Drum Micing - Kick and Snare Final Tuning
Lesson 10 from: Studio Pass: Sylvia MassySylvia Massy
Drum Micing - Kick and Snare Final Tuning
Lesson 10 from: Studio Pass: Sylvia MassySylvia Massy
Lessons
Class Introduction
01:56 2Avast! Studio Overview & Walkthrough
07:26 3Sylvia's Recording Philosophy
10:07 4Introduce the Band, Thunderpussy
07:53 5Drum Setup & Tuning
18:21 6Drum Mic Placement
09:21 7Drum Micing - Mid-Side Overhead Technique
04:11 8Drum Micing - Room Mics
41:25Drum Micing - Toms
22:10 10Drum Micing - Kick and Snare Final Tuning
10:59 11Bass Setup
20:20 12Guitar Setup
36:13 13Vocal Setup
17:32 14Band Mic Check
26:05 15How Sylvia Plans a Lesson
07:29 16Budgets, Time and Planning a Session
13:17 17Recap and Intro
04:17 18Recording the Band, Thunderpussy
32:32 19Mixing the Recording of the Band
09:08 20Re-Recording Chorus
13:46 21Process for Editing
18:42 22Guitar Solo and Overdubs
52:35 23Vocal Overdubs
32:12 24Creative Studio Techniques
1:00:11 25How to Mix: Drums
43:56 26How to Mix: Add Bass & Guitar
13:34 27How to Mix: Add Vocals
36:24Lesson Info
Drum Micing - Kick and Snare Final Tuning
Okay. (drums playing) I'm gonna work on the kick for a little bit here and the kick is going through this 1073. (kick drum plays alone) I'm trying to get attack, a little more attack and a little more of the lower frequencies without accentuating the mid frequencies. How's our level now? Still okay? Sure. Let's work on the snare. Oh, that's the sub, I think our sub is okay. Here's the snare. (snare plays alone) So the snare is a combination of the top and bottom mics, so I'll work on the top mic first. It has its own channel here. Where is that? Okay, on a sidecar. Let me work on that first. I'm using the EQ on the sidecar here. We're gonna give it a little more attack. And I love adding midrange to the snare. What I'll do to find the frequency is I'll crank the boost really hard so I can sweep and find the frequency that I want and then I back off the boost, but you'll here me crank it and then I'll back it off once I find that frequency. That's soundin' alright. Okay. Let's see what ...
our kick and snare sound like together. (kick and snare play together) Little too much rattle, I'm gonna bring down the bottom mic. He's starting to play harder, so I'm gonna back down the kick drum level. So I'm finding out just how much of that bottom mic to add, and it's not a lot. Alright. So now at this point, I'm going to listen individually to the kick with the overheads, and then the snare with the overheads to check and make sure our phase is gonna work out. So I put the overhead mics in mono, and then I listen to them one at a time along with the kick drum at the same time, to see if we have as much low end as possible. So I'm gonna do that here. My kick monitor is open, my overheads are open. I have it mono in the center. (kick and overheads play together) And I'm gonna flip the phase. I'm wondering if the overheads sound better with the kick out of phase flip. So I'm gonna listen to the kick and the snare and check the phase between the kick and the snare. (kick and snare play together) I'm gonna do it over here. I'm gonna check the phase reverse over here on the mic three that the kick is coming in. Well the snare sounds better when it's just the way it is. The snare sounds better without flipping the kick drum phase, so we're gonna keep that the same. So I'm gonna go back to my overheads now and double check that that's true with the overheads too. (overhead, kick and snare play together) So now, when I push this phase button in, you can hear the difference in the snare. This is with it out of phase, and that's with it normal. There's something out of phase between the overheads and the kick. So what I'm gonna do, hold on, hold on. I'm going to flip the phase on the overhead mic, so that it's going to be out of phase with what the kick is right now. And that means, since I've got this MS pad, (laughs) that means I'm going to have to flip the way I've got it arranged here, so I'm going to, let's see, boy, how am I gonna do this? Lemme think. I think I could just put the phase on this, and it'll work. Let's try that. So this is out and that is out, and I'll have her play and then listen to the difference. Cool. Can you play a little bit more? (drums play) Ah, already the snare sounds better. That was a huge difference. Okay, great, fantastic. I think that was the secret right there to make these drums sound great, is checking the phase relationship between the kick, snare and the overheads. Now I'm gonna add everything else in and see what we've got. (distorted cymbals) Woooh. (distorted cymbals) Woooh, yeah. (drum kit plays in balance) Alright, I think we got somethin' great. Alright, I think we've got something great to start with on the drums. Cool. Woohoo.
Ratings and Reviews
Jimmy Foot
This Studio Pass episode with Sylvia Massey covers a lot of ground. From fundamentals like correct mic placement and phase to experimentation with amps, cell phone delay and a few extra parts, Sylvia makes it fun! I have been lucky enough in my career to work with a number of great engineers and producers. I haven't had the opportunity to work with her, but Sylvia is certainly in that category, and anyone who gets a chance to work with her would be a lucky person. This broadcast is the next best thing. Great job there at Avast Studio and fantastic camera work! And as for Thunderpussy; you guys rock!
Marc Felish
Wow, that was such a blast. Thanks so much Sylvia and everyone else for making this such a fun experience. I picked up so many new ideas that I can't wait to try out! Sylvia is such a creative producer, it was so much fun to be a fly on the wall watching everything. Loved it!!
Marcus Soares
Awesome! A great opportunity to pick into the creative mind of one of the greatest and get that kind of knowledge that you can't acquire otherwise. Highly recommended!
Student Work
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