Trash Can Reverb for a HUGE drum sound!

[@creativesoundlab]

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[@cadeallen7210]

I've heard that the vintage garbage cans sound better.

[@Jaspertine]

eh, yes and no. It's more that vintage garbage cans were made with stainless steel rather than galvanized steel, and that's kind of what makes the difference. I know a guy who did a totally unbiased A/B shootout of different tonemetals, and you can absolutely hear the difference, like night and day. Stainless steel resonates more smoothly and leads to a warmer, more open tone. It's just science, really.

[@M.Holland]

Jaspertine more like its a difference between knight and day. I heard that knight armour metal sound a lite more vintage,than these trash cans you talking about. But they are more fitting old school heavy metal songs, which are about dragons and princesses. They also cut through the mix a lot better, because of the sharpness they have on some occasions.

[@artysanmobile]

Cade Allen I have an early 50s trash can on eBay right now for $500 + shipping.

[@cadeallen7210]

New Gearslutz thread: vintage vs. modern garbage cans, what's the best metal alloy to use?

[@ReformedWhiteKnight]

Cade Allen - They will argue that all the new ones sound like plastic compared to the vintage ones! ;-)

[@luise8701]

Anyone: “your reverb is trash bro” This guy: “yes”

[@SuperTrisset]

dad jokle

[@MichaelTurner856]

@@SuperTrisset funny joke

[@SuperTrisset]

@@MichaelTurner856 ok

[@MichaelTurner856]

@@SuperTrisset 👍

[@gpr4eva]

FACTS 😂

[@ambiention]

I think you should try this with a piezo instead of a mic, kinda like a reverb plate. Could even wire up a second one in reverse to excite the can so you can run signals through it in a mix.

[@creativesoundlab]

Damn, can't believe I didn't think to do that.

[@ambiention]

@@creativesoundlab that ikea table/plate reverb hack video that was going round a while back kinda have me the idea This one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYu6cqGqhNOlrpY

[@MeTuLHeD]

@@creativesoundlab We did it in our studio back in the late 90's. Used an oil drum. Put a small piece of foam in it. Laid two PZM mics on the foam. Put the lid back on. Recorded them panned in stereo. Sounded amazing.

[@thejawshop-AdventureRecording]

@@MeTuLHeD That sounds worth the work for sure. Even if it didn't work. Would love to hear that! I have been playing around with hydrophones on the water's edge underwater pointed to the shore to amps and drums, getting a Kwaunky filter-thing.

[@ValirAmaril]

@@thejawshop-AdventureRecording reminds me of that Eddie Kramer story where Hendrix said he wanted an 'underwater' sound and they wrapped a mic in plastic and put it down a bucket of water.

[@benkmoskomusic3679]

A band I was in was recording at our drummer’s home studio and we were recording a lead guitar track with the guitar amp in the other room. Unintentionally, the amp was placed next to a washing machine. The mic on the amp was picking up a reverb coming off the washing machine that was super intense and unlike any other reverb I have heard, a happy accident we noticed in the recording later on.

[@raindogred]

geussing it was a "clean" sound

[@area51pictures]

Sounds awesome. Wanna know my secret? Sort of a poor mans Headley Grange. Set up your drums near a washing machine and a dryer, both empty. (Duh). Take 2 condensers, small OR large, preferably omni, then put one inside an (empty) washing machine, the other inside a dryer - with the lids closed. The bottom end, no EQ or compression, sounds BETTER than an 808. You dont even have to delay them. The sound is delayed JUST enough naturally to approximate about 20-30ms. You can pan 'em hard left and right and they sound natural. They sound awesome in mono. Especially if you already have a cool dry sound on the drums [I like a tube / ribbon in the Wurst mic position], theres NO disadvantage. It's the hugest sound ever. AND, no close mics on kick or snare or anything. Craziest part: Its PHASE COHERENT NATURALLY, don't ask me why. Guessing its to do with the sound waves being recycled inside the washer / dryer so many times it transcends comb filtering and becomes a magic sound. No joke: I've even tried this with bands recording rock live with amps in the same room. It sounds like a room mic but with LESS guitar bleed. In fact, the guitar bleed that you do get is even better, sits in the mix better, all cushy and warm on the low end as fuck. Since doing it, I never "have" to mic rooms again. Give it a spin. If you like the sound of these trash cans, trust me, you will LOVE this.

