My first drum recording

[biro]

Hi guys,

I've finally managed to lock my drummer inside our rehearsal room to record some drums for our new self produced EP. this is my very first attempt at recording drums, and if there's something I really want to point out is that everything I know about it I've learnt from some (excellent, in my opinion, yet - obviously - not really exhaustive) youtube tutorials.

We used a 200-Euros-worth 8-microphone mic set, an Alesis IO 26 8-channel audio interface, my trusty 4-yo acer laptop and a couple of behringer studio monitors. Everything was recorded in reaper, and I managed - don't know how! - to resist the temptation of adding lots of plugins. what you're going to hear is the raw, unedited mix (I've just made some panning, and fixed a couple of phase issues).

I'm pretty happy with the results, but I think there's plenty of room for some additional editing. adding gates and eq's aside, I don't really like I think I will have to face some harsh to make the toms sound clear and loud. In my opinion they're tuned too low. Plus, I'm not really digging the snare: the resonances are too loud - although this issue could be partly solved, with reasonable ease, adding a smart eq to the overheads tracks. I'll try to fix it in some way.

What I really don't know how to fix is my drummer's brain. I'm still wondering where he got the idea of humming the guitar part... damn idiot!

I would appreciate a lot if could take a couple of minutes and give me some feedback!

The track is attached.


Thanks a lot.


[attachment=21049:victordrums.mp3]

[escholl]

Not bad, you've probably pointed out already all the things i would say.

Snare def needs some work, needs eq'ing and possibly is a bit too loud in the mix. I've had good luck before actually micing up both sides of the snare with 57's or whatever your preferred mic is.

the toms aren't sounding that bad actually, if it was me i would probably bring them up in the mix a bit, and do some eq'ing as well. but pretty good, really.

the kick is sounding good, and the cymbals are sounding good as well, although i think the cymbals could probably benefit from being a bit louder as well, and with a bit of EQ. i feel like they're missing a bit of the really high end as well, that gives it a bit more open sound.

if it was me (having done much worse my first few times), i'd be quite happy with that

edit: fwiw i've listened to it twice now and enjoyed listening to it, so it can't be that bad

Edited February 25, 2009 by escholl

[51m0n]

For raw you are in the right area. Damned fine first effort too.

I think the snare ringing will get soaked up by guitar etc enough for it not to be a problem. It will end up just having character rather than being your typical snare with a crack like a builders a##e.

Toms may not be up to it I think, tuning is wrong as you said, they tend towards the muddy end. Some careful eq _may_ help look for more woody stick click. Its not all of them though, I think it might only be one that doesnt sound like its quite been tuned right (with itself if you know what I mean) its got a nasty low overtone buzz on it?), in which case thats a right pain and probably not fixable.

I think you will need to get a bit more punch and definition from the kick, there's some pretty quick stuff in there and it is going to easily get very lost with a bass in the mix too.

Definitely not a lost cause though.

Nice drumming, I have no idea what this will end up sounding like, reminds me a bit of Herb (Primus), which should make your drummer very happy indeed, cos Herbs a legend.

If you've learnt anything it should be to double, treble, quadruple check the acoustic sounds of every drum alone, quiet to loud and in context. Listen for extraneous kit rattling to, any thing sympathetically ringing or rattling is going to make compression and eq a nightmare!

Well done though.

[biro]

thank you so much guys. I appreciate a lot this kind of feedback. 51m0n, I think he would be really happy to know that his drumming reminds Tim Alexander. Primus is one of my band's greatest influences. anyhow, as soon as i've finished to mix the guitars and bass I will post the results, thus hoping for some more feedback

thanks!

Edited February 25, 2009 by biro