What The Pros Know About Drum Recording

[@tinman3000]

Would love to see a video for a 'budget' rig. I'm rocking a bunch of SM 57-58's, a D112 and a couple of cheap, large diaphragm condensers through a MOTU 8-pre. No outboard gear... just plugins. I record because I love it but am trying to get the best sound I can.

[@jensharald9091]

I know the stuff already, but just wanna compliment you on this fabulous tutorial you've made! The topic litterally cannot be condensed into a more concise and clear and accessible video. 14 minutes with an hour of info. With such a great player and kit and setup, it's also an awesome demonstration (and reminder) of how great a sound you can get at the source!

[@evanmatthiesen7478]

Great video- one thing I had to learn over time that its not just about flipping phase, often two signals have the same "type" of phase but they are just out of alignment with each other. In fact, the opposite phase phenomenon is usually only encountered when micing bottoms of drums, and behind open back guitar cabinets. 90% of the time, Im zooming in and nudging waveforms to fix phase problems, not flipping the phase. A waveform thats 50% off axis with another will sound just as out of phase when flipped.

[@MdhLV]

This is pure gold. We are so lucky to have access to this level of detailed knowledge and experience recording drums. Until you’ve spent countless hours trying to get good balanced live drum recordings you don't understand just how valuable this is! You'll recording something and compare to another drummer you admire and wonder how the heck did they get that drum sound. This is how! And it isn't something you can learn from a textbook. Maybe you can figure it out on your own but it will take decades of trial and error. Thank you Rick from the bottom of my heart for making this video!

[@rawhead66]

As an audio engineer I must admit ,that this is a good entry into drum recording knowledge...Within the years , you will get more and more wisdom but in the end , always trust your ears and dont get lost in the technical jungle ...

[@genodamico2108]

Rick! I’ve been watching your stuff for years and it always inspires me. Musically speaking, you are the man I’d like to be when I am grown up! (I am 30 but I’ve got time to grow up again.) Your breadth of knowledge on music and the industry is staggering, and you are an inspiration to us all. Thank you for what you do!

[@SavvyTurtle]

Thank You for taking your time on this video.

[@chuckkirkpatrick6712]

Thank God somebody addressed the issue of phase relationship, which is the single most critical factor in recording anything, let alone drums. Brilliant presentation, Mr. Beato. As a 50+ year, gold awarded engineer, I can appreciate this a lot. I would like to address the use of the overheads and what I believe to be the best possible placement thereof. For maximum stereo separation with the least amount of phase cancellation, the plane of the mic diaphragms should be exactly perpendicular - 90 degrees to each other. The ORFT method / system called for a separation of about 7 inches and an angle of 120 degrees, supposedly most closely approximating the way human ears receive sound. When overheads are properly placed, the overall drum sound from these mics alone is the purest and most natural.

[@minhuang8848]

This is my broken record spiel, but I kind of want to point out how "approximating the way human ears receive sound" isn't necessarily the way to go. I mean, there is a lot of truth in there as far as typical recordings, genres and settings are concerned where you want to fall back on an "optimal" way to mic your drums, but at the same time there is just so much in the way of stylistic emphasis and articulation that begs for people to just do everything to taste; it should fit your arrangement and your mix more so than cookie-cutter conventions people have come to accept over the years. In my book, there is no such thing as purest and most natural. The thing most closely matching this description is whatever fits your song or performance, and that is just not something you can capture in specs... at least not quite.

[@chuckkirkpatrick6712]

@@minhuang8848 Excellent comment, Min!!

[@TearsDesigns]

@@minhuang8848mess with them until they sound correct. Got it. ❤

[@jerryedwards3030]

Hey Rick, just wanted to tell you that a drummer passed away tonight, Ron bushy from the Iron Butterfly died at 79. He was a good friend of mine I played music with him in the 70s

[@Jonathan-dj5ry]

Man that sucks. Sorry for your loss.

[@impactmusic6009]

Sorry for your loss

[@Randgalf]

Sad to hear, the architect of one of the most renowned drum solos ever.

