drum miking techniques

Drum Room Miking – Using The Wall!

Drum Room Miking – Using The Wall!

Using a wall for Drum Room Miking

I LOVE experimenting with drum room miking. I also love finding techniques that can work in any room, provide some extra vibe and give me extra options during mix down. That to me is a win win!

In our last window we used an amp to create a vibey room sound but in this video we’ll use a wall!

One technique (or trick if you will) that I have used for a long, long time is miking the wall. Yes, miking the wall!

how to get a drum room sound - recording studio los angeles

My mic of choice for this is the ubiquitous SM57 and by placing the mic as close to the wall as possible, so a business card can barely fit between the wall and the mic, the 57 is turned into a boundary mic. The 57 is already filtered on the top and bottom by nature and the wall tends to add to that.

I like this because that can help soften the cymbals a little as well as smearing the transient in a really cool way. This is what allowed me to get a “room sound” in my old studio that was pretty small and didn’t actually sound great. Add a little compression and you can get some real excitement out of this one microphone!

Now every room is different. As always I highly recommend experimenting in your room to find the best placement. And don’t forget the floor is a wall too!

Check out the video below and let me know how this works for you!

Happy recording!
Charlie

 

 

Ultimate Studios, Inc is a full service recording studio, mixing studio and band development resource located in Los Angeles, CA.
Panorama City, CA 91402

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We believe EVERYONE deserves great sounding music!
Ultimate Studios, Inc is a boutique production facility for artists and bands to collaborate, create, and record.

Led by Producer/Engineer Charlie Waymire, our team assists artists through the entire creative process including recording, mixing, mastering, and video production.

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Recording Drums with A Page Unturned

Recording Drums with A Page Unturned

Ryan Sebold and A Page Unturned Recording Drums

A Page Unturned was back in the studio recording drums for two more singles. Drummer Ryan Sebold does an amazing job of laying down the foundation for this band. Part of the wave of pop-punk revival acts, A Page Unturned cited influences like Blink 182, New Found Glory, and Ellegarden, Creating energetic, melodic, fast-paced music that captures the essential roots of the 90’s/2000’s Pop-punk sound while creating a new exciting sound of their own.

For all of my sessions I like to talk with the artists before hand about what the goals are for the session. In this case Ryan and I talked at length about what type of sounds the band wanted for this round of songs. That helps me put together a plan on how best to achieve the artists goals. For these songs he wanted a big, aggressive, sound.

Choosing the Drums

Drum setup for Ryan Sebold and pop punk band A Page Unturned

Knowing that we used a combination of drums. My 18×22 Gretsch kick with an Evans Emad head, Ryan’s Pearl Forum toms with clear Remo Emperor heads, and Ryan’s Orange County Percussion snare drum with a Remo P77 head.

The Emad on the kick does a great job of giving a tight punchy low end while still having some high end smack to cut through the mix.

The clear Remo Emperors (my favorite) do a little better job of cutting through a mix than their coated counter parts. At least for this king of music where there is a lot happening in the songs.

 

Miking the Drums

Snare Drum miking techniques for pop punk band A Page Unturned

I cover all the mic setup in the video but some of the stand outs for me are the Audio-Technica ATM250/Roswell Pro Audio Mini K47 combo on the kit. This combo give me the good note definition I need with a good solid low end that is fast and punchy.

Add in some DBX 160x on the inside kick mic and we’ve got one hell of a kick sound.

The snare was a combo of an SM57 and AKG 451b on top and a SM57 on bottom. The top mics get a little eq from the Trident 88 and some compression from my Aphex 651 Expressors.

lately I’ve been leaning towards my Heil PR30 for hi-hats. They are not harsh like a condenser but still have really good articulation.

Those mics comprise the core of the setup. The rest you’ll have to watch the video for. 🙂

Check out the A Page Unturned website and A Page Unturned Facebook Page.

Happy recording!
Charlie

 

About Ultimate Studios, Inc

Ultimate Studios, Inc is a full service recording studio, mixing studio and band development resource located in Los Angeles, Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Panorama City, CA 91402

We believe EVERYONE deserves great sounding music!
Ultimate Studios, Inc is a boutique production facility for artists and bands to collaborate, create, and record.

Led by Producer/Engineer Charlie Waymire, our team assists artists through the entire creative process including recording, mixing, mastering, and video production.

At Ultimate Studios, Inc we understand that the recording process is just the beginning. That’s why we have a full team to help you create an online presence with full web development, SEO, advertising coaching and designing for Facebook, YouTube and Google.

Our ultimate goal is to help bands and artists build a strong brand for a lasting career!

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