Studio?

[iplaybass9340]

My bands going into a small local studio and I was wonder what I should do to my kit to help get it to sound good recorded?

I have G1's over stock right now, but I hope to get G2's for the toms this weekend. Would this do any good?

Any advice would be greatly appericated!

[dumbassdrummer]

Take electrical tape, additional snare wires, drum heads of all sorts and any cymabls and hardware you might have.
Bring a few pillows of different sizes and maybe a few small blankets.

Small local studios are immpossible to predict. Don't be affraid to break some rules to get the sound you want. In those places, if tape on the heads works, do it, no matter what others might say. If it sounds good, it sounds good. Be willing to do odd stuff. Might work.

[Kainen]

just make sure you have NEW heads. ALL of them.

[Seafroggys]

don't use electrical tape....if anything, get gaffer's tape.

[isp_of_doom]

hehe, what timing. I'm training to be an audio engineer and we just covered drums today.

First of all, get your drums sounding exactly as you want. (EXACTLY) and prepare to have to tweak the tuning again in the studio.

Get you druming parts perfect. Nothing makes a drummer sound ****ter than if they are a **** drummer in the first place.

Yea, and if not gaffer tape, get studio rings, or moongel pads. something designed for drums at least.

Even though I can see reason in getting new skins, make sure you have worn them in well, 'cause if you're in a studio you'll want the tuning to remain solid, not varying. I might go so far as saying if you like the osund you've already got on your current heads use them for recording.

Something that may be helpful for the engineer is bringing along a CD of some tracks you like the drum sounds from, some engineers may laugh in your face, but not the good ones.

Warm up. This is important. You need to be playing your best as its going to be on record (pun intended :P).

Something that may help, is work on your accuracy, hitting the drums perfectly in the center, because you're going to have a lot of mics around you, and if you hit one, well... that take is over.

Above all, take a bottle of water, a practice pad, and relax.

enjoy it.

[iplaybass9340]

Thanks for all the help. I'm gonna try my hardest to get all new heads, but I'm 15 without a job, so I'm gonna have to get what I can.

isp of doom: Thanks alot man, you really helped, I think I got alot better of an idea about what I should do to prepair.

[Hunted By a Freak]

Gaffer tape might be better. I don't know if electrical tape will leave residue.

[dairyairman]

i would use moon gel or studio rings

[Hunted By a Freak]

Well, I always discourage putting anything like tape on drums or cymbals, but playing in a studio is much different. In addition to studio rings I've had engineers have me put on some tape on resonant heads, as mics can pick up the resonance of drums ringing when other drums are hit. A lot of the "studio sound" you actually hear are effects and good mixing. It's much different than live playing.

[Bonham#1!]

Yah the band im in recorded in a local studio and it turned out to be great, but yah they all differ...try some REMO ambassador heads if youre low on cash. cheap and dependable

[Kosmos Tree]

isp of doom gave excellent tips already there's not much i could add.

For recording though i might some stuff:
Make sure you can play your parts flawless and without effort, you'll hear it on the record if you have to concentrate to not mess it up.

Try to play with rimshots (if it fits with your music), you'll get alot more out of your snare.

[iplaybass9340]

Ok, I'm in a metal/thrash/grindcore band, so rimshots should work. I don't think I can get new heads, but I'm still gonna try. Thanks for all the help!

Btw: This studio is doing it for like $20 A DAY. So anything should be worth it.

[mamcdonald]

Is this studio like your friend with a few mics and a mixer hooked up to his computer? You tell me where you can get studio quality sounds for $20 bucks a day and not be a friend of whoever works there.

[iplaybass9340]

It's my guitarist brothers friends, my guitarist brother works there and is getting us promotion (gigs, merch, ex.). They have Cubase, a set of 7 drum mics, and alot of other stuff.

[dumbassdrummer]

"don't use electrical tape....if anything, get gaffer's tape."

I'm sorry, I'll shoot off some emails to all the old school funk drummers and the countless others who did, still do, use electrical tape. I'll tell them they did it all wrong for ya.

Guys, he's going into the studio. It's a local small time place. I'd bring electrical tape, gaffers tape, duct tape and an apple pie, try all of them and use the one that sounds the best.

So what if it leaves a residue? If it gets the sound he wants, go for it.

Don't be affraid to cut holes in the reso heads. Don't be affraid to felt up your bass drum (Bonham did it). Don't be affraid to do anything that might get the sound you want (unless it messes up the shell, finish or hardware).

[Double Bass Jim]

Tape and holes are the sign of a lazy sound engineer.

Honestly you don't need ANY of that, equing and tonal control are possible without sacrificing the drums tone and feel with products.

[iplaybass9340]

Yeah, I'm just gonna use alittle tape to try to help the mix sound better so their isn't massive over tones.

[Obelisk]

Tape and holes are the sign of a lazy sound engineer.


OR someone who's doing it for $20 a day.

[Double Bass Jim]

Haha exactly

[Dookiedude3005]

If they have a click track available than use it! it'll save you lots of money and time.