[@osiruskat]

@@Randgalf In A Gadda A Vida, baby forever. Ron Bushy, great drummer for heavy psychedelic Iron Butterfly, first classic extended drum solo that will live forever. R.I.P.

[@Rompler_Rocco]

Very sorry to hear it. I hope Rick somehow pays his respects here & might end up getting some new ears appreciating Ron's legacy.

[@kevindube7096]

This is incredibly helpful. I’m only a few years into mic’ing & mixing live drums and it’s the straightforward detailed videos like yours that are the most helpful to get a grasp on technique. Appreciate ya!

[@CNCTEMATIC]

People talk about the piece of gear that got away. Looking at the drum set reminds me of mine. When I was 18 years old I played drums, and somehow ended up with a Paiste 22" ride that had been Mick Fleetwood's. I sold it with a whole kit a year later to pay for a trip. It also had a vintage A Ziljian 18" cymbal.

[@CoachNation]

This is a terrific video that Rick has produced here! I would add, for your consideration, the following: On most drums, the two heads are significantly separated from each other and, as a result, the resonant head will naturally vibrate a fraction of a second later than the batter head, and then some of this sound bounces back re-implicating the batter head. This means that baked into the drum when played are complex phase relationships that also, to some extent, vary by the set of frequencies emanating from the batter head and the shell as sound reaches the resonant head. These phase effects are relatively complex, and are also dependent, as a factor, on the type of heads used, stick type, playing style, how tight the snares are (for a snare drum), shell material, the head tensioning, the type of bearing edges, and if any dampening/muffling is used. My point is that the "natural" sound of a two-headed drum has baked in numerous phases cancellations "and" boostings going on that depend on the factors I've mentioned above. By "boosting" I'm referring to the extent that increases in amplitude occur when phase frequencies become aligned; cancellations happen to the extent that phase frequencies are non-aligned. It can get more technical but that's an overview. The mics (their number, type and location/position) have their work cut out to capture a simulacrum of the drum's sounds! We're all trying to capture an instrument that itself has phase problems or delights, depending on one's perspective.

SALUDOS DESDE MEXICO HERMANO QUE ADMIRACION Y RESPETO PARA TI POR ESTOS CONSEJOS QUE VALEN ORO CASI NADIE COMPARTE ESTO ACA EN MEXICO !!!! SALUDOS HERMANO !!!!

[@sergio_grez]

Rick, listening to you speaking about these techniques and hearing how incredibly marvelous and thick those drums sound is like spreading melted butter on warm toast on a beautiful spring morning. Man, those drums sound sick without even putting any process on them, wow! It's like it already mixed itself. That's amazing engineering there.

[@vbarrto]

Rick shows how hard work is recording, produce music is. Produce music is like play different (another or all of them ;-) ) instrument, with knowledge , passion, discovery-journey thing. Very exciting and productive. There should be more videos about creation process of the music (art overall, movies etc) to show people what they paying for. For hard work and dedication/passion. From "A" to the "Z". It gives awareness for all those easy grabbing/sharing art stuff. Its normal, standard work to live from (for all of them, artists) and should be payd and appreciated. Thankful & Greatfull. -Bart

[@maxjjk]

Kick drum sounds incredible. I've been wanting to try double micing toms a la Steve Albini. It seems so much easier to get a balance of snappy attack and fat sustain

[@derekpink]

Jack’s got a great groove to his playing. Some meaty chops too.

