Recording Drums

Have you ever tried to record an acoustic drum kit? You may have experienced that it is quite tricky to get a decent sound on to tape (or onto your hard drives). First you need a proper room, then you need a bunch of microphones, an equal number of preamps, and ideally an equivalent number of tracks to record onto simultaneously.

Just picking the right mics and placing them in a proper positions can be an art. Here is a video (sponsored by someone who seems to work for PreSonus) where you can learn a couple of tricks on which microphones to use for drums, and how to place them.

There is also an explanation on how to do an equalizaion of the tracks after they have been recorded in order to get a richer sound.





Notice how 2 mics are used to record the snare, and how the bottom mic needs to have its phase reversed to avoid noise cancellations. This setting must be taken into consideration whenever 2 mics are used on a drum each one on the oposite side of the drum.

Get the best sound you can before you start recording

Welcome to this new blog! In it I will try to write down and compile any relevant tips and tricks on sound engineering, specifically, but not limited to, capturing and recording music.

I assume the target audience will be musicians and amateur sound engineers, and I hope this blog can foster some interesting discussions on the various subjects covered.

Do you think you have something to say on any of these topics? Just let me know, it would be great to have also other people contribute to this blog.

So, lets get started with a very basic tip: When it comes to recording music, it is fundamental that the sound source is as good as possible. There is no point in using expensive mics, preamps, a world class console, the best tracking room, ... if the sound that your musical equipment produces is crappy. In other words; make sure you change strings a couple of days before your recording session. Also make sure that your instruments can hold the intonation properly. Tune the drum kit properly, and change heads if they do not sound great. Use good instrument cables. If you are using effect pedals, run them with batteries for the duration of the session or otherwise assure that the power supply is not injecting any noise to the signal path. Have your amps serviced before the recording, especially if you use vintage equipment. You may also consider changing tubes.

Think about it this way: If the sound is crappy at its source it's unlikely that it will improve when it captured. Maybe there is a slight chance that someone can fix it later, but I can assure you those fixes will be more expensive and time consuming than having your sound fixed in the first place.