[@creativesoundlab]

Ok, def going to try this at some point.

[@thejawshop-AdventureRecording]

Rush's last tour had washing machines on stage....perhaps Neil had this going on! Great idea, would love to try this. I did try putting a small amp in a washer, but it did't work very well.

[@area51pictures]

@@thejawshop-AdventureRecording I wouldn't be surprised in the slightestXD

[@area51pictures]

@@thejawshop-AdventureRecording Yeah an amp in a washer MIGHT not be the same effect LOL. Amp in a shower tho? :)

[@area51pictures]

@@digiface fair enough! glad to have inspired an experiment! I've found that particular flavor of reverb far more useful than hose or canned verb, to each his own. therein lies the nature of recording as an art form!

[@mnemosftb]

I bought a pair of 1967 Rubbermaid Stainless Galvanized 30L cans and it was the best decision I've ever made for my home studio. Honestly the vintage models just have that defined mid-range you don't get on those 'smart' bins you can buy these days.

[@divine_architek]

Number 6 reminds me so much of a stadium. I love it!

[@manuelalfonzoml]

This is the best in my opinion

[@coherence-beat]

@@manuelalfonzoml +1

[@maulanaibrahim7286]

it reminds me of when the levee breaks bonham sound

[@Longrda2]

Was my fave as well.. More pronounced tail to my ear on this setup (lol-my phone..)

[@2dan4me97]

"hey what room mics do you use?" "trash cans"

[@vinny142]

0:37 "that didn't sound like garbage" Padum-tsssss!

[@creativesoundlab]

Ha yes!

[@SheldonBird]

This was one of my favorite parts lol I have a weakness for well-done cheezy jokes

[@Martin-kn6vc]

Man! Example 6 sounded great! Example 3 sounded interesting where the resonance of the trash can(s) was almost the same pitch as the hi tom. I liked how example 5 accentuated the attack of the kick; that was interesting!

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks Martin!

[@thescarymoosh]

Remember folks, always tune your trash cans to the key of the track!

[@creativesoundlab]

Ha yes!

[@dylanlockemp3]

id hang out with this guy

[@ultreya6709]

'Remember to always by your trash cans in matched pairs' - Exactly my sense of humor :D. Well done Ryan :D.

[@creativesoundlab]

Hahaha. Funniest comment so far. Glad my humor final worked with someone.

[@thomastucker5686]

@@creativesoundlab you need to get the tone metal cans. Those cheap cans don't use the same high quality galvanized tone metal of recording tone metal cans.

[@nategallegos9937]

This is why recording drums is it's own art

[@andrewgoulson]

Favorite was trash cans facing the kick. That kick is great!

[@A3Lazar]

Definitely helps that your playing was good and the drums were tuned nicely, just sayin 👍

[@JoshColletta]

Loved #6! Has a great live concert hall sound to it.

[@rishicoco]

Due to a lack of mics, i have rerun the drums from my speakers into two dynamic mics near the speakers and a condenser at the back of a room making a triangle. Sounded mad. I've also used good cymbals as a plate verb while reamping guitars, works magic. :D

[@GeraMontes]

6 sounded amazing, kinda like When The Levee Breaks

[@BlackburnBigdragon]

Heck.. Nothing to lose by also adding trash cans to your drum kit as drums. Back in the 80's I was in an industrial band and our drummer had a regular drum set, with some mic'ed up garbage cans, both metal, and plastic, some with lids on, some with lids off, trash can lid cymbals, and a rack of metal pluming pipes of different lengths. We were always experimenting with odd things to do with the drums.

[@gelderlandproduction]

Love this creativity. Hopefully it gets into the heads of the younger (and older of course) engineers instead of just reaching for a plug-in.

[@ludovicmorelon6771]

6 is the best, the most musical, the most pleasant to my ears.

[@michael_caz_nyc]

Very interesting. Made me think about John Bonham / Led Zeppelin's - When the Levee Breaks. Sounded great.

[@AlbertoMartinezDelRio]

Cool! Let's not forget also their use as straighteners for crooked backs ...

[@calebneff5777]

My studio shares a building with an oil distribution warehouse. We will occasionally use drums as reverb, it’s a cool effect. Many full drums seems to be better than a few empty ones, but it’s all neat.