[Kosmos Tree]

^^^
only if you're already used to it.
If you play songs for the first time with a metronome, there could be tempo changes you didn't know they exist and maybe won't lock in with the click.

Besides that, it is always good to make a preproduction before you go to the studio, quality doesn't matter here, but you'll see where mistakes are and you don't have to make them in the studio.

[Hunted By a Freak]

"don't use electrical tape....if anything, get gaffer's tape."

I'm sorry, I'll shoot off some emails to all the old school funk drummers and the countless others who did, still do, use electrical tape. I'll tell them they did it all wrong for ya.

Guys, he's going into the studio. It's a local small time place. I'd bring electrical tape, gaffers tape, duct tape and an apple pie, try all of them and use the one that sounds the best.

So what if it leaves a residue? If it gets the sound he wants, go for it.

Don't be affraid to cut holes in the reso heads. Don't be affraid to felt up your bass drum (Bonham did it). Don't be affraid to do anything that might get the sound you want (unless it messes up the shell, finish or hardware).

Residue is unnappealing on products I spent good money on. Quit picking bitch fights when you clearly have little knowledge to back it up. I'm sure the tapes sound very similar, especially when you can just add different amounts in different places to get different effects. I just thought maybe he wouldn't want sticky crap all over his drums and cymbals.

DBJ: I wouldn't say that's the sign of a lazy engineer. Many many professionals do this.

[iplaybass9340]

Yeah, I really don't want sticky stuff on my drums. I haven't played with a click alot yet, so I'm probaly gonna play with my rythm guitarist.

[dumbassdrummer]

"Tape and holes are the sign of a lazy sound engineer.

Honestly you don't need ANY of that, equing and tonal control are possible without sacrificing the drums tone and feel with products."

Mars Volta's first album - used a stainless steel kit like Bonhams, and the bottom heads had holes cut in them.

In a nice studio, you're right, but local shops (especially for 20 a day) are not always so good.

"Residue is unnappealing on products I spent good money on. Quit picking bitch fights when you clearly have little knowledge to back it up. I'm sure the tapes sound very similar, especially when you can just add different amounts in different places to get different effects. I just thought maybe he wouldn't want sticky crap all over his drums and cymbals."

I wouldn't want that stuff on my equipment either, but, they are just heads, easilly replaced and if it comes down to sounding good, what does it matter? Take your anger back to the other thread, kid. I did back my stuff up.

"Yeah, I really don't want sticky stuff on my drums. I haven't played with a click alot yet, so I'm probaly gonna play with my rythm guitarist."

Playing with a click can be tricky, and takes alot of work. I try to work on it when I can. If you can play your songs along to a metronome to get prepared that might help. You'll do fine.

[iplaybass9340]

I'll try to play along with a click as soon as possible.

[Voodoo]

You need to be as relaxed as possible going into the studio.

Who gives a **** what your heads look like? Nobody is going to look at your drums when their listening to your ablum... residue? Was that a joke? When people are paying to be in a studio they can care less about a little glue on their heads afterwards. (this doesn't really apply to $20 a day ;) )

If you can play with a click, you should. It makes a world of difference. Having a bad drum track will never lead to a good sounding recording. You need to have a solid drum track.

[Double Bass Jim]

DBJ: I wouldn't say that's the sign of a lazy engineer. Many many professionals do this.
It's not nessesacry at all though.

No matter who it is, no matter what kind of drum it is thats taking the easy way out.

[Seafroggys]

well, it also depends on what drum sounds you want. Doing things like concert toms or porting heads will alter the drums' sounds in ways no tuning or mic method could replicate. If thats what the particular drummer wants, then fine, so be it.

[Dookiedude3005]

^^^
only if you're already used to it.
If you play songs for the first time with a metronome, there could be tempo changes you didn't know they exist and maybe won't lock in with the click.

Besides that, it is always good to make a preproduction before you go to the studio, quality doesn't matter here, but you'll see where mistakes are and you don't have to make them in the studio.


my producer was able to have different clicks at different parts of the song where the tempo changed, can't everyone do that?

[Kosmos Tree]

Yes, that's no problem, but that wasn't my point.

It can be quite difficult to play to a click if you are not used to it, some people tend to slow down or speed up gradually.
If you play to a clicktrack for the first time, chances are quite high that you will mess up and especially in a studio.

The best suggestion is to play with clicktrack in rehearsal and get used to it before you hit the studio, that'll save a lot of time and money.

[isp_of_doom]

Jim, can you elaborate on how you can avoid using tape (etc). I know an expert at drum tuning can get them sounding perfect for recording, but a sound engineer isn't neccessarily a drum tuner. I've been told we rely on the drummer to have his drums tuned the way he wants when he comes in, or if you have the time, patience, and skill level, you can tune the drums to the room. But back on track... How?

[Talos]

When I recorded, earlier this week, we used some gaffa tape on the toms and electrical tape on the floor tom, sounded great, the guy knew what he was doing and knew we only had one day to do it.

If youre pushed for time, tape is the only way to do it, you cant mess around with tuning when you can slap a bit of tape on and still get the same effect.