am I breaking a rule? (a drum mixing question)

[geizo94]

I'm tracking pop-country drum tracks (think Miranda Lambert, ect). This is my first experience with this particular genre so I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing. And it's on a very limited budget so I'll be mixing it too.

I tracked two room mics on the drums (as well as close mics and ohs) about twenty feet in front of the kit. I'm really liking the tone that the rooms add, especially to the snare, but I'm not a huge fan of how much of the room you hear with it. So I tried nudging the two room tracks forward so the signal is flush with the snare signal, and I really like the way it sounds now, kind of like a best of both worlds thing.

My question is this: am I breaking a drum mixing rule by doing this? I know "the only important thing is to do what sounds good" rule, but has anyone tried this and run into any issues down the road?

Thanks a ton!
and merry christmas

chris

[Sid Viscous]

When the room mic recording police knock on your door, please cooperate.

[nickynicknick]

OMG don't you know that you are NEVER ever supposed to do that...undo it immediately!

[trapper]

too late... TOO LATE!

[u b k]

run away! RUN AWAY!


gregoire
del
ubk
.

[joeq]

Originally Posted by geizo94

...and I really like the way it sounds now...

the 'if it sounds good it is good' rule supercedes any 'no cheating' rules

[Berolzheimer]

You notice Chris hasn't answered back. It's because the drum stasi got him.

[KeithMoonwannabe]

there really aren't rules just do what sounds good and since that's subjective it's a hard thing to argue.

I hope I don't get black bagged now

[Mike Brown]

This is fairly common.

Rock on!

[geizo94]

phew, out on bail.
I guess I should have known that was kind of a ridiculous question.

[MikeTSH]

During my CSI, minus the Crime Scene, I discovered that there are no rules. It's the final SOUND that matters.

[PRobb]

Originally Posted by geizo94

I'm tracking pop-country drum tracks (think Miranda Lambert, ect). This is my first experience with this particular genre so I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing. And it's on a very limited budget so I'll be mixing it too.

I tracked two room mics on the drums (as well as close mics and ohs) about twenty feet in front of the kit. I'm really liking the tone that the rooms add, especially to the snare, but I'm not a huge fan of how much of the room you hear with it. So I tried nudging the two room tracks forward so the signal is flush with the snare signal, and I really like the way it sounds now, kind of like a best of both worlds thing.

My question is this: am I breaking a drum mixing rule by doing this? I know "the only important thing is to do what sounds good" rule, but has anyone tried this and run into any issues down the road?

Thanks a ton!
and merry christmas

chris

I think you answered your own question. This technique has come up before and the purists recoil in horror. But it's all just tricks in the toolbag. Most of the times I've tried it it sucks. But when it works, it's great! If it sounds good it is good. Just make sure you don't get phase weirdness when summed to mono.

[SeanBlack]

A wise man told me about 15 years ago:

The First rule of recording is, there is no rules.

[Doc Mixwell]

Originally Posted by SeanBlack

A wise man told me about 15 years ago:

The First rule of recording is, there is no rules.

And.......thread over!!

[bcgood]

Originally Posted by geizo94

phew, out on bail.
I guess I should have known that was kind of a ridiculous question.

Out on bail fresh out of jail, California dreamin

[Hammer Mark]

Originally Posted by SeanBlack

A wise man told me about 15 years ago:

The First rule of recording is, there is no rules.

I doubt that was entirely true before the digital age, but now, the first of very few rules might be:

"Don't be a hack engineer by clipping your digital inputs!" -rcm

As for time aligning the room mics of drum tracks, have at it.