[@MylesDavid]

Hey brother, wonderful experimenting! Definitely pulled out some great sounds! Something I did a long while ago that you’ve got to try: Take a piece of pvc tube about 6 feet long, place it parallel to the floor, pointing it directly to the front of the kit starting from about four feet from the kickdrum. It needs to be at a height at the top of the rim of the kick drum is good. I just took two music stands and laid the tube on those. Now, put a 57 in the far end of the pvc tube which would be pointing at the kit. Now light it up! Mess around with compression and vwalla! Try some gated verb too! I’m addition to that I also took an additional ambient large kick drum and placed it in front of the kit kick drum and then placed an old m88 in front of it and then moved the pvc tube further away to compensate! We were able to pull up a freakishly amazing cross between an “in the air tonight” vibe coupled with a very large Bonham sound! The kit was overheaded with a very old pair of 451’s which were very dark, and we used a Neumann USM 69 stereo mic for a room mic which was placed about 15ft or so in front of the kit! The 69 is the one that looks like a ww2 German hand grenade! If you try this please let me know what you think!!! It really kicked our butts!! 👍🏼😬👍🏼 Myles- [e-mail]

[@MeTuLHeD]

This is a technique similar to the old plate reverbs. A buddy of mine and I did it with an oil drum once. Sounded huge. Like playing in a coliseum. A lot like your Number 6 actually.

[@TheVexProject]

I've tried this a few times. I ended up placing a contact mic on mine and taping down those handles to lower the amount rattle!

[@cbrooks0905]

I was wondering what that was.

[@ryanmccarty8564]

I've heard of 5 gallon buckets before, but metal trash cans? Unreal. Got that Bonham sound! Very nice.

[@iengineer_247]

It has a old school vintage vibe to my ears. I can't blast my monitors its late night 😭😭😭 but I can hear the mix blend come through punchy and clear and clean!!!

[@in.der.welt.sein.]

I really liked the sound of the compressor with the SC filter on 160.

[@MarioManso]

6th option sounds huge! Most of the other options have clear overtones that may not work with any music piece. They sound supercool however. Nice work!!!

[@nu-tramusic5058]

1 and 2 is my fave for faster tunes and 6 for big slower rock jams.

[@titaniumtester6]

I like how it sounds raw and aggressive but not harsh or scratchy, 10/10

[@shanewoolsey940]

Back in the early 90's we did a similar method with PZM's sitting on a brick with a floor tom (bottom skin removed) over top. The higher in the room you can get it the better. add a bit of delay, Bonham.

[@the_nondrive_side]

#3 activated a room node in a great way. Actually they all did but.. 6 and 3 both did a thing but 6 had the longest reverb

[@leser1music]

5, no reason why, it just stood out to me. I think it's got a vintage funk kind of sound.

[@Levibetz]

Cool idea! Maybe try taping those handles down or cutting them off. The rattles were distracting. It also seems like when you set them on foam it significantly reduced the sustain. Maybe having smaller contact points could help them resonate?

[@brettmarlar4154]

The only one I didn't really care for was where the cans were on their sides with the open end away from the kit. There was a bad rattling sound that I couldn't ignore no matter how hard I tried. The open ends facing the drums was almost too subtle to tell the difference. which was cool. But the last one was the biggest surprise that yielded some of the best effects. Really big and boomy. The ones where they were sat more conventionally with the mics at the bottom were were closer to what I was expecting to hear, a very subtle, pleasant raspy sound that wasn't a distraction from the principal sound. Although I would've liked to hear the progression from dry drums, to drums with "can verb", to with "can verb" and compression, just to hear the extent of the different sounds. Mostly because this is the first video of yours that I had seen, and don't know how the dry unaffected drums sound in that room.

[@jtsloth]

I recently had a gas dryer give up the ghost, so I used the dryer drum similarly to how these trashed cans are used in this example. I did the garden hose trickery on that session also. I had never done it before, so I ran a pair of regular SDCs for a standard room capture as a fallback option.

[@ricksalt6860]

In around 1987-88 a band I was in lived in a small house where we had a Tascam 8 track reel to reel . We rehearsed in the living room and 3 of use would come up with original tunes . I would mix the drums down to 2 tracks . Taking a stage monitor to the basement and sending the drum mix down to that monitor where it would blast the drum mix against the oil furnace . I had an SM58 in the heating duct in the living room and would eq the monitor with a 31 band eq . It was pretty corny reverb but what the hell , it was reverb .