[@marcjosephmusic]

Your quite a cat Rick and mostly the reason I don't do videos... you've covered it all, impeccably haaa. I sincerely appreciate all the tech perspective and icon interviews. Also your personal experiences w record companies etc... very insightful. THNX. Q here is...I notice your waveforms are very full/large. Borderline peaking at spots. So what are your feelings on this ? I tell kids "in the old days we didn't have waveforms to look at" had to use your ears. Now in the digital age " WE SEE THE MUSIC" and I find engineers are obsessed. So what waveform view are you set to ? Knowing they can be artificially expanded to any size inProtocols, what is the relativity to reality ? How do you reference that ? Does/should waveform size reflect actual DB ? Do yours here ? Obviously if it sounds distorted and looks flat up top (like "blocks view") then it's an overdriven signal. But if small waveforms, are you getting enough gain structure? Please Share thoughts. Props on yet another stellar video, well timed. As a Drummer/ Producer I'm intrigued ! Keep the Love n knowledge flowing dude !! THNX again

[@RickK1988]

This felt like a physics course on recording/miking drums. I understood everthing. Excellent stuff.

[@alechadrums]

Amazing Rick, I need to listen that OHs, and if you can, show the signal flow, pre/insert! I do this technique at work all the time.

[@jamesha175]

my favorite drum sound is on the album YES "Fragile". whoever recorded that was an audio genius.

[@jamiemcparland]

God DAMN I love that record!

[@dfinma]

Any tracks in particular? I'd like to give a listen.

[@jamiemcparland]

@@dfinma heart of the sunrise is a masterpiece.

[@jamesha175]

@@dfinma the whole album. check out 'Long Distance Runaround'

[@gregorsalsa]

I guess the geniuses are Eddie Offord and Gary Martin. That record is a cornerstone

[@lisapatscheider]

I'm 22, budding interest in music production and I have no idea what he's talking about like 70% of the time but I really appreciate this exists 🥺🙏❤️

[@dfinma]

@Lilly Liz, do you have any specific questions?

[@lisapatscheider]

@@dfinma Ohh specifically where he talks about his pre-amps. I know roughly why it's good to use them but I've never seen any in your typical minimal/beginner setup videos and I can only suppose different preamps work better with certain mics but I have no knowledge whatsoever. And at what point between making music on a laptop in your bedroom and recording a full band should they get introduced? 😅 Sorry if this is super dumb.

[@dfinma]

@@lisapatscheider Every microphone needs a preamp (except for ones w/ built-in, which you generally don't want) and all audio interfaces and mixing boards have them. The question is how fancy do you want to be. Outboard preamps (and outboard gear in general) might be used by pros based on preference, experience, budget and equipment they have acquired decades ago before modern conveniences. But don't worry about it. The good news is modern recording equipment, audio interfaces in particular, are servicable well into the semi-pro range and fancy preamps are toward the end of the list of what you need for making a great recording. It starts with the material and performance, then recording technique, perhaps the room, mixing, instruments (as long as they enhance the performance), microphones, then maybe fancy preamps.

[@lisapatscheider]

@@dfinma Ohhh thank you for the insight!! Yeah that explains why I haven't seen them, I've mostly been experimenting with interfaces 💕

[@crestiferj2689]

ages ago i saw nick didia and brendan o'brien double mic toms with 421's and nick just used a simple y microphone cable with one side wired out of phase. that way you get the top and bottom sounds, but use only one mic preamp. been doing this for years. works great. thanks for such great stuff, rick.

[@dfgivens]

Excellent Recording Studio 101 science being taught here! Don't forget to mention that the same information 180-degrees out of phase cancels the signal when summed. That can happen by timing (distance from the source) or electrical flipping of the signal. Both can happen by accident! So, an engineer's ears are his most important tool. If something sounds thin or is vanishing, you may have a cancellation occurring.

[@johnnyresistance]

great sounding toms, the 414's on top and 421's on the bottom are a great combo.

[@Boleskinebeatz]

Great video Rick, I think it would also be helpful to people who are relatively new to mic'ing drums in the studio to emphasis how crucial the room sound is to a good drum recording. A small room with super fast reflections will often kill a drum sound stone dead. I built a few studios back in the day and the first one took me a long time to accept that my live room was just too small to create a useful drum sound. In the end I added a ton of Rockwool panels in mesh liners and it changed the drums, ( especially the toms) out of all recognition. One of my most successful Metal albums was done with the kit in a VoiceOver booth completely covered in acoustic tiles ( I only accepted the session on condition the booth stayed put due to other commitments and it was a beast to dismantle!) I added a great studio reverb and it absolutely killed.. no one was more surprised than me.

