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, I am going to show you around my new(ish) drum kit. I’ll show you the mics I have chosen but also dive a little deeper into the drums, heads and setup I use to get my signature drum sound. I’ll also show you my new location recording rig, which is a system I have built for two days of recording drums on location. It's compact, it’s portable and it sounds great.
Drums Heads & Microphones
In the first video, we explore the drums themselves, the drum heads as well as the microphone choices I have made and most importantly, why I have chosen what I have chosen. In addition, below is a list of what I am using and where you can find out more. In many cases, there are links to previous Production Expert articles and videos
Drums: Sonor SQ2 (Heavy Birch with Macassar Ebony inner and outer ply)…
22x18 Kick Drum
8x7 tom
10x8 tom
12x9 tom
14x14 floor tom
16x16 floor tom.
Snare Drum: 1958 Ludwig WFL Brass 14x5 Brass as used on vintage recordings for BBC TV shows such as Only Fools & Horses and movies such as the original 1969 Italian Job.
Microphones:
Kick Drum - Shure Beta 91A, Sontronics DM-1B, Solomon LoFreq.
Toms (1-4) Sontronics DM-1T,
Toms 5 -Electro-Voice RE320.
Snare Drum - Lauten Audio LS-308 (Top), Sontronics DM-1S (Bottom).
Hi Hat & Ride - Shure KSM 137.
Overheads - Lewitt LCT 140 Air.
Extras: Remo Active Snare Dampening System.
Recording Hardware
In the second video, we explore my new mobile rig, built for 2 days of mobile drum recording. The rig is based around my MacBook Pro 2017 running Pro Tools 2019 Ultimate with the following hardware.
Audio Interface: Arturia AudioFuse 8Pre
8 Channels Mic Pre: Audient ASP 880.
We hope you have found this slightly deeper dive into all things drums helpful and if you have any questions or comments please do add them in the comments section below and we will do our best to answer them.