[@blackasthesky]

I have a 22" China cymbal that reverbs a wide range of frequencies, not just the lower end. I have used that to reverb a guitar once.

[@Esrom_music]

Oh that transient in 3 is amazing

[@gabrieldincao5749]

Definitely the last one! Awesome!

[@MadeOnTape]

Love this so so much. Reminds me of some Sylvia Massy-style techniques. one time I built a weird little chamber out of metal music stands and did something similar, but I don't think I used it in the mix as I was just learning the basics at the time. This video inspires to experiment! Great stuff!

[@jesseowenastin]

method 3 sounds so dope, like staccato cellos under the kick drum

[@SecretAgentPaul]

"Hey, can I get some more reverb in my cans?"

[@RiffHarvester]

Dude! I totally did this with one empty 55-gallon drum on its side to record a guitarist! I used a binaural stereo micing technique with two Shure boundary mics. I positioned the mics halfway into the drum while the opening faced the wall opposite the amp, about 10 feet away in a 25 x 10 foot hallway. I tried in-line with the drum and perpendicular to the length of the drum. The perpendicular position sounded a little better, but both sounded good. Great video!

[@RockandrollNegro]

If you listen to "Rebel Rouser" by Duane Eddie, that murky reverb was achieved by putting a mic in a 55 gallon drum placed on its side, and placing the amp at the lid opening end.

[@Wyatt-Barton]

just a matter of time til the drummer throws a beer bottle in there

[@LexBravary]

#5 and #6 are really rad. I would use those two.

[@adamwasthefirstman]

I think 6 was my fav as a purely huge room sound and I loved the color of 2. Going to the hardware store tomorrow!

[@rogdigi]

the playing is really good too. he's playing for the sound like Bonham would. if i played that kit it'd sound like a goof ball

[@MacAttackCobra77]

I'm honestly surprised at the lack of St Anger did it first comments. You kick ass my man, fucking phenomenal

[@thejawshop-AdventureRecording]

Hard to say, but I think #6 was my favourite. I liked the ''in the next room sound''. Cool idea, great video Thanks! I got similar results in culverts, but the river was sometimes hard to mix in with the instruments!

[@Ryno6465]

I actually liked that SC filter on at 160Hz the best.

[@lucabuchignani1141]

this is the kind of creativity i look for on youtube. that sounds fucken awesome

[@quirkyfunguy]

It was cool hearing the fundamental of the trash can panned hard right in example 3. Gave it some cool grit to the tone

[@recordman555]

Roy Thomas Baker did a similar technique with Brian May's guitar parts on "Bohemian Rhapsody', placing mics inside metal pipes for reverb and EQ effect.

[@NeutroWorld]

loved the crunch and grind in the last one. maybe as a gated reverb?

[@jacobsmith1877]

Awesome idea. Makes me wonder about other types of resonators like propane tanks or metal barrels

[@danjwalker]

I almost spat my drink out at the self acknowledged dad joke. You ALMOST got me.

[@newamerikangospel]

Man, I have been thinking about how cool two large metal barrels would be as a weird plate/chamber. I’m glad you did this!

[@razadelsoul]

I'd be interested in hearing what this sounds like, especially for vocals.

[@olvrodri]

Example 5 with only the cans is the perfect budget drum sound: 2 mics, small room and nothing else. The kick turned out to be a little too apparant, wich can be solved in 2 clicks with EQ. Great video!

[@Eurodrummer666]

Number 6 sounded the nicest to my ears.

[@matt1524]

Damn the soloed hard panned trash cans at 3:22 could have been used by itself in a mix! Super cool!

[@Seifer_42]

You took the st anger drums and used them as reverb. I'm impressed.

[@au5music]

You should record some trash can impulse responses for download!

[@erlannderrantem6972]

6 sounded really rad!

[@bigmichael2765]

I can’t remember where I heard it, but I remember hearing some sound engineer say “there are no rules. You can literally just stick a mic in a garbage can and record drums through there if you want.” I think it was Reverb thing.

[@BadChizzle]

Cool Cool Cool! Wonder what a piezo on each would sound like? Thanks for the video!

