Hello,

I recently set up a studion using ProTools 7.3.  We are using Audix mics on the drums with the exception of AKG C1000s as overheads and two SM57s on the top and bottom of the snare.  We're using an Audix D6 on the kick.

Taking Rips advice, we removed the front head on the kick.

nod.phpwebhosting.com/~kdevries/files/TVDrumMaster.mp3

The above link points to a mix rough mix of the drum track.  I would be curious to hear any feedback on the tone of the drums.  I know that the mix is rough - toms are too loud, etc.  What I am curious about is whether the tone would be one you would consider workable as a mixdown engineer.  I am planning to send the songs to a mixdown engineer and I am attempting to get the drum tones to sound as good as I can before I send it off.

Specifically, I am looking for feedback on anything that strikes you as something you would change.  Listen to the whole file.  Yes, there are mistakes but like I said, this is only a preproduction test of the mics, the room and the overall ability to get a good drum sound.

Cheers and thanks in advance,

Ken De Vries

Thanks, Jeremy.  I understand and agree about the "whole mix."

The room is about 25' by 25' by 13' high.  Not as big as I would have liked but it's not a bad sounding room.  There is also no room mic on the kit yet either.  I plan on having one in the production recordings.

Thanks a ton for your feedback.

Ken

Thanks, Rip!  This is exactly the type of feedback I was looking for.

The suggestion of the washcloth is interesting.  I will be trying that technique on the next recording.  I thought that I would just let the mix engineer decide whether or not to gate the toms at mixdown to solve the ringiness but I guess gating is something to be avoided.

The snare definitely needs to be lowered.  Currently it is a bit thin and needs more meat.  I discussed this with the drummer earlier this week.

Your comments on the splash cymbal are funny.  Prior to your posting this, we relocated the splash and placed a nice crash cymbal in its place. The drummer is used to playing in softer, more vocally oriented projects where the drums were not as important as they are in this project.  This is an instrumental rock/fusion project where I want the drums up front and "in your face" with lots of cymbal work.  While I like the splash cymbal, I think he was relying on it too much in place of louder, meatier crash cymbals.  We already rectified that problem.

We will be replacing all of the heads this week and retuning the drums to a more evenly spaced tuning.  The heads are old and the drums are not really tuned well at this point.

How do you tune your bottom tom heads in relation to the top heads?

It is nice to see that my instincts are supported by your suggestions.  Again, this is exactly the type of feedback I was looking for.

ProRec is a great site; probably the best site for professional advice on recording on the web.

kdevries wrote I thought that I would just let the mix engineer decide whether or not to gate the toms at mixdown to solve the ringiness but I guess gating is something to be avoided.

If you can hear it and you don't like it, don't record it and plan on fixing it later.  Fix every problem as close to the source as possible.