Carla Thomas
How to record drums that sound like those in “Tramp” by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas?
I have a Tascam Portastudio 424 mkII into which I record directly with a Shure dynamic SM57 mic (I also have another cheaper dynamic mic that I’ve tried using along with the Shure, mic-ing the bass separately, with disappointing results).
I’ve tried so many adjustments to the distance betweeen mic and drums, muffling of drums, and everything else I could think of, but it’s just not as clean and articulate a sound as a professional studio sound like on “Tramp.”
What-all to do?
Hey man,
Drums is definitely the hardest thing to record. The way you’re doing it isn’t ever going to sound that professional. With two mics, you’re at a loss. The last time I was in the studio, my set had 9 mics. I have a 5 piece set, there was a mic on the snare, one on each tom, 1 on the high-hat, 3 in the air for cymbals, and 1 in the bass. I’m only saying this because of the complexity involved.
What you can do and what I tried when I was starting out with recording is placing the mic directly in front of the set about 10 feet away. You will want to isolate anything behind the microphone by using a mattress or something similar. Also, you want very little echo off the walls. Our practice room in a basement has 4 mattresses all around and tapestries in between them. You want to isolate the sound between the set and the microphone for two reasons: echo and noise. The SM57 has a little bit of noise but not a lot. You want to minimize it for the appplication. So, pad the walls between the set and the mic. You can experiment with this if you want a little echo, which adds a nice chorus sound sometimes… makes the sound a little fuller.
The second mic I would use in my bass drum. This is only because I like the kick on the music. Depending upon what you play, you may not want it.
Another option with the second mic is to use it with the first one and place them out and make them about the width of the set. You can then mildly pan each one and have stereo drums which add a lot.
You can also invest in a drum mic kit. They usually come with like 5 mics, 3 for drums and 2 for cymbals. If that becomes the case, you will need a mixer board. I would put all the mics into that and then preset the levels and just have one or two channels going into the 4-track.
Good luck.
Carla Thomas – You’ll lose a good thing
