering. This transient causes the drums to separate themselves from the rest of the elements in the mix. Because the duration of the transient is so short it is hard to correct this dynamic problem through manual fader riding. A good solution for this is to bus all the drums to two tracks and bring this two track stereo sub-mix of the drums back into more inputs. At this stage you can insert limiting to control the extension of the transient. You will need to incorporate an attack time of less then 1millisecond due to the transient nature of the drums. The release time should also be very fast 5-10ms so the only transient is affected and the rest of the performance is left untouched. A limiting ratio of 10:1 or higher will suffice. Remember to allow headroom so some amount of the transient will pass through, rather than being hard limited. This is accomplished by first setting a limiting ratio, with a fast attack time and a fast release time. Next, set the threshold to a setting where the limited audio information is approximately 2-3ms in duration for the nature of drum transients is a very fast attack and a very fast release with little duration in between. The goal here is to limit only this fast transient without affecting the resonance of the drum sound. Another advantageous use in dynamic control is getting your drums to sound punchier. This is achieved by first eliminating the random transients and then inserting compression with a ratio 4:1 to 8:1. The attack time should be any where from 20-50 ms which allows the louder attacks of sound to pass through unaffected. Once the attack is cleared the compressor will kick in, lowering the sustain part of the drum signal. Next set the release time (1-200ms) so the sustain part of the signal is compressed and decays until the approach of the next transient comp/limit. When you are sub-mixing drums to a stereo bus remember to insert the stereo link function on the comp/limiter. In dealing with dynamic control on separate drums allow yourself to create a certain characteristics to achieve great sounds. With snare drum a common problem is getting a good attack but with no sustain which causes the drum to sound inconsistent and weak. The problem here is that even though the attack of the drum is heard on a consistent basis the length and level of the sustain changes randomly. In dealing with this problem split the snare drum over two input channels. Over the first input try to maximize the transient quality of the snare drum by utilizing transparent limiting and EQ in the mid range and high end. On the other channel first gate the signal so all you hear is the snare drum. Next insert a limiter with a very fast attack and very fast release time. The goal here is to limit the attack of the signal heavily. This allows the sustain to be consistent in level and adds more length in duration. To add more body to the sound, EQ in the low mid range and low end. Now mix in this signal with the more transient snare drum signal which will allow you to add in more body to the snare drum that will make it sound bigger and more consistent. In effect, you are decreasing the dynamic range between the level of the transient nature of the drum and the sustain properties of the drum. Room Microphones Use two large diaphragm condensers of the same model placed at an even distance from each other and closest walls. If the room is 36' wide place the mics 12' from the walls to get maximum diffusion. If the room is 48' deep place the mics 18' from the walls. The biggest problem with room miking is the noticeable delay between the audio from the close mics and the original audio arriving to the room mics (diagram A). The solution is to remove the direct signal from the drums from entering the room mics (diagram B). This will allow the room mics to only pick up diffused early reflections and the room reverb, allowing you to mix it in at a higher level without any noticeable flam. |
|
#4
|
|||
|
|||
|
Dave Martin wrote:
You know, SOME of us record all of the instruments at the same time as the drums - you know, that playing together thing... But lets see - I record pop and country drums in a large room, I don't remove the front head on the kick drum - hell, I do a lot of things different from what you say is the 'best' way to do them. I hate when that happens. If you saw this guy's post aboaut how to record classical guitar, in which he completely overlooked that the OP wanted to record _classical guitar_, you'd have a sense that you might wish to stick with what works for you. Because I doubt much of this works _for him_. g I especially love it when he says mics with bigger diaphragms pick up more low end. Somebody needs to get after the measurement mic folks and clue 'em. -- ha |
|
#5
|
|||
|
|||
|
On 9 Feb 2005 14:57:21 -0800, "Matrixmusic"
wrote: Drums are the fundamental component of music Can there be music without drums? I think so. Al |
|
#6
|
|||
|
|||
|
