Workflow for drums

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by albee1952

I have had much the same thought process but am also always looking for ways to improve. My method is more of a compromise where it only aligns mics for their particular main signal(IOW, the 3 snare mics align, but I don't move them to any other drum). Some tutorials show timing EVERYTHING out to one "master"(which I also have experimented with). I was onto that routine, but it got a little whacky because I had built the time offset into the session(with the Time adjuster plugin) and it sounded good, and was fine for tracking(not enough delay to throw off a player), but as soon as the drummer would raise/lower the snare or hat, it would throw things off again I'm trying to zero in on making the absolute best recordings I can(aren't we all). Re ambience, I don't think its time alignment(or misalignment) that gives that. That's a function of the room, acoustics and how much you rely on the overheads in the overall mix. Grab the JJP Drum plugin at $29 I spent an entire day trying to NOT need that plugin(was trying to dump Waves) and in the end, I gave up

I did pick up the JJP. It does some really nice things, even with, say, a kick from Boom. I don't do live drum tracking here because I'm not set up for that. My studio is set up for sound tracks for video/games/film etc. which is what I've been doing. But, I do sit in on sessions with live drums now and then, and its always good to have some ideas to make things sound good!