STUDIO RESEARCH
MICROPHONES
DRUMS
The first place to start when recording drums is the setup. One important note that I took from this video was to have a flat snare which helps to keep consistent rimshots, this is important to give an aggressive sound which is what we want for this EP. Also, it is important to have relatively flat toms to help with the attack from the drummer. having flat toms means you can hit down onto the toms with more force instead of glancing off them. Again, this is important for aggressive styles of music. Other important aspects of a drum setup for recording was to have the hi hats set up high and far away from the snare. This is to help eliminate hi hat bleed on the snare mic. This reasoning is also why it is advised to have the cymbals high up and away from the tom mics to help prevent bleed from the cymbals.
The microphones that are recommended in this video are an audix d6 for the kick drum, modified shure sm57 for the snare, sennheiser md421 for the toms, octava mc012 for the overheads. I will see what mics are available at college that are closest to these that I can use.
The main aspects that I picked up from this video was that in my opinion, having the overheads set up in a spaced pair configuration sounded much better than the other two advised configurations which were xy and ortf. I thought the spaced pair was more lively sounding than the other two which both sounded too treble-y and dead, because of this, this is the configuration I will use when recording as it sounds the best and is what we have used when recording in college before. Another aspect I picked up on was to have the overheads using the 3:1 ratio rule, this means the distance between the capsules is 3 times greater than the distance from the capsules to the source (the snare) I will start off using this technique but also experiment with different distances until i find what works for me. It is important to note that the overheads need to be equal distance from the snare.
After watching this youtube channel, I decided to look at a video from a different channel also talking about mic placement to get a second opinion.
What I learned from this video was to check phase when recording with overheads. Phase cancellation can be a big problem when recording drums. To avoid phase cancellation is to make sure that the difference from the snare to the overheads is equal. Then to record the drums, zoom in to the wave forms on logic, and make sure that they are both in phase, if not, move the mics until they are. Another important point is the stereo image. This means that the centre line of the stereo image is diagonally on the kit, over the kick and snare. Your overheads should go either side of this imaginary line to get a balanced stereo image.
Another useful tip I got from this video is that when putting on the close mics, to have the mic three fingers away from the rim, with the capsule of the microphone slightly inside the rim, and pointed at the centre of the drum. This video also showed me that when micing up the kick drum, if you want a more balanced sound with less attack it is important to pull the mic closer towards the port hole than the batter head whilst still inside. However, for more attack, push the mic closer towards the batter head. I will experiment with both of these to find which sound I prefer.
In this video they do a side by side comparison of how different rooms have an effect on the sound of the drums. After watching this video, I decided that Air Studio One had the best sounding results due to the natural reverb. Air studio is a large room that is famous for its pleasant sounding natural reverb. I found that the reverb made the drums sound livelier and more real. The close second studio that I thought sounded best was Snap Studio. This studio is closer to your average studio with a medium size room with a large window at one end which is very reflective. In my opinion, this came in second place because it made the drums sound well produced, but a bit dead and fake. Because of this, I would like to record the drums for this EP in a large room with nice reverb. Because of this I am going to try record my drums in the Henry Mitchell hall at Bradford College. The Henry Mitchell hall is a large hall with nice natural reverb, when we recorded our first college gig there the drums sounded fantastic and it is a very nice sounding room. in addition to the natural reverb is has very high ceilings which is almost a necessity for rock and metal drums as it gives the cymbals room to breathe and sound their best.