Decent starting points.. but the fun doesn't really start till you try
and break the rules. As with everything of course. In article .com, "Matrixmusic" wrote: Recording Drums Drums are the fundamental component of music; "The Bed Track" as we call it. All other instruments are recorded to the rhythms of the drum performance. All instruments eventually trace their roots back to Africa where rhythm was essential to the spirituality of the tribal culture. To this day we notice the rhythm of the drum from the native peoples of Canada, to a dance hall, to someone just tapping their feet to a beat. We are all intertwined with rhythm. Recording drums is one of the most challenging situations you will ever come across in the studio. The microphones you use and how you place them is important in the initial preparation. A tuned kit with new heads is the standard operating procedure for all drummers. No amount of EQ or signal processing can resurrect a cardboard sounding drum kit after it's been recorded. The room you are recording in is very critical also. Rock prod/eng's prefer large live rooms to capture the ambience of the kit. As for pop drummers, they are often located in booths or small rooms that are reasonably dry sounding so you can get a present sound. The Kick Drum For the kick drum, you should use a dynamic mic - the bigger the diaphragm, the better low-end pick-up. I've used RE-20's and AKG-112's. The way I usually mic a kick drum is to stick the mic inside the kick drum (I always remove the front head) about 3-6 inches in front the front head. That's a good place to start - you can move the mic around and find the best sounding location. I usually stick a pillow or blankets against the rear of the drum head to minimize ring. You'll get more attack the closer the mic is to the beater - you'll get more overtones farther away. On certain occasions we use two mics. A small diaphragm dynamic (421) close to the beater to get the attack of the bass drum. The other mic, a large diaphragm, further away from the head to pickup the low end of the resonance of the bass drum. This allows you to have the flexibility to control the mix of the attack and resonance. With the close mic you can EQ from 2-4Khz to get the attack. Anything higher than 4Khz will just make the attack sound thin. With the close mic try to avoid aiming it directly at the beater. This prevents dramatic changes in the attack sound of the bass drum. If you place the mic slightly off axis and EQ the mid range (more than you would if the mic were on axis) the attack sound of the bass drum will be more even. With the large diaphragm mic place it closer to front of the drum (where the head has been removed) this will allow you to get more of the low end resonance. If using a large diaphragm condenser make sure to pad it down (use pad on mic) and place a Kleenex over the microphone to prevent the capsule from being overloaded by wind. With EQing the bottom end you need to know if you would like the bottom end to be heard or felt. EQing between 30-60Hz will allow you to "feel" the bottom end only on large speaker systems. If you need to hear the bottom end EQ between 60-100Hz. This will allow you to "hear" the attack of the low end on smaller speaker systems. The bass drum also produces a lot of low mid range frequencies that tend to not relate to themselves. This usually occurs between 300-600Hz. Be prepared to remove some of these frequencies, which will allow the bass drum to sound tighter and punchier. As in any situation using two mics you need to be prepared for phasing problems. This problem can be solved by flipping the phase on one of the mics or moving the position of one of the mics. The Snare Drum The best way to capture a great snare sound is by close miking it with a dynamic cardioid-pattern mic that can handle a high SPL and keep leakage to a minimum. The legendary SM-57 is an excellent mic for the snare, it is the choice of many professional engineers, and it's what I use myself. The classic approach for miking the snare is to place the mic 1-3 inches over the snare rim opposite the drummer and 1-3 inches above the top drum head. The mic should be at about a 35-degree angle downward. I usually try to also angle the mic inward (away from the hi-hats) to avoid leakage from the hi-hats. You can also mic the bottom snare head for some added top end but remember to reverse the phase. If the drummer is playing with brushes try using a small diaphragm condenser cardioid microphone. The condenser will have a larger pickup pattern to capture more of the performance. With EQ the snare drum has three basic regions: Low end 100Hz (depending on depth of snare drum), mid range (crack) 3-5 kHz and top end 10 kHz and above. In rock, snare drums you tend to desire a lot of the mid range/crack and low end. In Pop you tend to desire more of the top end over the mid range. The Toms It's best to mic each tom separately. Again, small diaphragm dynamic