Hey man just wanted to say this is a really well put together video and you’re a natural communicator, really clear and concise! Two things I probably would of added to this video is the source sound of the snare impacting what the mic is picking up, is it a gushy brass sound, or a more smacky copper sound or a softer woody sound. Plus hoops changing the body and sustain of the snare and and the tuning of the snare impacting the fundamental. Also as you discussed about issue with the hi hat bleed into the snare mic, I will always try and get my cymbals as high and far as comfortable so that the separation is so much better in all my close mics, Kyle May a Nashville drummer and he is a great example of this, great tones and his cymbals look like a good balance of distance and being comfortable.
Hi Ollie, thanks for reaching out and thank you for the kind words about the video! Absolutely, there are a whole world of things which, when swapped out or tweaked, will make a massive difference to the sound of the recorded drums - whether that’s on the recording side with mics and placement, or on the drum side with drum choice and tuning / setup etc. Almost to the point where there’s too much information for me to fit into a 10min video! So I really focussed in on the things an engineer can do which will translate best across all of those potential alterations. The details really do matter, but if you’re stuck for time or equipment and just need a good snare sound right now, hopefully this technique will get you there with a minimum of fuss. And then of course you can tweak as needs be if time allows afterwards.
Thank you very much for the film. Very well explained. I am very interested in sound engineering. There's something like that with drums, I mean in a room for about 200 people. The drum kit is already very loud. Room acoustics are used. At first you think it's very easy to turn down the drum parts on the mixer. Sounds good, but is that OK? - no, what happens if a band asks me to record the concert? LOL, a disaster :-) Do you know what should I tell the mixer so that the drum kit is recorded at the same volume as all the instruments on stage? We have the Behringer X 32. 🙂
Hey Jan thank you so much for subscribing and commenting! Aha - the dreaded drum bleed situation! To be honest, the biggest improvement you could make in that situation (if I understand correctly) would be to do anything you can to reduce the volume of the drums onstage - maybe quietly having a chat with the drummer asking them to play quieter, or use quieter sticks, or if possible get one of those screens around the drummer. I always try not to ask people to change their playing style to suit the recording, where possible it should be the recording which fits the musicians rather than the other way round! But sometimes we just have too much of an uphill struggle for that to work, and this sounds like one of those times. After that it’s trying to reduce the bleed from drums into everyone else’s mics - so rely on dynamic cardioid mics and try as angle them so either the nulls of the mics are pointed towards the drums, or someone’s body is blocking the line-of-sight to the drums. But to be honest, if there’s loads of drums in the room ambience even those techniques will only improve the situation so much. With recording it really is the case that we can take the sounds in the room and make them however much better. So if you start with gold, you can polish it up and get something beautiful sounding. But if you start with drum bleed in everything you’ll be able to improve, but only so much. This is where the people part of engineering comes in - and some would say it’s the most important skill an engineer has! Try talking to the drummer and see if you both can agree something which will improve the situation for the whole band. Best of luck, let me know how it goes!
Describing an SM57 as a gym meathead is a particular highlight here
Hey man just wanted to say this is a really well put together video and you’re a natural communicator, really clear and concise!
Two things I probably would of added to this video is the source sound of the snare impacting what the mic is picking up, is it a gushy brass sound, or a more smacky copper sound or a softer woody sound. Plus hoops changing the body and sustain of the snare and and the tuning of the snare impacting the fundamental.
Also as you discussed about issue with the hi hat bleed into the snare mic, I will always try and get my cymbals as high and far as comfortable so that the separation is so much better in all my close mics, Kyle May a Nashville drummer and he is a great example of this, great tones and his cymbals look like a good balance of distance and being comfortable.
Hi Ollie, thanks for reaching out and thank you for the kind words about the video!
Absolutely, there are a whole world of things which, when swapped out or tweaked, will make a massive difference to the sound of the recorded drums - whether that’s on the recording side with mics and placement, or on the drum side with drum choice and tuning / setup etc.
Almost to the point where there’s too much information for me to fit into a 10min video! So I really focussed in on the things an engineer can do which will translate best across all of those potential alterations. The details really do matter, but if you’re stuck for time or equipment and just need a good snare sound right now, hopefully this technique will get you there with a minimum of fuss. And then of course you can tweak as needs be if time allows afterwards.
awesome series dude
Thanks so much! Really glad you're enjoying it
Thank you very much for the film. Very well explained. I am very interested in sound engineering. There's something like that with drums, I mean in a room for about 200 people. The drum kit is already very loud. Room acoustics are used. At first you think it's very easy to turn down the drum parts on the mixer. Sounds good, but is that OK?
- no, what happens if a band asks me to record the concert?
LOL, a disaster :-)
Do you know what should I tell the mixer so that the drum kit is recorded at the same volume as all the instruments on stage?
We have the Behringer X 32. 🙂
Hey Jan thank you so much for subscribing and commenting!
Aha - the dreaded drum bleed situation! To be honest, the biggest improvement you could make in that situation (if I understand correctly) would be to do anything you can to reduce the volume of the drums onstage - maybe quietly having a chat with the drummer asking them to play quieter, or use quieter sticks, or if possible get one of those screens around the drummer. I always try not to ask people to change their playing style to suit the recording, where possible it should be the recording which fits the musicians rather than the other way round! But sometimes we just have too much of an uphill struggle for that to work, and this sounds like one of those times.
After that it’s trying to reduce the bleed from drums into everyone else’s mics - so rely on dynamic cardioid mics and try as angle them so either the nulls of the mics are pointed towards the drums, or someone’s body is blocking the line-of-sight to the drums. But to be honest, if there’s loads of drums in the room ambience even those techniques will only improve the situation so much.
With recording it really is the case that we can take the sounds in the room and make them however much better. So if you start with gold, you can polish it up and get something beautiful sounding. But if you start with drum bleed in everything you’ll be able to improve, but only so much.
This is where the people part of engineering comes in - and some would say it’s the most important skill an engineer has! Try talking to the drummer and see if you both can agree something which will improve the situation for the whole band.
Best of luck, let me know how it goes!