In this free extract from Start to Finish with Greg Wells, Episode 5, Recording the Drums,” from PureMix, Greg Wells demonstrates technique he learned from producer/engineer Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age, Smash Mouth, Maroon 5, Slash and many others). It involves using a mono kit mic to supplement whatever your standard drum-miking setup is. It’s not a room mic, but more of a close mic that, when properly processed and blended in with the other mics, adds depth to the entire drum sound.
To find out more about this technique visit the Puremix Blog where you can find more detail and audio examples.
Start to Finish: Greg Wells - Episode 5 - Recording The Drums
In Episode Five, Greg Wells sits at the drum kit in the live room of Sunset Sound's legendary Studio A to lay down a powerful drum track for Bryce Drew's song "Lucky Number"
Watch as Sunset Sound Engineer, Zach Zajdel:
Chooses microphones
Goes over microphone placement and setup
Dials in the initial drum sounds
Checks phase relationships between microphones
Positions stereo sets of microphones to reflect the stereo image of the kit
Then, watch as Greg:
Reviews and adjusts the drum sounds to taste
Compresses and EQs the mono kit microphone
Performs the drum track
Uses beat detective to edit the drum performance
Uses parallel compression and EQ to make the side stick and snare drum sound larger than life
Times a specific snare reverb for the bridge
Equipment & Software
Software
Audio Ease Altiverb
Fabfilter Pro-G
Fabfilter Pro-Q2
Focusrite d3
Soundtoys Devil-Loc
UAD API 560
UAD Distressor
UAD EQP-1A
UAD Fairchild 660
UAD LA-2A
Mics
AEA R88
AKG 451
AKG D112
Neumann U47 FET
Neumann U67
Shure SM57
Telefunken 251
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