Getting drums to sound good in a small room...

[amishsixstringe]

Originally Posted by Akoppenheffer

Any tips on this? The room is only about 10'x12'. I don't have much absorbtion right now, it does not sound too hot, but before I dive into loads of absorbtion, i want to get some ideas to do it right. I assume, close mic everything of course.

Well, I can honestly say this. I recorded drums in a small room (a touch bigger than what you're using now) for about 2 years and struggled, even with gobs of bass trapping and a little absorption. I got decent sounds. I actually thought they were great sounds. Recently I've been in a medium sized room that is treated with the exact same traps and absorbers that i had in the other room (I know they're the same, because they are my panels and gobos). I did a project just yesterday using the same gear as the other room and a drummer i'm very familiar with and wow weeeeee. What a difference. Everything sounds great with no eq or compression. Just blew my mind.

Anyhow, what I learned about small rooms is this...Keep the drums off of the walls (don't put them in a corner). Also, don't put them in the middle of the room either....this can be hard to do with a really small room. Put the overheads down really low. Just high enough so the drummer won't hit them. close mic everything...so you can get good triggers, beause you're going to need drumagogg probably. That's just the truth. Great drums require great rooms... Use dynamic mics over condensers. Don't hit the cymbals too hard. This is always true, but really really true in small rooms. You will hear the cymbals as one continuous swoosh of sound if they're hit hard in a small room. BASS TRAPS! LOTS of THEM.

You can get demo quality results in a small room. If you're trying to make a record rent a big room or get drumagogg.


Neil

[johnwayne]

You can make them sound good if you know what you're doing. Check this thread drums in a small room

[thermos]

I'm working on it too. Trap, trap, trap. Talk to Ethan Winer at Real Traps, he'll give you some suggestions. The deader the better I'm finding.

Check out the Tchad Blake forum, he will ONLY record drums in super tiny rooms that they can barely fit in (according to him) that are completely dead. He gets his verb from distortion and compression. He gets some of my favorite drum sounds ever. That gave me back my faith in small rooms for drums. This also COMPLETELY debunks the myth that you can't make a record if drums are done in a small room.

Also, reamping is great. When you have the drums done for the album or whatever, find a space you like and pump the drums through a set of monitors/pa, whatever and throw mics at the other end of the space. I get a lot of compliments on the depth of my drum sounds coming from my small ass room, and I think this has a lot to do with it.

I mic stuff close, and far. I actually use a mic about 2 or 3' in front of the kick (level with the top rim or so) and then a pair of room mics. They mostly just serve as vehicles for compression and eq, and adding a tile rm verb to if necessary.

Anyway, thats how I do it. I've been working in this overcrowded space for about 7 years now, and its a constant learning process.

[thermos]

Ah! Beat me to it.

[chymer]

Hey man,
I dont usually record drums in my small room (3 X 4 meters) but I did recently for pre-production for a band Im producing next year.

I made sure all the drums were close miked obviously and i put a couple of mics pointing at each opposite wall as roomish mics ( i say roomish because there are minimal early reflections). You can compresss these room mics and filter out the top end (lowpass) and this can create some nice "air"....
however.....
What I did was have drumagog trigger some "slate" samples live as we were recording. these are incredible samples, check them out. This gave the kik and snare some puch and created the illusion of a larger space......oh and I also had the UAD PLAte 140 reverb on the kit, this was very good.
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-p...drum-kits.html

But dont take my word for it check out the pre-prod demos I did here:

MySpace.com - KisTone - Sydney, AU - Rock / Alternative / Powerpop - www.myspace.com/kistonemusic

I think the drums turned out surprisingly well but I would always got to a well equipped room for the record.
Chymer

[John Suitcase]

Getting good drum sounds in a small room is possible, of course, but I agree that a big room helps loads. When I record bands, I'm usually working at there place. The first thing I do is find the biggest room, and have them set up the drums in there. The thing is that drums are loud, and they need room for the sound to dissipate. If you're in a small room, every mic picks up everything else, and it gets a lot harder. My best small room recordings were the simplest. One overhead, One kick mic, maybe a snare mic. Put a room mic in the hall or wherever you can, you can even mic a A/C vent. The fewer mics you use, the fewer problems you'll run into.

Have fun, and keep an open mind. Not every great recording has pristine drums. Sometimes a mono semi-lo-fi setup is just the ticket.

[Akoppenheffer]

Originally Posted by chymer

Hey man,
I dont usually record drums in my small room (3 X 4 meters) but I did recently for pre-production for a band Im producing next year.

I made sure all the drums were close miked obviously and i put a couple of mics pointing at each opposite wall as roomish mics ( i say roomish because there are minimal early reflections). You can compresss these room mics and filter out the top end (lowpass) and this can create some nice "air"....
however.....
What I did was have drumagog trigger some "slate" samples live as we were recording. these are incredible samples, check them out. This gave the kik and snare some puch and created the illusion of a larger space......oh and I also had the UAD PLAte 140 reverb on the kit, this was very good.
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-p...drum-kits.html

But dont take my word for it check out the pre-prod demos I did here:

MySpace.com - KisTone - Sydney, AU - Rock / Alternative / Powerpop - www.myspace.com/kistonemusic

I think the drums turned out surprisingly well but I would always got to a well equipped room for the record.
Chymer

The drums sound great man, I'm assuming those are the Slate samples. Which snare and kick samples exactly were they? I'm gonna have to pick these up.

[Clueless]

Originally Posted by amishsixstringe

[...] Recently I've been in a medium sized room that is treated with the exact same traps and absorbers that i had in the other room (I know they're the same, because they are my panels and gobos). I did a project just yesterday using the same gear as the other room and a drummer i'm very familiar with and wow weeeeee. What a difference. Everything sounds great with no eq or compression. Just blew my mind.
Neil

What were the dimensions (W, D, H) of your medium-sized room?

[chymer]

Thanks man, I dont remember what samples they were exactly...there are a few going on there including my own custom ones:-)
I highly recommend his samples and whether you believe it or not, all the top producers and mixers are using samples to augment the kit, even if it was recorded in a nice room with great gear. (of course within stylistic reason)
Chymer

[blackwatch5805]

even though the room is small, you might be surprised at how much "roomier" it can sound with an LDC in a corner with compression.

[chymer]

Originally Posted by blackwatch5805

even though the room is small, you might be surprised at how much "roomier" it can sound with an LDC in a corner with compression.

agreed

[Akoppenheffer]

Originally Posted by blackwatch5805

even though the room is small, you might be surprised at how much "roomier" it can sound with an LDC in a corner with compression.

I'm a big fan of the LDC in omni in a corner. Gives everything some balls. but hey chymer, which package did you get from Slate?

[chymer]

Originally Posted by Akoppenheffer

I'm a big fan of the LDC in omni in a corner. Gives everything some balls. but hey chymer, which package did you get from Slate?

I got the version 1.5 elite mixer edition, plenty of options there man:-)
Its great.
Chymer