"The difference between rally musically effective drum gating and disastrous gating is a fine line. Ambience, crash cymbals, resonating skins and snare and hi-hat bleed are among the most common pests when recording acoustic drums. The following tips may help you elude any of these bleed problems and allow all drum effects or equalizers to receive the cleanest of uninterrupted, natural drum sounds.
For key mic, routing and patched, gated signal.
Step 1. Set up two SM57s on the snare, one underneath, almost touching the snares (key mic), your second SM-57 normally positioned one to four inches away above the snare (snare mic).
Step 2. Set up gate setting on snare mic, not choking signal with too much threshold.
Step 3. Solo key mic input; set up gate on key mic with fast release, fast attack, tightest possible threshold (you'll just hear a tick with snare contact) and maximum range.
Step 4. At this point you must patch output of gated key mic signal to external imput or key input on snare mic gate. (Check for external input or key input switch on snare mic gate).
This method of gating will completely separate snare, tom and kick signals without injuring in any way the natural sound qualities of each of these drums, therefore allowing effects and equalizers to receive the cleanest possible send."
Stacey T. Heydon - producer/engineer (Sheriff #1 single), guitarist (David Bowie).
MIKING DRUMS
Whenever I record drums for a rock session I use two AKG 452s as my room mics, which act as my overheads as well. I set them up facing the front of the kit, as high as possible, and usually they're off to the right hand side of the kit. Both mics are side by side, and I route each mic to a separate track. I don't have true stereo separation doing it this way, but I find it works well in the situations I've worked under. As far as equalization on the mics, I usually add a little sizzle (which allows them to be my overheads as well as a room sound). This obviously depends on the room you're working in and the type of session you are working on."
MIKING SNARE
When miking snares I always use Shure SM57s. I use one on the top and the other one on the bottom to give me a full top and bottom response. Always check phasing when assigning both mics to one track. (Note: One of the mics should be set out of phase from the console. This will ensure that when you assign both mics to one track the snare signal will be in phase.)"
Hugh A. Cooper - engineer/producer, Tom Cochrane and Red Rider, Dan Hill, Myles Hunter, The Jitters.
Keep That Mix Under Control
When mixing, combining different treatments of the same track gives more control. I often split my snare track to two channels - one channel slightly gated (3-10 dB attenuation - long decay) resulting in a natural sounding drum which feeds reverbs nicely. The second channel I very tightly gate (60 dB attenuation - short decay) followed by a dbx 160 compressor (4:1 ratio 8-10 dB gain reductino) with lots of 60 Hz EQ added. I use channel two dial in the impact portion of the sound so that the drum still sounds BIG on small speakers or radio.
Tips for Mixing Drum Samples
When mixing drum machines or drum samples, try using a very short early reflection reverb program to simulate overhead mics. Make sure the diffusion parameter is not set too high. You want a good attack, not a smeared sound. Adding this type of reverb will greatly improve your drum kit's depth. Also, don't be afraid to experiment with EQ on the reverb to simulate different surface textures.
Drum Miking Techniques
One the most common mistakes I've seen in the miking of certain drums - such as djembe or any other drum with a strong low end - results from the misconception that one microphone alone on top of the drum will do the trick. Unlike the typical one microphone method of miking toms in a drum kit, miking just the top of most other drums will not necessarily get the best sound for the situation. Using only a top microphone will give you plenty of "slap" but not enough of the bass. Most of these drums are usually played slightly off the floor that makes it easy to put another mic directly up into the drum from the bottom. A Sennheiser 421 microphone or an AKG D112 works extremely well for this.
For the top of the drum, the 421 works well but any good condenser microphone also works well. Ideally, if tracks are available, I always put the two microphones on two separate tracks. That way, in the mix, I can balance the two microphones to my taste. During recording, I EQ the bottom mic by taking out a lot of the mid-range and highs, leaving a very muddy track when you hear it by itself. However, when you add this muddy track to the top microphone you end up with a crisp, fat drum sound. If you don't have enough tracks, EQ the bottom mic similarly, record the two microphones to one track balancing them according to the situation.
