Recording Drums

Maybe.

Vague enough for you? The sad truth of it is that recording drums can either be a nightmare, a lesson in pain, or so simple you'll find yourself bored with the tediousness of it. What makes recording that killer drum sound so hard? Simply put, it's the instrument itself and the room it's located in. Of course, both of these factors do not place any restrictions on the recording experience. Led Zeppelin recorded the famous drumbeat for "When the Levee Breaks" in a large stairwell with a single hanging mike (or so the legend goes). They did that on purpose and with no fancy recording techniques. There's a lesson there. The less complicated you make it, the easier it will be to approach. Pretty Zen, huh?

Let's start with the drums. It doesn't matter what brand you're using - they have to be tuned properly. Since this article is about recording drums and not tuning that will be left in your capable hands. One tip though - tune the drums loosely. No, that has nothing to do with attitude, it actually means not to tune the heads too tightly. Leaving the heads a little loose will give it a darker sound and attack. This is a good thing when it comes to recording.

Now we want to look at microphone placement. There is a school of thought that suggests using six or eight mics, but this is home recording right? For one, who can afford all of those mics for a home demo, and second, why bother? You can get away with even using one mic, but lets look at using three. A common way to capture a good drum track is to place one mic about halfway into the kick drum. Do not point it directly at the kicker though because you don't want any unnecessary air to strike the mic head. Try angling it slightly. Next, place the other two mics left and right of the kit, and around the level of the drummer's biceps. The exact distance from the kit is debatable because it depends on the size of the room, the strength of the drummer, etc. Play around with this until you get a decent mix. Now someone out there is probably shaking their head and saying, "But I only have four tracks! I can't use three mics". Of course you can. You can have all mics pointed at one track for recording. You just want to make sure you like the sound before committing it to tape. If you have a couple of tracks available use them both for a stereo sound (remember the left and right mics?). Of course, if you have an abundance of mics laying around then go for it. Unless you are playing around with an endless number of tracks, a good mixer would be suggested here.

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