[@chuckkirkpatrick6712]

Again, a most intelligent presentation that should be required watching by all young engineers.

[@CircuitBendingFool]

Straight forward and on point.

[@Nate_Higgins]

Man I dig that floor tom with the bottom mic. It makes the note a little longer. Almost like a touch of delay or echo sort of.

[@madmuso5]

Unfortunately a lot of people think that phase is a set and forget situation which it isnt. The phase buttons when tracking and especially mixing drums, should be something that is constantly being checked throughout the entire process, same way youd check a guitars tuning after every few takes. Even the smallest changes that seem insignificant can have a dramatic affect on the phase relationship between different drum elements. This is evident when applying a simple high pass filter on the top snare mic. The resulting phase shift from the high pass filter changes the phase relationship between the top snare and overheads. Even the frequency you select will change the phase relationship between the snare and overheads. A high pass filter at 80hz may cause the snare to fall out of phase with the overheads, whereas another selected frequency may keep it in phase. So checking phase after each eq decision is valuable.

[@ccdrums1290]

I am a long time drummer, live here in the Atlanta area, and I always find your videos to be informative, with similar techniques (tuning, micing, etc.) that I employ as well. Glad to know I have validation through your experience and teachings!

[@billjacobsen9716]

Hi, Rick I’m not a musician but your videos, on this and your other channel, have helped me appreciate the technical and performance subtleties that I might have overlooked or not known. Thank you.

[@erictorres4889]

Now when I record I’m going to to that top and bottom heads thanks for video !!!!it actually makes sense doing it that way .

[@weschilton]

Mic choice is also really important here... that U47 FET clone is a huge part of that kick drum sound, as is the RE-20s proximity effect. Then there is the tom mic choices... 421s have a lot of mids and lows and the 414s bring a lot of attack... great choices that should not be overlooked. This is EXPERIENCE people!

[@agesonjohanesburg2915]

I use a re-20 on the outside and a audix d6 inside... Rock music, live, but drum enclosure. I wonder what a fet 47 would differ?

[@patrickwayne9074]

Wow! What can you say?? I enjoy this stuff that’s way beyond my understanding, but there’s so much content on this channel for amateur music guys like me to actually use also. This is really the best KZbin channel for any of us to get straight to the point on any subject the title mentions. Bad ass!!!

[@RtaniDean]

Nice. Helps also to use quality gear for quality player. Nicely done. Mic placement and phasing awareness / polarity is good to know and apply as warranted. Good lesson. TY

[@wearashirt]

i wonder if you can just leave the tom tops to the OH's while transferring the mic the underside - if trying to be conservative with mics

[@TranscendentBen]

I'm noticing at 10:54 you're showing the tom mics. Perhaps something you should mention (I know there's only so much time you can put into a video, but ...) when you're showing several types of mics is "front address" vs. "side address." I know what this means, but I'm not familiar enough with these mics to know which is which. Your positioning of the MD421 made me look these up! With an SM-57 it is (or should be) obvious that it's a front address mic, but these two ... the AKG 414 is placed as a side address, and indeed the questions I see online (at that recently renamed "gear site") are which is the front (it's the silver side) and which is the back. The MD421 is bothersome because for the life of me (and anyone who has this question, like on that gear site again) it LOOKS LIKE A SIDE ADDRESS, but no it's a front address and you have it correctly "pointing" up at the tom's bottom head. And of course the worst problem is some people think all mics are front address.

[@truefilm6991]

Great video as always! Firt thing I automatically do is cleaning the toms by editing out the spaces (rests). I personally hate the boxy-boomy resonance, especially the floor tom resonating with the kick drum. Then probably gating the kick drum. So if the drum kit already sounds this great without any clean up: hats off, it will sound amazing after editing, EQ, compression and adding reverb.