Miking a drum set
One thing that always stays the same is that I donít like any mic better than a Shure SM57 on the snare. The overhead mic, that can be anything. Sometimes I donít even put it overhead, I put it underhead. Iíll take those new CAD mics; just whatever. As long as itís a microphone I like, it doesnít matter if itís a dynamic, condenser, or tube. Sometimes Iíll put it above the cymbals or sometimes Iíll put it about 10 feet back from the drums, or sometimes Iíll put it just a couple of feet above the kick drum, maybe like four feet back, just to hear how it sounds. If it sounds appropriate for the song, then thatís what Iíll use.
incresing frequencies between 100 to 150 Hz range to a snare sound, can bring some good weight in it.
Should I use compression on drums? Vocals? Bass?
If you mic up your kit and route it through a separate mixer before
going to your 4-track, put the snare through a compressor (the kick,
too, but through a separate compressor) and you'll have a more
"professional" sound. But never try to compress the entire drum mix,
especially if you use cymbals a lot - there will be a lot of
unnatural-sounding "pumping and breathing".
It's great for snares and kicks. (fattens up the kick alot) But I find
that it kills rides and hihats. To really compress drums you need to
have a system that can compress some, but not all.
The Thump
Here are some methods I use for kick drums:
1. Sample rate -I always choose a sample rate compatible with my end media (usually CD) to avoid having to downsample and dither. My sample rate of choice is 44.1kHz, 16-bit Stereo. I can't hear anything over 18k (wear earplugs when jamming!!!!!) so I don't receive any benefit from a higher sampling rate other than I get to see how fast my hard drive will spin.
2. EQ - To give your kick drum the thump that rattles the chest, boost by a decibel or two at 80Hz, prefably with a small Q or even better, a notch filter. 80 Hz is the sympathetic frequency of the human rib cage, hence the method.
3. Compression - I generally use light compression - 2:1@-18dB.
4. DC offset - I always adjust the DC offset before I do any other editing to a sample to avoid nasty artifacts from mismatched voltages........it takes only a few seconds, and improves the end result greatly.
5. Time compression - I always stretch/shrink my samples to 125 milliseconds which equals a 16th note at 120 bpm, since this is a standard tempo for most people's work.
For key mic, routing and patched, gated signal.
Step 1. Set up two SM57s on the snare, one underneath, almost touching the snares (key mic), your second SM-57 normally positioned one to four inches away above the snare (snare mic).
Step 2. Set up gate setting on snare mic, not choking signal with too much threshold.
Step 3. Solo key mic input; set up gate on key mic with fast release, fast attack, tightest possible threshold (you'll just hear a tick with snare contact) and maximum range.
Step 4. At this point you must patch output of gated key mic signal to external imput or key input on snare mic gate. (Check for external input or key input switch on snare mic gate).
This method of gating will completely separate snare, tom and kick signals without injuring in any way the natural sound qualities of each of these drums, therefore allowing effects and equalizers to receive the cleanest possible send."
Stacey T. Heydon - producer/engineer (Sheriff #1 single), guitarist (David Bowie).
MIKING DRUMS
Whenever I record drums for a rock session I use two AKG 452s as my room mics, which act as my overheads as well. I set them up facing the front of the kit, as high as possible, and usually they're off to the right hand side of the kit. Both mics are side by side, and I route each mic to a separate track. I don't have true stereo separation doing it this way, but I find it works well in the situations I've worked under. As far as equalization on the mics, I usually add a little sizzle (which allows them to be my overheads as well as a room sound). This obviously depends on the room you're working in and the type of session you are working on."
MIKING SNARE
When miking snares I always use Shure SM57s. I use one on the top and the other one on the bottom to give me a full top and bottom response. Always check phasing when assigning both mics to one track. (Note: One of the mics should be set out of phase from the console. This will ensure that when you assign both mics to one track the snare signal will be in phase.)"
Hugh A. Cooper - engineer/producer, Tom Cochrane and Red Rider, Dan Hill, Myles Hunter, The Jitters.
