Basic Setup For Recording Drums On A Budget

The drums are the heartbeat of your creation and if they don't sound great then your whole recording will sound weak. Studio engineers spend a lot of time getting the drum sounds correct. This is normally the first thing that they do as it will be the bed that all other sounds will lay on top of. So spend time and get your drums just right and your whole mix will benefit from it.

This setup tutorial is for an analogue setup if you have an set of gigital drum like the Roland V-Drums then your job for recording will be different. A lot of the digital drums kits on the market only allow for a steroe pair as output for recording. With the Roland series only the TD-20 drum sound module has 8 outputs. The other way to use one of these kits is to record the drum patterns as Midi then re-voice the result in your DAW, this is a very flexible way of using drums as the human feel is kept but the sounds can easily be changed to suit the mix. Another method of laying down a drum track is to use drum loops in your Daw very high qaulity loops are now available (I will cover this topic in another tutorial) but back to analog drum (I don't think you can beat the sound but that is just my opinion).

To record a good drum mix you will need at least 8 inputs ,this can be directly to your recording device i.e. an analog tape or to your DAW or via some form of desk again either analog or digital. I personally still use an analogue desk for recording drum mixes. you will also require7 Mic's to setup with the drum Kit. My recommended mic's on a budget would be the RVK7 drum mics from Red5audio. I have used these mics in the past and for a budget set (£145) they sound great.

The Kick Drum

Place the chosen mic about half way in to the drum itself and pointing at the beater. angle the mic to mimamise sound leakage from the snare drum. Always keep the mic pointed at the drummer's shin bone on the leg that controls the hi-hat and in line with the beater.

The Snare

Bring your mic it in from the front side of the kit and give it a 45 to 60 degree angle with the head about an inch above the snare head. The farther out it is from the head, the more room ambiaence you will pickup, but the furhter away from the snare the more potential ther is fro bleed from other skins.

Toms

Mic all three toms at approximatly 45 degree angle to the drum head with the end of the mic pointing at a spot about 2" past the rim at the front you . The distance of the mic from the actual head should range between one inch and six inches depending on how "roomy" you like your drums to sound. Once again, the further the mics are from the drums, the roomier the sound, but you have to be aware of the potential of bleed from other drums.

Overheads

Place the mics about 16 inches over the cymbals' centers and towed out at about 45 degrees. That will give better separation, and also reduce the amount of low end from the toms that is picked up in the cymbal mics. Who needs bottom end on their cymbals?! I have not added any cymbal mics as it should not be neccesary as the overheads will pickup all the cymbal sounds you require. Cymbal mics can be added if you want but I personally don't use them very often and if you are on a budget then it will save on mics.

Equalization (very important to get a good drum sound)

Equalization is very importmant in recording and even more so for recording drum tracks. If you are using analog recording equiptment then this is less of a problem as you will be able to record the tracks with all the ambiance of the drums but in digital recording you can loose some of the subtle ambiance of the sounds if not recorded properly.

Each of the drum mics should be assigned a track on it's own this will hel you when you are preparing your final mix whether this is done on a DAW or from a multitrack tape and mixing desk.

For the kick drum increase your EQ around 100Hz and reduce at around 500Hz. You need to be recording a signal of around -3db.

For the Snare drum increase your EQ around 100Hz and reduce at around 500Hz and also increase around 8K to get a crisper snare sound. Be carefull on the top end as if you raise it to much then your sound will be very thin and brittle. You need to be recording a signal of around -2db.

For the Toms increase your EQ around 100Hz and reduce at around 500Hz . Be carefull on the top end as you want to capture a nice rich rounded sound from the toms. You need to be recording a signal of around -2db.

The overhead don't require much in the way of EQ but I normally cut down around 100Hz and increase just slightly somewhere between 7K - 10K but be careful to much top will produce a very high "ringing and singing" sound that could upset the rest of the mix. Kepp the levels of the cymbal mics quite low as to high a level can easily blow the tweeters on your speakers (can be an expensice mistake) so remember low as possible.

Final comments

Always remember that recording is an art and as the artist you need to "paint the canvas". These are guidelines and should treated as such. I would suggest setting up you drums as above and then tweek the setup to your liking.

well your now ready to record those drums - go to it !

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