microphone

How to get great sounding drum tracks for your recording
By Brian Petersen at brianapetersen@gmail.com

Here is a video that has some shots of recent recording sessions.

Recording drums can be a daunting task and can even strike fear in the heart of any audio engineer. Most musicians have done some kind of recording with even a basic software program, but few have successfully recorded so many tracks at one time. That is what separates drum tracking from vocals, guitars, and other individual track recordings. A vocal recording requires one microphone, going into one mic pre, into one track in your software. A drum session requires eight microphones, going into eight mic pres, and to eight tracks into your session.

Before you start, you need to make sure that you have a software program with an audio interface that can record at least 4 to 8 channels of audio. XLR inputs with phantom power would be required unless you are using an external mixer and run your inputs as a line in level input with a tip/ring/sleeve ¼ inch connector from the mixer to your interface.

I begin the recording process by working within my software program. I prefer to work in pro tools but any professional software application or analog tape will work. I then set up the mics, cables, and pres while getting good sounds from the kit itself. Setting levels and getting a good monitor mix happens before your record, edit, mix, and master.

Set the meter and tempo in your session
This is often the part of the recording session that can take place before the drummer does anything, and the engineer can get to work far before any actual recording takes places. The engineer would make sure that the song session is set up properly and that the tempo and meter is in agreement with what the producer desires. This often happens in pre production when the producer works with the engineer to set the feel of each song and both set the tempo for each track. This is pretty important to get right up front so that you avoid re-recording your drums at another desired tempo at a later date.

Click track
Make sure that you create a click track that your drummer can hear during the recording process. This will also be used by other people who need to hear the tempo of the song during breaks and the acapella sections when the drums aren’t being played. I highly recommend that you record with a click so that all of your tracks are locked to a grid that can be easily edited throughout the production process. You can also use a loop or other support tracks that you created in pre-production. I try to get click tracks to my drummer before each session so they know the tempo and roadmap of the song that they are recording. This will help so that they can familiarize themselves with the song before they sit down to record at the session. The producer or songwriter will normally have charts of the songs before the recording session, and all you have to do is ask to get a copy of them. I mostly record with drummers that I know well and this also helps to streamline the process.

Set up tracks in your recording software
I set up tracks and signal flow inside of my session in this order:
Kick
Snare
Snare bottom (optional)
High hat
Tom
Tom
Tom
Stereo overhead mics
Room mic(s)

Set up mics, cables, mic pres, and get your sounds
Signal flow is so important! You must be able to follow the signal path from the instrument, to the mic, down the cable, to the mic pre, down that cable, to the input, and into your software session. You must then be able to route that sound through a drum buss, out of your interface, out a headphone mix for your drummer, and also a monitor mix for you the engineer. This has to be down with little or no latency in your computer software all while making sure that your levels are within their operable range. This is before you record anything.

I normally run each microphone through a high end mic pre before sending that signal into a recording interface. This gives a warmer or fatter sound to most of my inputs while reducing noise.

Have your drummer begin playing so that you can set your levels on the mic pres and on your interface inputs. Be sure that your drummer is actually playing the style and volume that they will be playing for the song that they are recording. Most drummers seem to sound check levels by playing something they did in the club the night before or play an epic drum groove that they learned recently. Make sure that they are actually playing the style and volume that they will be playing for the song that they are recording. It feels a bit odd to ask but few drummers actually play the style and volume that they will be playing for the song that they will be recording.

I normally rely on the drummer to get the sound from their drums that they like.I get asked about drum heads, tuning, and playing style, but I trust the drummers for all that. Sure I have my opinions and preferences, but I prefer to rely on the musician to setup and play their instrument well. As an engineer, I can also change/replace any of their sounds in editing or mixing at a later time.

I prefer to get the best sound possible while placing the overhead microphones and then add in the kick and snare. I will then add in the tom mics and pan them across the stereo spectrum while checking for phasing issues in a mono mix. I find that I don’t really use the high hat mic as it comes through the overheads, but I make sure that I have a good sound for that as well in case it is used in the mixing process. I add in my room mics for monitoring and continue to check levels and solo various tracks to make sure that nothing is clipping unless desired. I find that my best drum sounds can come from the room mics, overheads, kick, and snare. I prefer to not use any plug ins or reverbs while tracking and to monitor the inputs without any effects. Normally I only compress my room mics through a tube mic pre and compressor, while leaving my other tracks uncompressed.

Record
I record the sound check and continue to readjust levels throughout the process. When everything is setup and the producer and drummer are ready, you can start with your pre roll and begin recording. This is an important time to let your producer run the session and get the performance that everyone wants. You can stop and start at any time while make punches across your recorded tracks. Continue to watch your levels and check your monitor mix while recording. I make sure to pay special attention for soft passages in the performance where the drummer’s headphone mix might bleed into the overhead or room mics. I will also play back the whole drum take after the performance and carefully listen to make sure that everything is recorded as desired with no clicks or hit mics. It’s a great time to make sure that you recorded everything on the appropriate tracks and that all your sounds are properly routed in your session. It might be hard to explain to the producer and drummer that you recorded three tracks of the same tom because you forgot to route your inputs properly.

It seems that while recording to click tracks during sessions, most drummers seem to rush heading into drum fills and choruses, and slow down coming out of them.I make sure that the drummer sticks to the click as much as possible without me irritating the producer or drummer. This will help in editing the drums and while tracking all the other instruments that will be placed on top of the kit.

The Room
There are so many techniques on how to record drums and even more on the locations that can be used to record them. I prefer to record drums in a large “live” room with high ceilings. Churches are my favorite locations for numerous reasons. Make sure that there is no slap delay in the room and you can find this out by clapping your hands a couple times near the location where the drummer will be playing. You can use sound baffles or any kind of absorbent material to block such delays and tailor the sound to your desire. Check for crickets and other buzzing before you start recording.

Editing and Mixing Drums
After the initial recording session I listen back to the tracks and make any adjustments as needed. I trim off the beginning and end of the recorded tracks that could have the drummer or producer talking. I also fix any punches that might have been made and try to get the take to sound as natural as possible.

I like using samples for the kick and snare for most recordings. I find that I can get a better sound from a sampled kick or snare from logic than I can through a recorded microphone. This happens by using a pro tools plug-in to swap the originally recorded sound with the new sampled sound from an audio file.

There are many other ways to record drums, but I hope this is a start to getting great sounds while recording your session.

Kelly Wright playing during a recording session at Grace EV Free in La Mirada.
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