[@sz5876]

Thanks Rick, even as a non-musical layperson, I find this type of look behind the curtain incredibly interesting!

[@MashaT22]

Me too!

[@trafalgerdavis7839]

Ditto

[@ArturdeSousaRocha]

Same here. Music is a spectator sport on steroids. :)

[@breakshot7451]

yep but 50% fffffffftttttttttttt right over my head

[@rsi1964]

Once again, Rick explains what for us in magic into something that I can understand and employment in my music. thank you Rick, just great stuff

[@kevinsimon5391]

Fantastic, you save Listeners and Subscribers YEARS of Trial and Error, Recording-wise. Much Thanks.

[@webjammer1]

I record a lot of live shows and always time align at least the vocal tracks before mixing. I align to where the signal crosses the X axis at the beginning of the wave form. Snare and cymbal leakage into the vocal mic is the bane of my existence.

[@stevemanwaring2293]

Is that the USA custom gretsch bell brass snare? Gorgeous! Just got the USA SOLID steel. A beast. Great vid!

[@Ezravagant]

Geez, I love this video! I am just a beginner in the recording world, but I am a drummer .......and just this whole new world! Phew!

[@stefanoc663]

Thanks for this Rick! We may not have the same gear as you but at least we can learn and use what we have properly. With your content , I suspect that home demos and recordings are going to be next level!

[@amberwoodstudio]

My concern with getting the “big” drum sound is how much room the drums take up in the mix. Big drums are great in a modern rock kind of place but less so in an Americana kind of place. It would be great to hear your thoughts on those 70’s dry drum sounds. Another great vid thanks

[@TranscendentBen]

I understand it's from how recording studios/tracking rooms were designed in the 1970s. They were totally (or near as practical) sound absorbent, so there was no reverb or "room tone" in the recording, with the idea that everything, including reverb and room tone, could be added later in the mix. But no, it sounded like a dry room with added reverb.

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

8 mics for a 3 mic Job.

[@christopherpederson1021]

A small dry room with individual mics on each drum. Also compression

[@sebastianhope1107]

So bottomline is: getting a GREAT sounding drum recording isn't just the drummer, isn't just the equipment, isn't just the engineer's knowledge, nor an amazing sounding room... it's actually all of those things together. If either one of those things is missing, you'll probably won't get that beautiful average drum sound we all recognize and love. Great video!

[@indegruv]

hmm

[@philiproach2537]

the performer is still the most important factor in the equation.

[@lifeasadreamrecords4479]

@@philiproach2537 yea when it comes to drums 80% is the player...

[@JamieDrumz]

ace video thank you! Didn't realise until now just what a difference having mics on the bottoms of the toms makes

[@GTRRACING393]

Nice one Rick, just watched it twice. The double mic'ing sounds much better, sounds like when playing my kit, much fuller & rounded. The single sounds a bit short & the slight delay between top & bottom helps to lengthen the note. Keep up the good work.

[@billyrayvalentine7972]

My go to in the 1980s which gave me killer drum sounds were Kick RE20 Snare SM57 top/ 441 bottom Toms 421s top only Hat KM84 Overheads 451s Additional room mics 414s

[@renflot8545]

Thanks for the info, I will definitely explore the bottom mics on toms technique.

[@GANTOBARN]

Hi Rick, Great video on Drum recording. is there a way for you to either explain (or give a demonstration) of what kind of sound would be achieved(or could be achieved) with a variation on the Bonham Recording Technique, mixed with 1 mic on the resonate side of the Kick Drum, 1 Mic on each of the Toms bottom heads, and maybe one near the snare... with out using batter side mics... maybe an extra pair of overhead/room mics... just an idea to help with a hard hitter, who doesnt want to accidentally break a recording mic during a take. Silly Question, but curious..

[@creativesoundlab]

08:37 That kick really does sound good. It might need a little more clarity/attack in a mix, but it sounds so gooey and nice.

[@OliKember]

Been looking for a good video on drum recording and phase everywhere. Thanks Rick!