mics work the best, and SM-57's and Sennheiser 421's are a good choice for their tight pick-up pattern and high SPL. Small diaphragm condenser mics are great for getting more top end but remember to insert a pad so the mics don't overload and be prepared for cymbal leakage. The best approach to miking toms is to place the mic 4-6 inches above the drumhead at about a 45-degree angle over the head. If you pick up a lot of overtones, a little duct tape in the right spots will kill the overtones, or if you have a noise gate you can gate out the overtones. I always move the mics around to capture the right balance of attack and resonance. In EQing toms there are four different ranges: Low end 80-120Hz (depending on size of tom) Low Mid range 300-600Hz, High Mid range 2-4kHz and Top end 10kHz and above. In an average EQ setting on a tom you would see a boost in the Low end, High Mid range and High end as well as a cut in the Low Mid range. The Overheads The drum overhead mics are really supposed to capture the overall sound of the drums, not just the cymbals. Condenser mics such as U-87s and AKG 414s are the first choice for overheads, and one popular miking technique is with a spaced pair of mics (on boom stands) mounted 2-3 feet above the drums -the right mic pointed at the right cymbals, the left mic pointed at the left cymbals. Remember that when raising overheads the acoustics of the room will factor into the sonic equation. When mixing direct drum mics with the overheads this most likely causes acoustical phasing problems, this happens in the low frequency range. The low frequencies in phase with the snare drum mic have a tendency to be out of phase when the overheads are mixed in, due to the wavelength of low end frequencies. When checking for phasing problems on drums assign all mics to a mono listening position. It is hard to detect phasing problems with mics panned to different positions in the stereo image. If you notice phasing problems just reverse the phase button on the input strip or move the mic positions. EQ overheads if you need a brighter sound and insert shelving curves in the high end try to avoid rolling off the low end, for this will make your snare and toms sound thin. E.g. +3dB @10Khz (shelf). The Hi-hat Use a small diaphragm condenser mic like an AKG 451 placed about 6" above the high-hats, pointed straight down at the center of the top hat. Sometimes high-hats have a tendency to produce unwanted midrange frequencies around 1.5 kHz which tend to make the high-hat sound trashy. Omitting some of this frequency range will allow the high-hat to sound more defined in the high end. Room Mics Use at least 2 omni mics of the same model. Place them in the centre of the room to get an even room sound. This often requires the use of hard surface baffles between the room mics and the drum kit. This removes the initial direct sound in the pickup allowing the engineer/producer to utilize more of the room resonance. Drum Compression Drum compressing and limiting is often used to control dynamic problems and/or create a desired effect. When using a live performance you tend to get excessive dynamics. For example: when the drummer hits a kick drum and crash cymbal on the downbeat of a chorus, even though the transient is of short time duration it will limit you into how much level you can translate to a CD in mastering. This transient causes the drums to separate themselves from the rest of the elements in the mix. Because the duration of the transient is so short it is hard to correct this dynamic problem through manual fader riding. A good solution for this is to bus all the drums to two tracks and bring this two track stereo sub-mix of the drums back into more inputs. At this stage you can insert limiting to control the extension of the transient. You will need to incorporate an attack time of less then 1millisecond due to the transient nature of the drums. The release time should also be very fast 5-10ms so the only transient is affected and the rest of the performance is left untouched. A limiting ratio of 10:1 or higher will suffice. Remember to allow headroom so some amount of the transient will pass through, rather than being hard limited. This is accomplished by first setting a limiting ratio, with a fast attack time and a fast release time. Next, set the threshold to a setting where the limited audio information is approximately 2-3ms in duration for the nature of drum transients is a very fast attack and a very fast release with little duration in between. The goal here is to limit only this fast transient without affecting the resonance of the drum sound. Another advantageous use in dynamic control is getting your drums to sound punchier. This is achieved by first eliminating the random transients and then inserting compression with a ratio 4:1 to 8:1. The attack time should be any where from 20-50 ms which allows the louder attacks of sound to pass through unaffected. Once