In this free video tutorial for Production Expert, Technical Editor and Drummer James Ivey once again makes a visit to Woodworm Studios in Oxfordshire UK to visit Engineer and Producer Mike Exeter to record drums for a track that James and Mike started work on earlier in the year for our series on recording electric guitar.
In this first instalment of four videos Mike talks about how he uses three Warm Audio WA-87 microphones to capture a Left, Centre and Right picture of the drum kit. He talks about his ideas and reasons for mic positioning and demonstrates how he keeps all three mics in phase by keeping the three mics the same distance away from the snare drum, using the time honoured method of using a microphone cable in place of a tape measure.
At the end of the video you can hear the drums first without the produced backing then just the LCR overhead recordings.
Apologies that the quality of the sound on the conversation is not up to our usual standard. We had an equipment failure and had to resort to the camera mic but we felt the content was worth running nonetheless.
You can also check out James’ review below of the Warm Audio WA-87 mic to see if it has a place in your mic locker.
In this video, Pro Tools Expert Technical Editor James Ivey takes a look at the new Warm Audio WA-87 large diaphragm condenser microphone.
Drum overhead recording is a subject that we have been talking about quite a bit recently on Production Expert. In Julian’s recent article he talks about the choice to record overheads as a stereo pair or as spot microphones.
With a more natural snare drum sound to be had in the overhead mics, trying to bring it forward from cymbals and other elements in the mics can be a challenge. Here we share three ways to get away from close mic boredom.
Although drum recordings can be made almost anywhere, some rooms’ character can sound anything but pro in room mics and overheads. Here we share a technique to banish boxiness but keep a sense of space.
Drums are the most complex recording challenge many people encounter. Getting the overheads right really helps as it’s the context in which all the other mics sit. If you’re new to recording drums, or even if you aren’t, here’s where we suggest you start.
With a good drummer and the right room, well tuned drums are the final piece in the puzzle to get right before pressing record. With some drummers and engineers leaving it to the other to know how to coax the best sound, we share some tips.
Close drum recordings can lack the sense of size and space that comes with more distant placements. Generating it from scratch takes more than just adding a reverb audio plugin, but the results can be surprisingly convincing. We show you how.
Steve DeMott loves tracking drums and is used to tracking them in a proper studio with high ceilings and a choice of mics and preamps. In this article he sees how far he can replicate his tracking process using just the mics he has hat home, a basement and his 13 year old son as a stand-in session drummer.
William Wittman made an excellent point in his recent post on the history of drum recording. He said: “In today’s DAW world, we have so many brilliant options for manipulating sound after the fact should allow you to feel more comfortable with simpler mic approaches, not less so”. This got Julian thinking. “So many techniques increase the possibilities presented by fewer tracks, Oxford Drum Gate is one such technique”. See how he got on in this free video.
Each of us on the team is often asked about the gear we have personally chosen to use in our own recording studios and recording environments. In this article, with its two videos, James Ivey shows his new(ish) drum kit and the mics he has chosen to get his signature drum sound. He also shows his new location recording rig, which is compact, portable and sounds great.
Stereo miking isn’t just putting up two mics, panning them left and right and hoping for the best, there is maths behind it and something which has been confusing Julian is why so many people seem to set overheads in a way which to him doesn’t add up.
What’s Next?
In the next video in this series, James and Mike will be looking at how they recorded the kick drum using a Shure Beta 91A and a Warm Audio WA-47 Junior.