Drums: Editing pt.2

I have finished the coarse editing of the drum tracks. This means that the songs are now complete from the beginning to the end. There are some minor adjustments to be made, so that is up next. I will keep the editing in these two rounds or levels, and after that I just have to live with the material and suck it up if there are some audible mistakes. In some other projects I have participated the editing has taken place even years after the recordings have started, but with this project this is not the case.

Drums: Lug locks

Oh, the lug locks seem to work fine, all the drums have stayed in tune during the whole session!

http://tunerfishluglocks.com/

Drums: Editing pt. 1

I have started editing the drum tracks to complete songs. There are different ways of recording drums, some try to nail the song in one perfect take, some play with click (or even without) from the start to the point of the first mistake and continue then after fixing the mistake and so on. I prefer the way where I record two or preferably three freely played versions of the songs, and then later cut and paste the best parts of each take to whole song. This allows me to focus on playing loosely and doing some improvisations during the takes as I do not have to worry all the time that a slightest mistake will ruin the take. On the other hand, it also gives me a feeling of playing actual song instead of trying to nail down a song piece by piece.

The next thing that I have to figure out is whether I want to record and mix the rest of the album in one big project or do it song by song basis. Both methods have their advantages and drawbacks. In one big project all the changes made in the mix affect all the songs which is both a good and a bad thing. Let's say I change the EQ of the snare a bit. Fine, I change it an all the songs sound the same and I do not have to do the same change manually to every song. On the other hand, one of the songs might need a slight tuning in the snare EQ part, while the others are fine just as they are now. This means that I have to start using automation curves in the DAW, and if there are lots of this kind of adjustments it will escalate pretty quickly into a total mess.  So far I'm leaning towards one big project, but we will see.

Drums: Session 5 & pop broblem

I went back to studio and re-recorded one of the songs. I also made a recording of single hits on the cymbals and toms in order to have a source for cut-and-paste editing if needed.

While listening to raw tracks, I noticed a strange behaviour in the in front of kit mics. While playing loudly to bow of ride, the mics produce a slight "pop" sound, almost like a vocalist "p" without a pop filter. It might be caused by the edge of the cymbal blowing air to the direction of the mic. I could reproduce the phenomenon, and it seems to be related to the height of the mic versus the height and angle of the ride, so I have to be more careful with this in the future. I have not had this problem before, although I have recorded drums with similar type of setup before. This is not a major problem, I can most probably deal with it in the mixing phase, but anyway it is annoying. 

Drums: The dull part

And now I sit here, transferring the .wav files from my iPad to PC. One by one. Via DropBox. Takes hours. Literally.

Drums: Session 4

Hell yeah! I think I nailed the last two of the remaining songs. It means I'm done. At least in principle. I need to edit the puzzle together to hear if something still needs re-recording. The first of the last two songs went down really well, I have two good takes to choose from. Then I decided to try the more difficult one, and it also went really smoothly. Now I have two takes also from that song. I also recorded some improvisations just in case the album would need some moody pieces between the songs.

Usually, the easier and faster the recording process is, the better the result. If a song starts to take several takes or even worse, several days, it means that I'm doing it wrong. The song might be too difficult, I have not rehearsed enough, or there is something else wrong. Even the more difficult songs take usually no more than a few takes. If there is a mistake here or there, I just take another take and try to be sure not to mess in the same places again. And hope that I'm in the same tempo if not using a click and also hope that the tune of the drums has remained still.

The worst nightmare for me has been a case where the producer wants to change stuff on the fly. Instead of playing something as rehearsed, I'm asked to play it a bit differently. That makes me focus on that particular part and I loose the big picture of the whole thing. Even worse if the requested idea is technically difficult or unnatural to play. I think that any person who requests a certain beat or fill from a drummer should be able to demonstrate it in requested tempo with a good groove.

Drums: Sessions 2 & 3

I started the session early in the morning, I was at the studio before 8:00. I did a one fix take for the song recorded yesterday, and managed to record one of the slower songs.  The song itself was easy to nail, but it has a drum solo in the middle which made it a difficult one to capture. I decided to do it early in the sessions while I still have some stamina left in my muscles.

