In this episode Ryan checks out a shotgun mic in the studio and Jon explains drum damping techniques.
The Home Recording Show
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In this episode Ryan checks out a shotgun mic in the studio and Jon explains drum damping techniques.
Talking about putting wierd stuff on a drum; I did a session a while back where the band wanted a “dance snare kinda thing” on one song. I didn’t know exactly where to go with that one, and they’re all looking at me waiting for the audio engineer magic to finger-snap it’s way into the perfect sound. “so… What have you done to make it sound like that at practice?” he puts a pice of paper on the drum head and a thin piece of plastic bag, big enough to drape over the shell, to keep the paper from blowing away. Perfect! Cntrl+space go!
Whatever it takes to get the sound, do it! Sometimes some of the simplest and strangest things will get you what you need. I have used a big wooden box to get kick drum sounds! As long as you get the sound that you need and nobody gets hurt, it is all perfectly legal.
I liked the shotgun best on the snare, probably because the distance reduced the over-ring of the drum head (and without dampening)
I thought that it was in interesting approach. I would like to try what Jesse was talking about with the mic over the drummer’s head pointing at the snare. I will have to give that one a shot to see what happens.
Finally that shot gun mike take over of the world we’d been hearing about!! haha.
Great stuff guys, just came across the podcast this week and have listened as far back as show 49 in two days…I must make a donation soon.
p.s. Ryan @2, sometimes its OK for people to get hurt too…I remember trying to recreate a fight scene during recording a song just for fun, and accidentally taking a drumstick to the knee…It definitely brought realness to the situation, and I was happy to take the hit for art!
That is a lot of shows to take all at once! I hope that we do not affect your mental stability!
No fear of that, all hope is already lost…I’m an audio nerd for God’s sake!!
No amount of rings, rims and puking children could make me worse now…
Great stuff
I have used a LDC over my head,from the back, pointing straight at the snare. I’ll gate that mic and sidechain the main snare mic to trigger the gate. Nice way to fatten up a snare sound and keep the rest of the kit out of the way. As always I have to line up the snare hits so they’ll be in phase and not thin the sound out. Great show guys!
Great tip. Now we can add some layers of complication to this thing! My list of things to try keeps getting bigger.
If you make your own e-rings from old heads, save some of the inside of the cut out for where the beater hits the kick head. Apply with exterior 2 sided tape. 2 layers has a different sound. Sure saves the kick head, especially with wooden beaters. Ya, Remo sells them too if you need to spend your change.
As for the kick dampening itself, I like to fill it with strips of newspaper, half filled, held in with a down pillow and no front head, concrete block holding the pillow from falling out. I get a puffy thud with Aquarian super kick II head. Oh and a round, flat beater that hits square on. Works for me.