2018/06/06 18:56:14
AT
If you are recording acoustic drums you'll need to rip out some floor above the basement area to get a little height.  Many engineers will want 10 ft. or more above the drums.  In one place in NYC, they not only had two floors for the tracking room, the drums had a "sound tunnel" above the drum riser, made of sound damping material.  Don't know how it sounded (a friend worked there) but it looked cool as all heck.
 
You can finagle a room to record many instruments, but acoustic drums (and piano) need space, including height, to  produce a natural sound.  
2018/06/06 20:29:39
tlw
A lot of drummers really dislike electronic kits for all kinds of reasons. Many won't even consider using one.
 
Which is fair enough because they require a very different technique and might not be able to produce the sounds a particular drummer wants. Like other musicians drummers tend to be fussy, especially about snares and cymbals.
 
Before arthritis got to her right knee my wife played a variety of electronic kits over the years and we've seen other drummers who are used to acoustic kits try them and really struggle because it's not what they expect in terms of feel, response or sound.
 
So offering a studio-supplied electronic kit as the only option for drummers might reduce the available pool of prospective customers quite a lot.
 
If you've space for an acoustic kit and can handle the volume coming off it the Glynn Johns "four microphone" technique which he used to record John Bonham and many others is a way to get good drum recordings with limited space and resources. 
2018/06/07 23:20:45
Studioguy1
An electronic kit can be intimidating especially to a drummer who hasn't taken the time to really get into one.  Most drummers have distinct preferences in their equipment from the snare to the cymbals.  Some drummers use a combination of electronic and acoustic. 
Now, the truth is, that does not mean their personal selections will necessarily record well.   Most studios will have a drum set set up and tuned and dampened where necessary by a professional drummer working with an engineer to get the kind of sound they want.  That in essence becomes part of the studio sound you are offering. 
With that said, as soon as you get that done the drummer comes in who insists on using his snare or bass drum or cymbals or whatever.  I would let a drummer try what you have sometime well before recording, first, and chances are your tuned setup may work for him with a minimal addition of outside parts.  However, if a drummer insists on using their own equipment (kind of like a guitarist wanting to use his own axe_can't blame him for that, that is what he is used to) you will have to make it clear to him that he will have to arrange to come in well ahead of time in order to set up mikes, check tunings etc for recording before the recording is going to be made.
Most studios will allow a certain amount of setup time free, however, it can easily be an hour or so depending on the equipment and the drummer.  In that case it is a chargeable bit of time, maybe an extra hour added to the recording studio time scheduled.  By the way, don't ever book acts in your studio too close to each other.  There always seems to be extra time needed up front or at the end.  You might want to consider one of the studio setup books around.  There are a ton of them.  AND, you might want to consider making friends with a guy has mucho experience recording acoustic drums.
2018/06/07 23:23:15
Studioguy1
Oh yeah...hahaha...just when you get it all together and ready, some dude will walk in with a double bass drum set-up. 
Remember this, as much as we like to get a natural sound, what sounds good live on stage does not necessarily translate the same way in a studio when you are dealing with your own acoustic challenges.  Good luck and have fun.
2018/06/07 23:50:47
Studioguy1
I'm probably giving you more info than you were looking for (My wife would agree hahaha), but here are a few links that might just clarify things a bit.  If not, delete them or disregard them, of course.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
SETTING UP A DRUM SET:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBSAZJnOHVU
 
Six mistakes one can make when recording drums:
https://ask.audio/articles/6-mistakes-to-avoid-when-recording-drums
 
And then a guy walks in with a set like this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqu5W77DZxw
 
A little help for you:
Magic frequencies to equalize a kick drum (bass drum)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9tci-De72c
 
How to tune drums from a DW technician:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl9wgXSfxew
 
Quick tips for tuning your drums:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXABEquwkVw
 
And just as a final caveat….How to use Toontrack’s EZ Drummer 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnQN3cX4Csc
Note: 
Superior Drummer has many more tweaks, but I think EZ Drummer2 provides a more doable starting point for creating commercial sounding drum tracks.
2018/06/08 00:22:35
mettelus
An alternative method you might consider is Melda's MDrumEnhancer. When I saw this thread it reminded me I wanted to try this out "unconventionally" and it is rather nifty. Basically, you can use it for real time drum replacement (the latency is that low), but will need one instance per track (supports kick, snare, and toms). I did nothing more than connect a dynamic mic to it, pick a snare, and set it to 100% wet. Tapping the mic plays just like a snare. When I get a chance at some point I want to try creating a "finger tapper drumset" to spectrally slice input by frequency band and send those to the kit pieces (I may need to buy a thimble, but no reason this cannot be done).
 
Anyway... a comment on that page above is valid... "Normally, recording engineers spend hours to set the microphones right. 2 or 3 mikes for the snare drum just to ensure that both the body and snares are captured, similarly for the bass drum to get both snap and boom... Then the mixing engineer spends hours trying to make it all sound good and in 50% cases he/she ends up with drum replacing." Basically, you can mic a real kit in a less-than-ideal environment, and send the mix out to the drummer. It needs to be fed audio, not MIDI, but is zero latency. If you have an acoustic kit available, the 14-day trial is another option to consider; but again, it doesn't have hi-hats or cymbals.
 
Quick edit:
Links to my playing around:
Tapping Dynamic Mic (Dry)
Tapping Dynamic Mic (Wet)
12
© 2024 APG vNext Commercial Version 5.1

Use My Existing Forum Account

Use My Social Media Account