[@chazguitar]

Time aligning snare mics- 'don't do it'. Same for overheads and room mics, Rick? Also: snare and tom mics are always significantly off-axis. Tops more than bottom. Could you address this please, or is it another 'don't worry about it' issue?

[@Frank-w8q3f]

Power drumming brother, hekkk yeah we need this old school type of power drumming back. We have some fine Bassists now, who play a lot of bass or they can solo. I want to put these sounds together, powerful sounds. I feel I can produce or manage a nice rhythm section, I'm not biased at all and I have a good ear for the music. Drums are the missing element, powerful and accurate drummers and especially for Jazz now, everyone is old. I am familiar with many genres now, maybe I should go to school to be a producer cause people seem lost out there a little bit sometimes, all of a sudden they do. Maybe it's all these pre recorded things being limited, I want to evaluate actual drummers. I figure you start with drums, bass then rhythm guitar, it's all gravy afterwords, for whomever plays leads. Great bands have a rhythm section that just clicks, talent deserves more talent. If your Bassist is leading the Drummer it sounds a little odd, it's interesting but not ideal. This is not normal, so people must be forced to play a certain way for the song I guess, I have seen crazy things now happening with some big pros, just seems like mismanagement of the overall sound and It seems like this too often, so I realized maybe I am something else besides a player then, If I just want to help manage stuff for bands or even record producer. Cause you know, I don't like to play in bands who make a lot of mistakes together, either in judgement or in music, judging people in life for whichever reason. Everyone makes bad mistakes now, sometimes they do this and I'm just trying to be like whoa, what happened with that Jazz solo ?. What happened with that bassline, etc. I feel the attitude of "whatever" has made music less effective overall and really I am just a guy in the audience who knows to play some music, random guy. I just am not randomly insanely biased like everyone else, which automatically makes me the best record producer, all you need to do was not be a psycho who hates certain people, like 99% of the planet does. I give everyone a equal chance to play, whatever. The worst case scenario is literally having tomatoes thrown at people, so chill out and let's all remember that stuff happens to people sometimes, musicians who put themselves out there especially young ones, it's not about KZbin anymore unfortunately this can't be lasting forever, not the way we have it. It seems like it just did a lot of damages and sooner or later people will need to stop damaging themselves or music, get back on the streets and play some music outside your houses. Or, we will have to change how we approach education here. KZbin is now the unofficial source of online edu, not a school of music. We have random interpretations of what works, you're better off hanging out at Guitar center and jamming with random people, then you meet people and find out what works in a public setting, depends which one. You can get a job there, a technician and you're guaranteed to meet a ton of people. Go to New York or L,A, whatever. You don't even talk to people on this hell machine, lmao. It's gotten super weird and dystopian, KZbin and this algorithm suck and I am not sure who reads this even.

[@charlestea3642]

Incredible drum sound & playing! This is the best info. Cheers from an old Las Vegas drummer!!

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

If you're just getting into recording drums, Samson makes a 7 piece mic kit for $300. They're perfect for starting out. Of course they're not the best in the world, but they do the job well. I am looking at the box right now and the part number is DK707. As you norice where each mic is a little lacking, you can replace each piece as needed.

[@jeffcole2860]

Rick, you are the best! Love the way you get into it - every second is useful and informative. Thanks so much!

[@tylerthompson1842]

Rick you should think about doing a series on how classic bands got their signature drum sounds. Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Etc.

[@GEX-_-]

Heres 2 good tricks to improve drum tone. 1.Stick a Pzm mic in the kick drum. 2.I also have used cinder blocks 4ft away from the kit.with the same pzm mics taped to each cinder block. Use these the same way as overheads in your drum mix.

[@amt5911]

7:56 Your snare top waveform seems a little too hot. Do you have heavy compression/limiting on it? Seems like the waveform is clipping, but doesn't seem to register too hot 🤨.

[@gangofgreenhorns2672]

More drum recording and mixing videos would be amazing!

