New guy here

[BBass]

Hey everyone...I have a friend here that has been sending me interesting links to this forum. I have noticed the way everyone digs in to help a person out with songs, productions, and recording in general. Time to join up and get with it....:Coolio:

I have been playing drums for several years but my talent in getting them captured "JUST" right hasnt gone the way I've wanted it to. Hi Hat bleed in snare and overheads just not being what they should be. I was wondering if it would be ok to take a track that a friend passed me and record my drums to it but have you guys help me focus on the drums only.?

Thanks

[Brendo]

We're all new here...

[seagate]

Welcome, start with this thread http://womb.mixerman.net/showthread.php?t=88

Looks like there's nothing to it... :lol:


http://www.msc.id.au/private/tmp/couch.gif

[malice]

Hey everyone...I have a friend here that has been sending me interesting links to this forum. I have noticed the way everyone digs in to help a person out with songs, productions, and recording in general. Time to join up and get with it....:Coolio:

I have been playing drums for several years but my talent in getting them captured "JUST" right hasnt gone the way I've wanted it to. Hi Hat bleed in snare and overheads just not being what they should be. I was wondering if it would be ok to take a track that a friend passed me and record my drums to it but have you guys help me focus on the drums only.?

Thanks

Certainly,

You can post snipets in mp3 and we will be able to help you, hopefully. Don't forget to provide your setup (mike, position, room etc).

Glad to have you among us, don't be shy :Wink:

malice

[BBass]

Thanks guys. I'll do a few samples this evening of just drums.
The 2 mic technique will be one then I'm going to try my usual way and see what you guys can suggest.

My room is pretty dead.
I have a Sm57 on the snare.
Nady DM80 n the kick and Nadys on the toms.
Overheads are Behringer B2Pros

I look forward to posting somthing this evening and hearing your responses and help.
Thanks:Coolio:

[BBass]

Heres a sample...
http://www.drumtraxstudio.com/Sample.mp3

Need to know what you guys hear in this and how I might improve my drum mixes.

[otek]

Need to know what you guys hear in this and how I might improve my drum mixes.

Well, I suppose the obvious question is, what's the intended application? What style of music are we dealing with?

That might bring us closer to some broad generalizations about the sound. It's still very hard to determine whether it would work in a particular context however, because we haven't heard that context.

It's like one of those color perception tests. You look at a swatch of blue. You are absolutely positive it is blue. Then we put it next to another swatch. Now the first swatch is green.

By the same token, if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say the bass drum sounds disproportionately small and light in comparison to the snare. The sound is overall a bit cold. But that doesn't mean it couldn't be presented in a song which would make me completely reevaluate that. If I said the snare was too ringy, and you fixed that and put it into just the right tune, you'd hear me saying it's too dead. So anything I say at this point will be nearly useless, because without a frame of reference, the way we hear the drums will surely be different from the way we would hear them in a song.

So, you might say, "well, how about just in very general terms?" (we get these questions a lot here :Wink: ) Well, general terms to me would be just the kind of contextual descriptions I mentioned, or better, a sound clip. Without them, we have nothing.

I realize this doesn't directly answer any of your questions. I also realize that people tend to like absolute answers, even though they're allowing for a significant error margin, or worse, are dead wrong. It gives them a sense of false security, in which they can blunder on and make the same damn mistakes they would have anyway - except, now they're gonna blame me!

I feel it's better to deal with these questions with some degree of realism. The snake-oil peddlers have no real desire to help you. I hope you'll discover that in this forum, we do.


Best of luck (as if),

otek

[BBass]

Now theres an excellent reply that I havent really given much thought to. After reading your post, I decided to make a post at another forum where I've been a member of for nearly 4 or 5 years. Thank You for opening my stubborn eyes:Coolio: It has got me thinking of several issues in pre production.

Heres the same post I made..:
You know, I've spent the better part of 4 years trying to perfect a drum sound. It really wasnt until I posted a sample up at another location, that I realized I'm focusing too much on 1 sound for 1 genre.

My drum recordings are 100 times better than say a year ago, and definltley better than when I started this whole thing but the stress of it all had really gotten to me in a BAD way! Recording drums alone is good practice but if you take "that sound" and try it in a mix or genre, theres NO guarranty it will work. Even if you line up 2 rock tunes, that dosent mean the 1 sound will work for both.

So, how do we as engineers make these decisions on the fly and spend less time jacking with redos and different kits, cabs, ect... How fast should we be able to make a call and say "hey, that snare isnt gonna work or the guitar setting isnt what this song needs" I know...here comes the musician's attitude. .LOL. He or she may say, "well, its what I want!" If it sucks and dosent fit, how are we supposed to live with our name and prints on the recording? Lets face it, what they think may sound good , and it might in a live app, may not sound good for a production or project.

Anyone else ran into this, I know you have. How do you deal with it?
The way I see it, engineers are producers , whether the band has thier own or not...

Alot of questions...

[volthause]

Lets face it, what they think may sound good , and it might in a live app, may not sound good for a production or project.

Anyone else ran into this, I know you have. How do you deal with it?

It's impossible to condense into a few paragraphs the scope of the issue we have at hand here. The answer is always "it depends." By your post I see you've thought more about it, and kind of get the idea, but you're still asking the wrong questions.

You're coming at this thing from the side instead of from the front. The real questions you need to ask are:

-What does the band sound like in a room playing a song together?
-What does it make you think of?
-What does the band want to sound like?
-What does the producer want the band to sound like?

But the overall, most important question you need to ask is, "Does this song NOT suck?" because at the end of the day, the best drum sound coupled with the best guitar sounds, on top of the best bass sound with a super singer on top will not save a crap-ass song from sounding like crap.

[Tim Halligan]

But the overall, most important question you need to ask is, "Does this song NOT suck?" because at the end of the day, the best drum sound coupled with the best guitar sounds, on top of the best bass sound with a super singer on top will not save a crap-ass song from sounding like crap.

Think Nickelback.

Sounds...individually not bad...if you like that sort of thing...

Songs...complete shite.

Excellent post Mr Volthause! :D


Cheers,
Tim

[BBass]

All very good responses. Thank You !
Yep, I'd be the first to agree with the Nickelback comment!:lol:

This really gives me alot to chew on when deciding what to do and how to approach it. I also just wanna thank Aframe999 , who I've know for alittle over a year now, Thank you. He's been the biggest help on my drum sounds and a great friend.

Ok..off to post asking for some tracks...:Thumbsup: