How To Get Killer Drum Sounds! Compression & EQ Secrets

QUESTION.
When you mic underneath the ride, how can you tell if the polarity needs to be switched, other than the mic pointing upward ???

Long time fan first time caller... A 'tape machine' plugin is great on basement recordings, I slap it on the master of everything.

Very informative.
It's great to have an explanation from mic placement to playback, and everything in between, in chronologic order. It makes others tutorials look amateur.

Love this video! I would love to see many more recording and mixing videos!

Dam, that room mic track sounds amazing after compression

I always bought the most musical cymbals I could afford for my drumset. Which usually turned out to be Ziljian . I loved the harmonics the musicality and the duration of ring. when recording, all of the things I loved about them was mixed out right down to a background 1/3 SECOND hiss which I could have achieved with $20 throwout dustbin lids. It was really disappointing from a creative and musical point of view. I guess the old story that drummers aren't really musicians was still at the forefront of the studio mixing technicians at the time.

Great lesson. We need more videos on Drum Eq!

I really like to have more videos like this Rick.

Anyone here try a condenser on the bottom of snare? This is my preferred approach.

Great video and very nice color grading, however I’m not convinced that these too get a long well 😂

Brilliant video

no compression anywhere?? am I missing something?

This is phenomenal, Rick thank you.

I really like this. How would you setup a bass, e.guitar, acoustic, synth with pads, piano like a montage by Yamaha, sax, vocals!!!

very valuable content

I’d LOVE to see some vocal chains- both the outboard stuff going in and how you handle a vocal then in the box after- I’m a huge fan of “The Reckoning,” which is how I found your channel 4-5 years ago. Maybe some more of how you recorded NTB?

i know it s more work.. but a lot of the drum sound disappears when muting tom tracks. Yeah I know. But still.. I try to avoid it. Its more work with phase and compressors, but it sounds more natural. Give it a try if the song is OK with more natural drums.

Thank you for the insight and details provided. I would like more of these. They are invaluable to us home studio nerds. Mic placement and explaining the reasoning behind it, as well as the eq'ing details that you provide. My kits sound and the capturing has been transformed, get it right on the way in saves a lot of editing. Now if Only I could have a few API, BAE/Neve mic pre's to work with.

awesome tips and gear

Great, great video. Thank you for the pro tips

Fantastic! More of this would incredible - thankyou

I wish one day I have the chance to book Rick’s studio and play some grooves.

Wow that sounds great !!!!

It is so great to see you and Ken still working together :)

I would LOVE to see more videos where you do a music recording course from beginner to advanced stuff. I have a college degree in music recording from 2010. I'm sure some stuff has changed since then and it's always nice to have a refresher as I want to put together a home studio to get back into it.

thx!

I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALL LOOOVE these videos thank you!
I d love to see a comparison of the same kit same recording with cheaper mics

I reckon getting a good drum sound in the room, keep the front reso on the kick, put soem half decent kick drum. mic in fron tof that about an inch away near the edge. Get a SM57 & put it under the hats point up at the drummers kneee, get another 57 (or predecessor unidyne) and use that as a close mic on top of snare totaste. Done!

Rick absolutely more videos like this! As a producer I have hired and mixed Larrie Londin, Eddie Bayers, Michael Bland, Russ Kunkel, Petar Janzic (Cory Wong), Noah Levy (Frampton), and recently Brian Dunne (Daryl's House & H&O). My longtime mentors Norbert Putnam and Tom Tucker Sr. (Prince, Greg Brown, Johnny Lang) taught me three valuable things. Hire killer sessions cats live & drink coffee and let the band produce, turn the knobs til it sounds right (Norbert Putnam), and the art of the 12 hour mix (Tom Tucker Sr.). I actually do almost everything in this video, but now I'm going to remix several tracks primarily to use Smack Attack. My go to plugins are API 55OA, CLA3, and Abbey Road Emulation or SSL on the Master Bus plus Waves Phase on the final output and anything musical in Waves. I have the everything Waves subscript but with the great players I use? I go with Norbert- "The drums define the record- hire the great ones, and track live whole band as much as possible. My bass players with these drummers have included Lee Sklar, Joe Osborn, Sonny T. (Prince, Chaka) Bob Glaub, St. Paul Peterson, Dave Hungate, Norbert Putnam, Billy Franze (Mavis, Johhny Lang) and {bravely) myself after being schooled by Mike Porcaro when we were both 20 in Hotel rooms... We should talk... Best, Zannman

Epic

This is great guys, highly appreciated!

Wow! I learned so much from this video!

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 was the 𝘽𝙀𝙎𝙏

Phenomenal tips/tricks that'd, back in the day, ... would require an entire studio career to aquire, and put to use.

We're so so fortunate, ... w/the tools and tutorials on how to implement them today ... surgically if need be, or very light handed when that best serves the process.

Extraordinary times.

Do you timeline drums when you are tracking them?

great video Rick. Back in 1990 after the band SHERIFF broke up in 1995 then ended up with a hit with WHEN I'M WITH YOU. Singer Fred Curci, guitarist Steve DeMarchi and keyboard player Denny DeMarchi built a studio in the basement where they recorded the debut ALIAS album which had the hit MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY... Original recordings all done out of the basement with Freddy singing in a clothes closet

Loved all your explanations, thank you for this

Yes please Rick. This is good stuff. Just what the doctor ordered.

Mahna Mahna

that was AWESOME!

Hey Rick
Yes more recording videos please

Thank you for featuring our Tape MK2 analog tape simulator intros video! that's wonderful, I hope you are enjoying the plugin!

Electric drums, job done

excellent work ! would be interesting to see the EQ work with full band mix.

Yes please! Love content like this!

Excellent video. Every aspect of sound was elucidated. I have nothing to blame, the understanding of the public needs is at the high level. I've added it to my list.

Thank you so very much for this video! I’m a longtime musician just now getting into my own home studio recording environment with a thirst to learn as much is I can from seasoned professionals such as you guys. I’ve been subscribed to both channels for over a year or so and I’m very appreciative of your content. Thank you again 🙏🏾

Yes, would love more practical mixing videos like this.

"except for that compressor", lol. Yeah, that was a huge change! Can hear the tape emulator too but only because it's side by side.