After a lunch break, I recorded one fast song and another slow one.  The fast song was easy to capture, it has a 12/8 feel throughout the song. The slow one was a bit more difficult, as the tempo tends to drift when I have no reference while playing and the groove is slow. Well, I think both of them ended up nicely.

I managed to mess the mic input levels while changing the battery of H6. More work for me, now I have to take care that the tom levels are even in every song I mix in the future.

I have one doom song left, and then the last one which is kind of a Immigrant Song type of up-beat tune. I try to record the slow one still today and maybe leave the upbeat song for tomorrow.

Drums: Session 1

First drum session done. I managed to record two songs. One faster and more difficult and one slower and by far easier.

I managed to mess the first takes as I forgot to press rec on the floor tom channel. Cool. I was already happy with the final take of the more difficult song as I found out what I had done. Well, I think that the later takes were even better!

Setting up the drums

I entered the studio this night in order to set up the drum mics and test the sound of the kit.  The first thing I did was to tune the toms and snare really well. I had in mind that I would also test my Ludwig Black Beauty as the snare for the album, but in the end I decided to use the Genista snare that I got with the kit I'm using, as it sounded really good and was in a good balance with the rest of the kit. For this album, I will use my Premier Genista 75th anniversary kit that has a 20" bass drum and 12" and 15" toms (the 10" tom is not mounted). The snare is 14" x 5,5", so nothig special there.

I have had problems before with losing the tuning of the drums during the recording sessions. This has been especially problematic with the snare drum as I tend to hit the rim shots pretty hard, so this time I decided to try Turerfish lug locks for all the drums. In theory, they should prevent the lugs from turning at all while mounted. Let's see how they work out. 

As soon as the kit sounded as good acoustically as possible, I started miking the kit. I had several options to choose from for the recording, but in order to keep things simple I decided to go with a Zoom H6 recorder that can record four mics in addition to the stereo condenser pair that comes with the recorder. Instead of placing the stereo pair over the head of the drummer, I will use the pair in front of the kit. In my opinion, I get more natural image of the whole kit this way, especially as I have no additional room or ambience mic. The stereo pair in front captures the body of the drums nicely, and in my opinion the cymbals sound really natural, too. The drawback is that the stereo image won't be very wide, and if the room sucks, it will affect the quality of the recording more than with traditional overheads. I tested a few positions for the stereo pair, and ended up placing the mic relatively close to the kit in order to minimise the room ambience. In addition, I placed some screens, usually used to form office cubicles, around the mics in order to reduce the room reflections.

For the snare top, I used my old and trustworthy Sennheiser E906. For the bass drum, I used Beyerdynamic Opus 99 and found that it sounded best half way inside the bass drum. For the toms, I intended to use my brand new Beyerdynamic TGD57C mics, but it turned out that one of them was broken, so I ended up using my friend's small cardioid Shure condensers that were lying around in the studio.

After placing the mics, I did some test recordings. If I'm happy with the sound also tomorrow, I guess I'm then ready to sart the actual recording sessions.
 

The starting point

This is my blog focusing on the music I make under the pseudonym of Dark Intervals. So far I have made five albums under this title, covering ground from prog rock and stoner to Berlin school ambient music. https://darkintervals.bandcamp.com/  I chose the name long ago, with no intention to use it after the first album, but somehow it stuck, and now I can't abandon it anymore. Sorry, Keith!

Currently, I plan to document here the progress of the recording process of the forthcoming sixth Dark Intervals album. I have not started the actual recording process yet, but I have demoed seven songs I have composed for this album.The style of the songs is roughly stoner and doom, but we'll have to see how the album turns out in the end.

I have a small rehearsal room / studio, and I have set up one of my drum kits there. The next step in the recording process is that I should make decisions on the snare drum and cymbals I intend to use on the album, tune the drums, set up the mics, and make a test recording to check that everyting sounds ok in the drum department.