Garage sounding drums

[ponka]

Hi,

 

I know it's all about "try and error", but I still wanna' ask if any of you have had any experience with this...

 

I'm gonna' record my drumset in the rehearsal studio and I want that garage band kind of sound (wich is quite hot now, like The Hives and The White Stripes), some kind of 60:s sound...

 

I will use 4 tracks for the recording, so I guess I'll have to settle for kick, snare and two overhead/room mikes. Should I put the overheads abot 10 inces (well here in Sweden we don't use inch, and I dont know exactly how much one inch is, but still...) over the "highest" crashes or should I put them in front of the drum set instead (and use them as room mikes)? I've had them over the drum set before, but my cymbals tend to be a bit too loud and the toms a bit "dry" and not so loud... By the way, how much does the height of the overheads affect the sound?

I also would like some "ring" from the snare as well, more "shell-sound" if you know what I mean... I've had the mike about one inch from the rim, but I still would like some more of that "ring"... Since my snare rings quite a lot and I would like to put that on the track as well...

 

Thanx,

 

//Ponka, Sweden

[Desdinova]

This would be my approach. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by garage, which to me translates to "space" or use of reverb... but anyway... if you want that "garage" vibe... here's what I would do. This is only if I'm looking for that loose sound.

 

First I would set up one of the following. The results vary depending on the kit and the players style so I try this config first...

 

A pair of nice mic's (I'd use my TLM103's) in front of the set about 1 meter from the floor (maybe a little less) and 1/2 meter apart. The left mic should point toward the right side of the kit and the right mic should point to the left... kindofa criss-cross. Mess with the pans to taste and realism. If this doesn't work out, then place the mic's about 1 meter apart pointing straight back (not angled at all) and adjust.

 

I would then put something like an SM57 placed pointing toward the snare from under the highhat. I usually have the drummer play the intro to Smoke on the Water and just place the mic so the snare and highhat are balanced to taste.

 

Drop a good kick mic in front of the kick. Audix, AKG-D12, CAD I pick what I like the sound of for the drum.

 

Put a pair of mic's overhead (I use CAD or Actava depending on my mood). I put them about 2 meters apart, about 1/2 meter higher than the highest cymbal, then just adjust direction/angle to taste.

 

When I initially set up the mic's I adjust the angle individually until I get the sound I like from each mic, then I mix the kit and re-adjust as necessary.

 

Hope this help, this is just my solution for the more "open" garage sound. I usually end up getting most of the sound from the front mics and the overheads just adding the highhat/snare mic or kick to fill in what might be missing or to highlight what might be missing.

 

Have fun...

[Jode]

Who gives a rip about mics? It's all in the heads and the attitude, my friend. Put coated Ambassadors all around without a hint of muffling - fat snare, flappy toms, bass with BOTH HEADS, no holes - and wail away. No reverb, just DRUMS. One SM57 in the corner will capture it all.

[ponka]

Thank u guys for your attention!

 

The problem is that we're gonna record the whole band live (except for the bass, wich we will add later) and the hard disc studio can only record 6 tracks at the time... That leaves me with just 4 tracks to "play" with. Maybe a kick, snare and two room mikes in front of the kit (criss-cross or not) and no overheads would work out? In that case, how does the hight of the room mikes affect the sound (cymbals, toms etc)?

[fuzzbox]

Ponga, I would use two mics left and right behind the kit and play with them till you get a good balance. A good place to start would be near the drummers head( trying to capture what the drummer is hearing) when you have a good balance of those two, move on to the bass drum, try a mic 1 foot in front if you want a more blended room sound or closer if you want an in your face BD. then move on to the SnareLater you can try sending the whole kit to a compressor this will help blend the sound alittle more.

[Rod Gervais]

If you're going to use just 4 tracks I would suggest using Recordingman's mic setup for stereo -

 

You set one mic directly centered over the snare - the height of 2 drum sticks - you set the 2nd mic over your drummers right shoulder (left if he's a lefty) the same 2 sticks from the center of the snare.

 

You then use your last 2 tracks for the bass and snare.

 

This over head setup places both mics exactly the same distance from the snare and bass pedal - thus when panned hard left and right - they still come through the center - however the remainder of the kit comes through in beautiful stereo.

 

You can then add the snare and bass as your needs arise.

 

Just another thought.

 

Good luck,

 

Rod

[ponka]

Hi again,

 

The date for the recording is now set. The mikes that comes with the hard disc recorder is one AKG D550 (kick) and two MXL 1006 large diaphram (overhead/room mikes) and then I'll add a SM57 on the snare. Do you think that could work?

 

//Ponka