Small drum room

[Nu-tra]

I have a 16 x 10ft bedroom with 9ft ceilings... I have a 6 piece drum kit in the room... I was thinking about close micing since It isn't a real recording room. Should I bother with ambience mics? I was also thinking of sending my mixed drum tracks out of my nearfield monitors in my friends hardwood living room and recording those with a pair of akg 451'a.... has anyone done this trick? Another option is wizooverb2. My Daw has 12 ins. this is my chain so far.

kick in- Shure Sm91 through vintech 1272
kick out- RE20 through 1272
Snare top- Beyer 201 with Shure sm98 taped to it. api 312
Snare bottom- Oktava. sytek
Toms- either mk-12 or 421.. I'm leaning towards the oktavas! They sound huge! through api 312
Overheads- Peluso CMC6 or whatever it is. through the jensen twin servo
hat- ksm 141. sytek

I would have to buy another interface to intergrate with my motu hd192. for more inputs to be able to have ambience tracks. Ya think it's worth it? I'm in a Devo type band... a shit load of tom driven beats.

I'm serious about all this since it will be our first real album.

Thanks guys.

V

[halcyo]

So you are talking about HAVING overheads, but NOT HAVING ambient mics? You'll be fine. Ambient mics are totally bonus in my book, and I don't think you'll be missing much.

halcyo

[Nu-tra]

Yeah... I have overheads on the drums... I was thinking my room my not be worth micing for ambience... Just asking if there was any tricks you guys like to use for crappier rooms vs a nicely done one at a real facility. In order to ad ambience mics I would have to shell out $ for an add on interface.


V

[djui5]

close mic it as much as you can in the little room. Then re-mic a stereo drum mix with speakers in your friends living room, being very careful to ensure a good blend of room and original sound. It's easy to get shitty sounds in living rooms like that, bass build-up, comb filtering, etc etc.

[AlexLakis]

I usually do both, overheads and ambient, and I have a small room. You should try experimenting with placing ambient mics outside of the room. For example, I have an adjoining bathroom that I put an LDC in, and it sounds awesome for rock. If you're looking for ambience, then give yourself ambience! If you're looking for a tight, close sound, then don't bother with the room mics. Re-amping the stereo drum mix can be awesome as djui5 suggested. You can even get a better balance between cymbals/drums before you pump it out, whereas depending on your drummer, room, and tuning, you might get too much cymbals with ambient micing.

[Nu-tra]

Thanks guys the remicing speakers sounds like a plan over buying an additional interface.

V

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Nu-tra

I was also thinking of sending my mixed drum tracks out of my nearfield monitors in my friends hardwood living room and recording those with a pair of akg 451'a.... has anyone done this trick?

Yes and it can work out GREAT.. but IMHO it's far better to have control of individual close miced drums + the ability to gate them slightly if you want too.. A stereo compressor on the 451'a "room mic's' might sound perfect... (squish it good!)

[A LaMere]

I'm constantly "re-amping" the drum kit in different rooms like this...

Drums sound a little odd without some ambient mics sometimes...
Other times, the room mics will be enough... Depends on how they were recorded and the drums and the room, etc...

The re-amping trick is marvelous...