The Basement – Drum Recording Techniques You Should Know
(please watch in high quality, the video’s better but more importantly the sound is better! Also this one will sound much better on headphones due to the importance of the stereo imaging.) NOTE: The heads used in this video were very old stock heads, beaten up to the point that even tuning them did not make them sound great (which is how they are in the video – tuned, but old as hell). I have responded to many comments about this. This is a video about recording technique, it is not intended to be a demo of what an amazing drum sound is like, take it for what it is. There was no EQ used on these tracks, just a bit of ITB compression to help the sound transfer to Youtube better (hopefully). Correction: In the video I said I used a D12 on kick, but I meant to say D112. Two definitely different mics! Mics used: XY: (2) MXL 603S Spaced pair: (2) MXL 603S Recorderman: (2) MXL 603S Glyn Johns: (2) MXL 603S (you should use matched LDCs in stead of SDCs if possible), SM57, AKG D112 Close micing: (2) MXL 603S, SM57, AKG D112, Nady DM70, Nady DM80 Observations: XY: Stereo spread isn’t too wide, so it’s great in places you might use mono drums but want a little more depth. Not the best reproduction of toms, but easy to get a good snare and kick sound. Spaced Pair: More high end frequencies than the other techniques. Much wider stereo image than XY, sounds a bit unnatural but is a great way to add stereo information to mixes that are mostly mono/panned center. Recorderman: Similar …
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wow your drums sound sososososososo good for the two mics only versions and amazing on the close micing setup do you sound proof you studio or what? btw the x y pair kicks ass
Thank you! The sounds in this video are far from what I’d use in most cases in an album, just a starting point. I don’t have a soundproofed space – sound proofing is stopping outside sound from getting in and vice versa. If you meant acoustically treated, mine is treated but not traditionally – because of the odd space I’m using there are no parallel walls and there are enough things in it that the space is somewhat dead without doing anything too special.
wow thanks for the info do you have any other suggestions i could use to get good recordings in my small space of 15′ by 18′ with 9′ ceilings and quit a ring when the drums are hit
do i need a mixer or can i just connect two mics (Behringer C2 stereoset) with pc?
Good question! I have a video up called “How To Record Microphones To Your Computer” that will answer that better than I can fit in a comment. It basically depends on what quality of sound you’re looking for. Hope that helps!
u need some better heads
If you would actually pay attention to the video (or any of the other comments left on this video) you’d see there’s a note right on it that I was using old drum heads. This video is about drum RECORDING, not the sound of the drums themselves. Cheers!
Great tutorial video. Although I would have specified the polar patterns for each mic configuration, as that plays a huge factor with each technique. But over all you did a really great job… especially for having an average kit and using presumer mic (s). Kudos… keep it up!
I’m sure there are lots of things I would do differently if I did this video today, but this was years ago now. Since everything was cardioid and that pattern is the most common it didn’t seem necessary. Fortunately this video is about recording techniques, not a specific sound I’m getting, so whether or not everyone likes my kit or that the mics I was using at the time were pretty cheap (prosumer*) are moot points. Regardless, thanks for the encouragement, nice to hear!
MXL and Beringer = “presumer” not “prosumer”. I guess you never heard that one?
Regardless… you did do a really good job at capturing all the detail with what you have to work with, I am impressed.
My comment on mentioning different polar patterns is because using omni’s with the A-B technique or bi-directional’s in X/Y (Blumlein) can be really effective at times. It really just boils down to experimenting… and room acoustics when using different polar patterns.
That would be “prosumer”, which is a portmanteau of “professional” and “consumer”. “Presumer” would imply “pre-consumer” – consumer is the lowest level in this case. Most MXL, Behringer*, and many other brands’ mics are considered prosumer, meaning the level of a consumer that is leaning toward professional work.
Omni can absolutely be great for overheads, unfortunately there just isn’t enough time in a Youtube video to go over every single option. I wish I could!
Thank you man!
You’re welcome!
besides the close-micing technique, which technique would be a suitable substitute for recording a rock beat
It really just depends on what you’re going for. If you rock want everything sounding modern and radio-ish, close micing is how that’s done. More minimalist techniques are generally about capturing the drum kit as one whole instrument as more of the “beat” than hearing each individual drum loudly and clearly. The closest sounding to that to me is the Recorderman setup, it’s very dry and gets the toms very nicely. I’ve used it before without close mics on toms.
Great tips dude, thanks! But please tune those poor things!!!
You’re welcome for the tips. Please see the note ON the video as you watch it, or one of the many, many other comments where this is addressed. Thanks!
You switched your L & R channel…
Switched them? From what? I made them drummer’s perspective, which is what the majority of all albums use, and what sounds right to most drummers (including myself). This is a video for techniques for recording music, not something special just for recording audio for video, there would be no reason to do something out of the ordinary just because it’s for a video.
AWESOME RIDE CYMBAL!
were is your amp and speakers? It sounds like video camera recording.
What does this mean? What do amps and speakers have to do with this video? My amps were (when this video was made two years ago) past the right side of the screen when you see a shot of the drums. Everything that’s just speaking IS video camera recording, which would probably be why it sounds like it.
I was going to diss your toms but mine don’t sound much better as they are old stock heads as well haha thanks for the tips brohemoth!
Yep, unfortunately I gave people the benefit of the doubt and assumed people would be able to watch a video about recording techniques and get information about recording techniques from it. I give people too much credit! But yep, old beat up heads are rarely good. I like Remo Emperors, but now I’m using EC2s and loving them.