Keep That Mix Under Control
When mixing, combining different treatments of the same track gives more control. I often split my snare track to two channels - one channel slightly gated (3-10 dB attenuation - long decay) resulting in a natural sounding drum which feeds reverbs nicely. The second channel I very tightly gate (60 dB attenuation - short decay) followed by a dbx 160 compressor (4:1 ratio 8-10 dB gain reductino) with lots of 60 Hz EQ added. I use channel two dial in the impact portion of the sound so that the drum still sounds BIG on small speakers or radio.
Tips for Mixing Drum Samples
When mixing drum machines or drum samples, try using a very short early reflection reverb program to simulate overhead mics. Make sure the diffusion parameter is not set too high. You want a good attack, not a smeared sound. Adding this type of reverb will greatly improve your drum kit's depth. Also, don't be afraid to experiment with EQ on the reverb to simulate different surface textures.
Drum Miking Techniques
One the most common mistakes I've seen in the miking of certain drums - such as djembe or any other drum with a strong low end - results from the misconception that one microphone alone on top of the drum will do the trick. Unlike the typical one microphone method of miking toms in a drum kit, miking just the top of most other drums will not necessarily get the best sound for the situation. Using only a top microphone will give you plenty of "slap" but not enough of the bass. Most of these drums are usually played slightly off the floor that makes it easy to put another mic directly up into the drum from the bottom. A Sennheiser 421 microphone or an AKG D112 works extremely well for this.
For the top of the drum, the 421 works well but any good condenser microphone also works well. Ideally, if tracks are available, I always put the two microphones on two separate tracks. That way, in the mix, I can balance the two microphones to my taste. During recording, I EQ the bottom mic by taking out a lot of the mid-range and highs, leaving a very muddy track when you hear it by itself. However, when you add this muddy track to the top microphone you end up with a crisp, fat drum sound. If you don't have enough tracks, EQ the bottom mic similarly, record the two microphones to one track balancing them according to the situation.
Miking a drum set
One thing that always stays the same is that I donít like any mic better than a Shure SM57 on the snare. The overhead mic, that can be anything. Sometimes I donít even put it overhead, I put it underhead. Iíll take those new CAD mics; just whatever. As long as itís a microphone I like, it doesnít matter if itís a dynamic, condenser, or tube. Sometimes Iíll put it above the cymbals or sometimes Iíll put it about 10 feet back from the drums, or sometimes Iíll put it just a couple of feet above the kick drum, maybe like four feet back, just to hear how it sounds. If it sounds appropriate for the song, then thatís what Iíll use.
incresing frequencies between 100 to 150 Hz range to a snare sound, can bring some good weight in it.
Should I use compression on drums? Vocals? Bass?
If you mic up your kit and route it through a separate mixer before
going to your 4-track, put the snare through a compressor (the kick,
too, but through a separate compressor) and you'll have a more
"professional" sound. But never try to compress the entire drum mix,
especially if you use cymbals a lot - there will be a lot of
unnatural-sounding "pumping and breathing".
It's great for snares and kicks. (fattens up the kick alot) But I find
that it kills rides and hihats. To really compress drums you need to
have a system that can compress some, but not all.
The Thump
Here are some methods I use for kick drums:
1. Sample rate -I always choose a sample rate compatible with my end media (usually CD) to avoid having to downsample and dither. My sample rate of choice is 44.1kHz, 16-bit Stereo. I can't hear anything over 18k (wear earplugs when jamming!!!!!) so I don't receive any benefit from a higher sampling rate other than I get to see how fast my hard drive will spin.
2. EQ - To give your kick drum the thump that rattles the chest, boost by a decibel or two at 80Hz, prefably with a small Q or even better, a notch filter. 80 Hz is the sympathetic frequency of the human rib cage, hence the method.
3. Compression - I generally use light compression - 2:1@-18dB.
4. DC offset - I always adjust the DC offset before I do any other editing to a sample to avoid nasty artifacts from mismatched voltages........it takes only a few seconds, and improves the end result greatly.
5. Time compression - I always stretch/shrink my samples to 125 milliseconds which equals a 16th note at 120 bpm, since this is a standard tempo for most people's work.