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks for the idea!

[@Transistor97]

5 was great for a general room sound and 6 had a nice big hall sound. I really enjoyed this experiment.

[@creativesoundlab]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@victoragun2643]

I really liked how 3 sounded.

[@francisxd1040]

ha ha ha You are the best . This is great. I also loved your tom tom big sound recording I'd like to hear that back to back. Garbage cans vs Tom Tom drum recordings. You are a great experimenter. Not too many of you guys around.

[@dagasancreative]

At 0:10 i thougth it was going to play leech from northlane. Great song Btw check it out.

[@Medniex]

I really liked the 5th and 6th configuration

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@bloomeye6969]

Dam thats how they get that drum sound. Fucking righteous bro

[@987654bc]

I loved them all. Very creative. Sounds awesome! Thanks

[@eds598]

Can you try out the trash can reverb with bass and guitar amps, sound and foley effects and reamp vocals. And also try out different kinds of microphones with different pickup patterns! Love your videos! 😊

[@petros2760]

Love it! I liked the examples with cans lying down best. Subscribed

[@AndruJorj]

5:40 - best sound

[@SteelRecordsProducer]

Easily my new favorite channel on here. You and Eric Valentine are the cream of the crop on here. Great teaching skills and analogies. Excellent man. I’ll be buying some of your paid courses. A++

[@PaulyStax]

This is a great video. Very in-line with your "Creative Sound Lab" brand. Totally the kind of thing that makes recording fun. Great Sound.

[@williamakoekje]

I like your humor and your studio! Nice vid

[@the72u7h4]

I kinda like the trashcans soloed on their own. I just love live sounding drums.

[@danieloberhoff1]

Nicccee! Now i wanna hear a complete band with that! :)

[@GoldenNuggetRec]

You always have such interesting ideas!! I've tried the garden hose, the weathervane technique, and now I'm gonna have to collect some trash 😆

[@perpetualgrimace]

Surprised by how cool sounding and usable #6 was!

[@calebneff5777]

Experiment #6 sounds epic!!!!

[@Ohm51]

I notice the mics are just lying directly on their sides inside the trash cans ... I'm guessing that *must have* been a deliberate decision? Seems a bit counter-intuitive that using short mic mounts inside the cans wouldn't add a bit of reflective reverb-like enhancement with the sound bouncing around inside 360; but perhaps you discovered the direct contact with the metal itself captured a more sympathetic resonance?

[@wertawonka]

Face to face is my favourite. Only problem i have is that i can hear your actual room sound plus a different reverb on top. You need deaden the room for this to work properly. Thats just my opinion tho

[@RemyRAD]

I think, you should, be using... A contact microphone. Inside the trashcan. Connected to its sidewall. Like a Barcas Barry or FRAP and an acoustic guitar pickup per se. Instead of the 57's. Then you get the entire resonating chamber of the metal trashcan. Contact, Connect RemyRAD

[@Gemmotus]

at live environment it's pretty funny showing up with a punch of big and "heavy metal" cans

[@TheMossyTube]

What a cool trick dude, thnx a lot for sharing! I have both a stove and a radiator in my drum room that I tried attaching contact mics on running through a pedal board with various overdrive and distortion. Really cool industrial kinda ambient stuff came out of that in the drum mix!

[@chuckandkonnie2415]

Excellent experiment. I especially liked #6

[@rustydr1560]

5 is AWESOME!!

[@phillipemery572]

Fantastic! I love this solution. Natural, but very powerful, and a lot of different ways you could go with it.

[@JohnSummerford]

Have you tried placing the can equidistance from the kick and snare? Like the spacing used in the Glynn Johns method.

[@benlogan100]

Great flow on the drums

[@borndrumming1972]

tWO POINTS OF INTREST HERE...TRY PUTTING THE MICS ON A STAND OR SUSPENSION SYSTEM SO THE DIAPHRAGM GUARDS ARE NOT VIBRATING IN THE MIX. THE EFFECT WAS COOL ON ONE INSTANCE BUT NOT OTHERS. Damn Caps lock was on sorryAlso this would be a first point of tone or "eq" control for that track if it was adjustable. Also, get someone to hold the mic from it's cable and slowly drop it down into the can and bring it back up. This will give you a really cool phase with manual control over speed and depth. Awesome video as always.