How do I get an Old School Drum Sound? A tutorial.

Recently I had to dial up an “Old School” two-mic drum sound for a project, and I thought: surely people would enjoy hearing me wax-poetic about this deceptively simple approach from those days when spirits were brave, the stakes were high, engineers were real engineers, drummers were real drummers and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. You know what I mean.
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[@stevenrodriguez1394]

YES! That's the sound! Just like "Under my Thumb " from the Stones, this is the exact sound I was looking for.

[@oceanographic]

Yes! I love this.

[@user-fl1ed1nl7d]

Great video. My 60´s Gretsch Firebird would get along well with that!

[@FishingforFisher]

I really dig this in-depth (poetic waxing) demonstration. Quality content, also love the gear and sound.

[@oceanographic]

Thanks!

[@beatspieces6213]

Nice and crispy. If you looped up a couple bars of this, and chopped up a soul sample, and through it in an MPC or SP, nobody would know that this break wasn't sampled from an old record.

[@tillrichterdrums]

Well explained and sounds great 👌

[@oceanographic]

Thanks so much!

[@FranklyNorman]

What a great sound. Nice work

[@oceanographic]

Thank you very much!

[@peevonb7070]

Awesome! Thanks man!

[@mcswing2001]

That's amazing! That's an active ribbon mic? Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

[@oceanographic]

Thanks! It's an old, 50's era Tannoy ribbon mic. Not active.

[@acumenproductions6087]

Awesome video! Loved all the details you mentioned going into the sound, tuning the kick up slightly and choice of cymbals. I would be curious to know a bit more about your compression settings with attack and release times and ratios. But the importance of the mic placement and everything else before recording even happens is very clear. Cheers!

[@oceanographic]

Thank you! Compression varies so much depending on tempo and musical context. When I’m recording myself and layering instruments I tend to wait on compression until later, unless it’s a really specific sound and I want to play to it in the headphones.

[@NathanCavaleriMusic]

Mate! I love this so much for many reasons. Less is more. Question... I'm starting to think that the reason why I find it so difficult to get my hats sounding dark and "sticky" is because I'm using a condenser for an overhead rather than a ribbon. I haven't much experience with ribbons. For this demo, did you roll off any top end post? Great clip!

[@oceanographic]

Hey Nathan! Thank you so much! I definitely use hats that are already in the ball park of the sound I am looking for, so whatever kind of mics I am using for OH’s are more of a perspective on/coloration of that core sound. Big heavy New Beats will never sound like some thin 60’s style dark cymbals. That being said, you could try processing your overheads (or all of drum mic’d together in a group) with a high shelf EQ. Lots of vintage analog gear starts to taper off the high end starting at around 12khz. So try a gentle reduction up in those frequencies and see if it helps. That said - ribbon mics are lovely on drums, especially in a brighter room...but make sure your drums and cymbals sound the way you want them to, because that’s where 80% of the sound cones from! Good luck!

[@NathanCavaleriMusic]

Dan Phelps spot on! Actually i had to lay down some drums of that nature today (since messaging)... I took on board what you said about playing light and it pretty much solved the problem! Something so simple! Keep up the clips mate!

[@mercerfamilyadventures4613]

Something that's worth a craic. Download vintage mic impulse responses then you can use a small mix of a ribbon with ur condenser, get some killer sounds. And free micirp.blogspot.com/?m=1

Great sounds! And where did you find that beautiful skinny hardware?

[@oceanographic]

The cymbal stand is a modern DW (I think they call the line “Ultralight”) and the hihat stand is a 60’s Ludwig that feels just right.

[@craigvanstoudemire940]

Fantastisch 👌