Working Out The Kinks

Ok the drums are set up and tuned (thanks Clark and Joseph). I set the mics up last week in a general position and had Joseph come over and help me dial them in to a pretty good start. After listening to the output further I have found I have some serious things to do asap:

1. Move bass drum mics inside the front head more to try to get a beefier and more isolated sound.
2. Isolate the serious sympathetic snare buzz from most of the toms. I tried the technique of loosening the four lugs around the snare beds a quarter turn but that didn’t work. Looking at tuning now. Though I have heard and Joseph mentioned that the buzz isn’t a deal breaker for the mix and should get buried in the mix. I personally don’t dig it but will do my best to reduce it.
3. Adjust raw tom balance. The new MXL mics are pretty hot so the preamp gains on the Focusrite Scarlett-18i20 are at 0 at the moment and need further adjusting. Depending on the distance of the mic from the tom I am seeing clipping even with the preamp gain at its lowest setting.
4. The snare bottom mic sounds atrocious at further listen. I am trying the technique of miking the snare port but it is picking up a lot of the other instruments. I may move it to underneath the snare if I can resolve the sympathetic vibrations to get the crispness of the snare crack.
5. I have identified a very quick and repeating click sound on the right bass drum channel. It is subtle but there and has to be resolved. Investigating if the pc I am using is keeping up and causing this. I plan to take a look at the processes during the next recording to see if I can spot any issues where the CPU isn’t keeping up.

Below are pics of the kit after Joseph and I got the mics roughly dialed in. We had trouble with the 14″ tom mic placement due to the close proximity the china cymbals. I will look at better placement of the cymbals to accommodate the distance the MXL tom mic needs from the 14″ tom to get the best sound. We also have the 18″ floor tom sounding pretty good but the mic is in an awkward position near the Roland toms. I don’t hit it when I play the pads but the boom sticks out far in the entry area for the kit and I hit it sometimes…. doh.

Since I am still a novice at recording a complex instrument like the drum set to full potential at home I am always looking for further knowledge. Matt Fuller from Sweewater Music Instruments and Pro Audio recommended a book for me that I will pick up soon called Modern Recording Techniques? by David Miles Huber. He said “There is a great section in there about mic positioning, and EQ.” Matt helped me out early in the process of this venture with equipment and tons of knowledge through numerous email exchanges, phone calls and patience.

Lots to be done still but I am starting to look for opportunities online to provide drum tracks to other musicians. I am also working on compositions using the drum set as a musical instrument in the likes of Terry Bozzio, but not quite to his set size and complexity right now. Touché Terry, Touché …..

More to follow…..

More to follow..... Keep On Drumming!!!

Rich