When it comes to recording music, there's nothing better than plain old fashioned simplicity.
Let's take a look at drums, one of the most complicated instruments to record. It's not uncommon for a modern recording engineer to grab 10 or more microphones to record the entire drum kit.
But did you know that there is an even simpler way to do it?
Get the Drum Sound from the Start
An interesting concept to recording kick drums is to place the kick drum mic on the inside of the hole as opposed to the outside.
What happens when you put the mic outside the hole is the drum head will create concentrated air that will hit the diaphragm of the mic. This will give you a hyped bottom end that you will eventually have to cut out later.
So if you can avoid it altogether, that is the best solution.
You should be moving the mic into a spot that will give you the sound that's closest to how you would want to hear it in the mix.
Even though this might seem obvious or trivial, I wouldn't disregard the advice that I'm going to give. You should always be thinking of the result as your working towards that finished product. Don't wait until the mix to make critical decisions, do it right from the start!
Your drum recordings will come out a lot better.
Softer Playing Can Yield Big Results?
Expanding on the point that you should always have the final mix in your head (as your recording drums) here's an obscure technique that I wanted to share.
If your goal is to have a more balanced, bigger than life drum sound in your mix, then player your drums softer.
Crazy, right?
If you walk away from this article and get nothing else out of it, get this one point: The way the drummer plays going to determine the final sound more than anything else.
So if you can play the drums lighter than you might otherwise do so, you can achieve a much better balance later on in the mix. This is especially true when it comes to compressing the drum overheads.
Just like how mixing is all about the balance, the same can ring true for recording. You don't have to slam your drums into oblivion as your playing them. Focus on the overall balance of all the recordings, just like you would when you are working on a mix.
Learn to Experiment
Don't be afraid to experiment because that's truly where all the magic happens. I remember when I used to stay up late and just tune the drums for hours on end. I was just curious to see what happened. A lot of great things came from those late nights.
A lot of new home studio engineers don't have the patience to put the time into experimenting to create better drum sounds. And to be honest, I think they're missing out.
The Perfection Solution for Home Studios
So before I leave you, I wanted to share a video with you that Apogee put together, where they feature their 2-channel interface - The Duet.
Just take a second to watch as Bob Clearmountain and Matt Chamberlain show you a timeless 2-channel recording technique for drums. Just don't pay any attention to the quality of the equipment that they used because it's the technique that matters most.
The 2-channel method is probably the best for recording drums in terms of the home studio enthusiast, especially if you only have two channels at your disposal.
Let's take a look at drums, one of the most complicated instruments to record. It's not uncommon for a modern recording engineer to grab 10 or more microphones to record the entire drum kit.
But did you know that there is an even simpler way to do it?
Get the Drum Sound from the Start
An interesting concept to recording kick drums is to place the kick drum mic on the inside of the hole as opposed to the outside.
What happens when you put the mic outside the hole is the drum head will create concentrated air that will hit the diaphragm of the mic. This will give you a hyped bottom end that you will eventually have to cut out later.
So if you can avoid it altogether, that is the best solution.
You should be moving the mic into a spot that will give you the sound that's closest to how you would want to hear it in the mix.
Even though this might seem obvious or trivial, I wouldn't disregard the advice that I'm going to give. You should always be thinking of the result as your working towards that finished product. Don't wait until the mix to make critical decisions, do it right from the start!
Your drum recordings will come out a lot better.
Softer Playing Can Yield Big Results?
Expanding on the point that you should always have the final mix in your head (as your recording drums) here's an obscure technique that I wanted to share.
If your goal is to have a more balanced, bigger than life drum sound in your mix, then player your drums softer.
Crazy, right?
If you walk away from this article and get nothing else out of it, get this one point: The way the drummer plays going to determine the final sound more than anything else.
So if you can play the drums lighter than you might otherwise do so, you can achieve a much better balance later on in the mix. This is especially true when it comes to compressing the drum overheads.
Just like how mixing is all about the balance, the same can ring true for recording. You don't have to slam your drums into oblivion as your playing them. Focus on the overall balance of all the recordings, just like you would when you are working on a mix.
Learn to Experiment
Don't be afraid to experiment because that's truly where all the magic happens. I remember when I used to stay up late and just tune the drums for hours on end. I was just curious to see what happened. A lot of great things came from those late nights.
A lot of new home studio engineers don't have the patience to put the time into experimenting to create better drum sounds. And to be honest, I think they're missing out.
The Perfection Solution for Home Studios
So before I leave you, I wanted to share a video with you that Apogee put together, where they feature their 2-channel interface - The Duet.
Just take a second to watch as Bob Clearmountain and Matt Chamberlain show you a timeless 2-channel recording technique for drums. Just don't pay any attention to the quality of the equipment that they used because it's the technique that matters most.
The 2-channel method is probably the best for recording drums in terms of the home studio enthusiast, especially if you only have two channels at your disposal.