[@mikesync1032]

Awesome video thx! The only thing I think you didn't mention is that a kit that sounds like crap live will sound like crap recorded. Your kit is tuned perfectly and thus sounds awesome with minimal fuckery. It cannot be stressed enough: the most important thing is a well-tuned kit! And for that I highly recommend Prof. Sound's Drum Tuning Bible free online.

[@DP-hw9uq]

Really love the sound you got here! Kick drum sounds amazing!

[@r3m014]

This is incredible. Thanks a lot for sharing your expertise. Most valuable video explanation I have seen yet! And this in almost no time. Incredible.

[@nathansteele1169]

amazingly helpful and cant wait to try it. Thanks!!

[@DonnTarris]

Interesting video, but it might further confuse the terms "polarity" vs "phase". As phase is time based, a switch labelled "phase" would only allow one adjustment value for time - useless for most of what you're talking about. I don't know which console maker was the first to mislabel the polarity switch, but that practice is still in use today due to mass ignorance. When dealing with two or more microphones we deal with polarity and phase at the same time, able to adjust for either now, especially as we can move audio regions in a DAW (phase adjustment or time aligning). When we mic in stereo, and mix in stereo, we can adjust the volume of one signal to the other and have the sound appear to come from a position between left and right - but we could also do nothing with volume and use phase to move items within a stereo mix field, as what happens with our two ears and how our brains process the signals. With close micing, we have exposed audiences to unnatural sounds for drums and other instruments, instead of attempting to make them sound real. With front and back kick drum mics, or top and bottom snare and tom mics, we create an unnatural sound, one that no-one will ever hear in the natural world - unless they have four ears on long protrusions from the head. With recording and live sound we can do many unnatural things, and in art everything is acceptable, but when we use terms like polarity, phase, delay, reverb, echo, etc, I think we need to be more correct in passing on the true meanings and concepts being discussed? 🤔

[@JohanSegeborn]

Great video! Cheers

[@ribbyT408]

Pure gold! Those toms got BEEFED up with that bottom mic :)

[@DMDvideo10]

Cool stuff! Some of us don't have access to all the double miking, so it would be also cool to see a video on a more basic approach to getting a great drum sounds.

[@ThePoisonDrummer]

Live studio drums that sound like live drums! What a concept! Love it!!!

[@weicco]

You could use triggers on kick drum to open/close kick drum microphones so the sound of snare does not bleed into these microphones.

[@natekeyss]

Hi there, love your content. Just two questions, 1. what is your meter type set to ? 2. what level do you aim to record to in pro tools with said level ? thank you

[@jaylevert2312]

Beautiful, to the point, presentation and explanation of some extremely important studio recording techniques. I don't like ProTools but I really appreciate your Pro Tips. Shalom.

[@johnsguitarmusicanddemos]

Thank you very much Rick! I always take what I learn from your channel and apply it to my own. I like the way you break everything down to make it very simple until even I can understand it.

[@TeddyLeppard]

This was posted some time ago. I remember this lesson from early on when I discovered Rick’s channel.

[@liquidsolids9415]

Very cool. Thanks for showing us the behind-the-scenes stuff. Great drum performances too!

[@echoheadband]

Love it!

[@Lou.B]

OK, this is like Han Solo sitting in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, and trying to explain to me how to fly the ship! 5:19 I don't always understand everything you're sayin' Rick (not a musician), but I ALWAYS love watching!

[@tszegvary]

Great video! I’m a guitar player, but occasionally mix my band and so the drums. Very useful video! Question: if you find mic out of phase, what you do to fix that? Just drag the track??

[@evanmatthiesen7478]

yeah if I find two sources with the same polarity to waveform, that are just out of alignment, that dragging one to match the other is the solution. its amazing how much the tone changes when shifting phase (not flipping the phase but shifting)

[@enjoyevan]

Rick, can you give some general guidance on EQ and compression settings for the different drums? I realize a lot of that comes down to taste but I struggle with kick drum EQ in particular. Thanks, great video here.

