recording perc.

[Mr Darling]

Hi all,

 

I'm about to record perc. to a track that's going to be on a score.

I have an AKG solitude, with a TC gold channel as my weapon of choice.

We're mainly going to record 2 tabla's, shakers and stuff. But only one player with as many passes as needed.

I don't want to use more then one mic if possible.

Any suggestions how I can make this recording as painless as possible.

 

Thanks

Danny

[DrummerCafe]

Sounds like you've got it all figured out.

 

The only suggestion I would like to give is that you will probably want to track instruments like the shaker first. This way you've got all the subdivisions covered and all the other parts will just need to line up with it. This is assuming, of course, that the shaker is playing a consistent pattern like 16th notes. If this is not the case, track the instrument that plays the MOST subdivisions FIRST. It will save you a lot of headaches.

 

If you have a broken, syncopated part, let's say on the tabla, and then you have to go back and track a shaker part over the top of it; it can be difficult if you didn't play the tabla part perfect the first time.

 

I personally prefer to build from the bottom up. To me, a regular, reoccurring pattern makes a good foundation with which to build the other parts on. I don't always get to do that in the studio. With the commercials I tracked percussion on just a few weeks ago (Nokia, McDonalds) I had to lay down the conga part first because that's what the producer wanted. It was the most important part to him, so he wanted to hear it in the mix BEFORE we decided to add anything else, like a shaker pattern. Luckily, I had played the conga parts clean, so add the shaker was a breeze ... but that's not always the case.

 

Let us know how your session goes. I'd love to hear more about the score you are playing on too!

[sidereal]

Bart's the master at this stuff.... but I just gotta say, nice choice on the TC Gold channel. that is one sweet box.

[DrummerCafe]

Originally posted by sidereal:

Bart's the master at this stuff.... but I just gotta say, nice choice on the TC Gold channel. that is one sweet box.

 

Master? NO.

Some experience, usually by making lots of mistakes ... YES!

[Mr Darling]

Thanks for your quick reply ! Would you believe I forgot to "send email notice when someone answer"

 

Anyway, I'm actually the engineer / producer for this track but it nice to hear what you perc. player think about it.

Our perc. player is one of the best in Belgium , we have a conga loop for him to play along (replace) so I'll hope that will take care of the rhythm side, I'm just not sure about mic placements when it gets to recording congas and the likes. (you sure I can get by with the on mic?)

Hopefully , he'll know. If not, it's my studio, he gets paid per session, so we have all the time to experiment.

 

The deadline is for the track to be mastered in 2 weeks, so I'll might let you guys listen (If you really like to)

 

Thanks again

 

Danny

[DrummerCafe]

One mic should work great. If you want more control over the panning and separation, then you'd need to mic each individual instrument ... like the bayan (large drum) and the dayan (small drum) which together are known as tabla. Traditionally, tabla act as one sound with little or no panning involved ... so one mic is great.

 

As far as mic placement, I would start by placing the mic up above and slightly in front of the drums, so that it splits the difference between the drums. From this point you should pick up each drum equally. If it sounds unbalanced, just move the mic away from the dominant side or towards the weaker side. If you need a tighter sound, move the mic in closer. For more of a room sound, back it away.

 

I'm sure you already know all of this, but I wanted to say it anyway ... as an encouragement to experiment. There are times that I play a shaker so close to the mic that I feel I'm going to hit it! Other times I'm several feet away! Those are extremes, but it all depends on the sound we want and how loud/soft the instrument is acoustically.

 

Unfortunately, the number of available, empty tracks seem to determine whether a percussion instrument is recorded in stereo or not. Sometimes it's a creative choice, but most of the time there just isn't enough tracks to handle it. On many instruments, you don't need stereo mixes ... unless the player plans to move the instrument around to create some stereo imaging.

[Mr Darling]

Just talked with the perc player, and to my suprise he has no idea about micing the perc.

He is coming tommorrow and we'll record : conga's as well as shakers and other noise makers. As for the noise makers it seems like one mic will do, but he claims they uselly use two mics to record the congas. (There is two congas)

I cen get two mics, but not two identicals. I'll try recording with my AKG (great sound) and if it doesn't work I'll might use two shures.

What about monitoring - if we use the AKG headphones is the only option.

 

Thanks again, and I will let you know how it went.

 

Danny

[DrummerCafe]

Originally posted by Mr Darling:

Just talked with the perc player, and to my suprise he has no idea about micing the perc. As for the noise makers it seems like one mic will do, but he claims they uselly use two mics to record the congas. (There is two congas)

 

Danny, there is NO reason why you can't mic two congas with one mic ... it's done all the time ... just like using two mics. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, it all depends on what you are going for. I tracked three congas with one mic (AKG 414B) for a McDonalds commercial and it worked great.

 

If you want to pan the congas, you'll have to mic them individually. If you don't have two identical mics, I would just use one mic. I've tracked congas with SM57 mics and that works too; I'm sure you have two of those.

 

You said that the percussionist doesn't have any idea about micking percussion, and yet you are letting him push you to get two mics?

 

Do what you can and just use your ears. Either way will work great. Again, it all depends on the sound you are looking for. Both micking techniques are perfectly acceptable.

 

Good luck!

[Mr Darling]

Thanks again for your quick respon .

 

I am going to try with the one mic. The AKG is very sensetive and will pick up enough. And I don't need to pan the congas..

 

As for him pushing - he didn't.

It's our project. He's just the paid musician (and very well paid). He just mention that uselly the conga's are recorded with two mics.

Anywhys, Thanks again.

Let you know how it all went tommorow and might let you all listen after we complete and master it.

 

Danny

[Mr Darling]

Well all went well. (almost well - had some problem with my new G4 / audio card, that ofcurse had to happen the one day we're paying someone for his time)

The conga sounded great with my ONE mic, as well as the shakers, bells ,pandora and few more (I forgot what all the names) The guy is realy good and thight, and we'll be spending tommorow choosing what we'll used, rework some of the vocals and mix.

We all ready have a mastering appointment for next friday, so all is well.

 

Thanks for all your support and good advices (basicly calming me down)

 

Danny

[DrummerCafe]

Great News!

 

Glad to hear all went well for you.

[Mr Darling]

Happy days to you all (Christmas, new years and of course - monday.)

 

As I promised here is the final track as it will appear on the Belgian movie.

http://www.DarlingNikkie.com/sounds/new/inthecity.mp3 (will be there until the end of this year)

We had great time recording all the live perc. (beside few shakers that was a first to me) and we do think they sounds great. So thanks for all the advice.

We really tried not to pick the best loop, (as we usually do with recorded stuff) but simply left the full take stay, with only few editing...

Hope you'll like it.

Any comments are more then welcome ,

 

 

Thanks again and happy holidays

--

Danny

 

[ 12-25-2001: Message edited by: Mr Darling ]