the attack is cleared the compressor will kick in, lowering the sustain part of the drum signal. Next set the release time (1-200ms) so the sustain part of the signal is compressed and decays until the approach of the next transient comp/limit. When you are sub-mixing drums to a stereo bus remember to insert the stereo link function on the comp/limiter. In dealing with dynamic control on separate drums allow yourself to create a certain characteristics to achieve great sounds. With snare drum a common problem is getting a good attack but with no sustain which causes the drum to sound inconsistent and weak. The problem here is that even though the attack of the drum is heard on a consistent basis the length and level of the sustain changes randomly. In dealing with this problem split the snare drum over two input channels. Over the first input try to maximize the transient quality of the snare drum by utilizing transparent limiting and EQ in the mid range and high end. On the other channel first gate the signal so all you hear is the snare drum. Next insert a limiter with a very fast attack and very fast release time. The goal here is to limit the attack of the signal heavily. This allows the sustain to be consistent in level and adds more length in duration. To add more body to the sound, EQ in the low mid range and low end. Now mix in this signal with the more transient snare drum signal which will allow you to add in more body to the snare drum that will make it sound bigger and more consistent. In effect, you are decreasing the dynamic range between the level of the transient nature of the drum and the sustain properties of the drum. Room Microphones Use two large diaphragm condensers of the same model placed at an even distance from each other and closest walls. If the room is 36' wide place the mics 12' from the walls to get maximum diffusion. If the room is 48' deep place the mics 18' from the walls. The biggest problem with room miking is the noticeable delay between the audio from the close mics and the original audio arriving to the room mics (diagram A). The solution is to remove the direct signal from the drums from entering the room mics (diagram B). This will allow the room mics to only pick up diffused early reflections and the room reverb, allowing you to mix it in at a higher level without any noticeable flam. -- Cyrus *coughcasaucedoprodigynetcough* |
|
#7
|
|||
|
|||
|
"play_on" wrote in message ... On 9 Feb 2005 14:57:21 -0800, "Matrixmusic" wrote: Drums are the fundamental component of music Can there be music without drums? I think so. But not without cowbell.  Neil Henderson |
|
#8
|
|||
|
|||
|
But not without cowbell.
that skit will live in infamy among audio geeks -- Jonny Durango "Patrick was a saint. I ain't." http://www.jdurango.com "Neil Henderson" wrote in message om... "play_on" wrote in message ... On 9 Feb 2005 14:57:21 -0800, "Matrixmusic" wrote: Drums are the fundamental component of music Can there be music without drums? I think so. But not without cowbell. Neil Henderson |
|
#9
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
Quote:
Quote:
Again... condenser mics, both small and large diaphragm condenser mics can work wonders here... and FWIW, there is no law that says you have to stick the mic within millimeters of the top head... please do us all a favor and stop spreading myths that may have the effect of stopping experimentation. Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
If you had submitted this as a paper I would have given it a C- at best... mostly for the lack of original thought. It's crap like this that has kids buying Led Zeppelin records instead of new records... it's unoriginal thought that is killing the music business... not downloading, uninspired lack of experimentation, lack of original thought, lack of understanding the rudiments of the endeavor.
__________________
Fletcher http://www.mercenary.com Roscoe Ambel once said: Pro-Tools is to audio what fluorescent is to light |
|
#10
|
|||
|
|||
|
"Fletcher" wrote in message ... Please give some serious consideration to suicide or that gig at UPS... it's moronic articles like this that have been fu*king up the next generations of recording engineers. Stop spreading bullsh*t myths will ya... how about an article on how to not do this via some cookie cutter approach and how to listen and experiment as your thesis. Speaking only for myself, you and nuggets like these sure have been missed in RAP, Fletcher. John LeBlanc Houston, TX |
|
#11
|
|||
|
|||
|
On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 18:25:03 -0600, "John_LeBlanc"
wrote: Speaking only for myself, you and nuggets like these sure have been missed in RAP, Fletcher. Well, not *only* for yourself. Chris Hornbeck |
| Reply |
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads
|
||||
| Thread | Forum | |||
| common mode rejection vs. crosstalk | Pro Audio | |||
| Topic Police | Pro Audio | |||
Linear Mode