[@thechrisricci]

Rick, could you demonstrate how to mic a string quartet or a horn section? Thanks!

[@usynthesis4749]

I think you just convinced me to start using top and bottom on toms. 😄

[@markhedges1194]

Superb! Thanks Rick for a cracking video on Production and Mic placement! I'm doing a degree course in Popular Music Production and Performance, and it reminded me of exactly what our tutor Alex says is very important about placement! As you rightly say, that mix of resonant and playing side of the drums, truly enriches the recording, and it would be foolhardy not to include it to get that fuller sound!

[@brianbothwelldrums6801]

Loved this! Need to play with some bottom tom micing now

[@davekimbler8621]

Very interesting Rick, As a layperson, who would do the mike set up before the recording session? would it be the engineer, the producer, the drum tech? inquiring minds would like to know. Thank you

[@aholder4471]

Usually the recording engineer would set up the mics. The drum tech would set up the drums and tune them and the producer would juggle all the fragile psyches of the band while telling them how to play and what parts to add. Then you have the label reps that usually tell the band to make another song like the hit they had last year...😁

[@tomputc]

double tom mic is an excellent tip, thank you

[@Mastiff37]

Would like to have heard your opinions on rooms and room treatment, since I think it's as (or more) important than mics.

[@boonfire3714]

So, is it safe to say you don’t have to worry about phase if you’re just top mic’ing all the drums, and also not including a room mic? What about phase between, say, the 57 and my overheads?

[@enigmaticx326]

Your knowledge of this stuff is impressive Rick. Hard not to get gear envy even if I have no use for a pro setup like this.

[@raindogred]

once upon a time, years ago I would spend ages and ages lining up all the drum tracks up, also used to spend ages manually gating, and deleting noise in between hits, the result was an improvement on my regular drum recordings but it was like an extra day or 2 work. In a home situation with less than perfect room treatment, and low quality mics and pre's...if you have got nothing better to do, you can slightly improve your recording quality..then this thing called drumagog came along..it was a game changer :)

[@mellobotstudio]

My hat is off to the creative engineers out there who can comment a compliment without stroking their insecure ego.

[@robertreynolds5663]

Ever checked out toon tracks? What’s your opinion of ez drummer 3?

[@brenthahn444]

Rick -- are you expanding your PT waveforms, or cutting really hot?

[@MarcCoteMusic]

I was wondering the same thing because it certainly looks as though the wavs are clipping, though of course they didn't sound clipped.

[@brenthahn444]

@@MarcCoteMusic Yeah, he's gotta just be expanding the view so you can see what's going on.

[@micheleparker8123]

Thanks, Rick. Love the behind the scenes workings of how you capture the best sounds.❤️

[@allitode]

A lot of the live sound world is starting to play with delaying the close mics to the overheads, similar to dragging the wave forms to line up in ProTools. When they're using different sets of plugins on each mic or group of mics, the additional latency of the plugins smears the sound more than this relatively straight signal flow. It does change the sound, but not always better or worse. It always seems to make them sound a lot more punchy to me. It might be a good technique for pop drums, if they ever use real drums. Micing the bottoms of the toms is not something I've seen much of in the live world, but it's definitely interesting. It reminds me of the effect of a drum smash bus, but much cleaner. Thanks for this!

[@ledheavy26]

Not worth it in a live situation to double mic toms imo. More things to fool with and setup, not to mention the potential for extra cymbal and/or stage noise bleed. Snare and kick would be more worth double mic'ing. If they're using "no delay" plugins in a live console, like Waves, the latency shouldn't be that much. Even digital consoles have a to d then d to a conversions that take time. You have to wonder how much difference it makes out at front of house, the minimal phase differences of the toms to the overheads. I guess it depends on the size of the space and how much work the PA is doing.

[@ddrumdude]

Brilliant video, Rick! Really puts into perspective how your techniques make the sound of the drum recordings better overall.

[@aarrrggghhhhh]

Question, why EQ with hardware as opposed to software? To me, that sets a limit on what you can do with it later