Kick-butt rock/pop drum sounds???

[scava]

Hey guys, i'm fairly new to pro tools. I picked up a digi002 and have just started fooling around with it.

Can anyone help me with some pointers on improving my drum sounds. Any EQ/comp pointers?

As far as mics go, i'm using a D112 for kick, all SM57s for snare/toms, and just a couple vocal senheisers for overheads/hi-hat (that's all i really got to play with so far).

Also, since i'm new to pro-tools, i don't know my way around it too much, so try to explain it to me in detail if you can.

If you guys can tell me standard eqs/comps/tricks for the kick, snare, toms, overheads etc ... that would help a ton.

thanks
scava

[albee1952]

For starters, you should buy an 8 channel mic pre with lightpipe so you can record with more than 4 mics(although many people DO record drums with 3-4 mics). I'm not a fan of the 112 but I know others are. I prefer the Audix D6 or Sennheiser 902. The most important thing to do is get good sounds recorded. That means good heads and good mic technique. Your mic choices will work but for overheads, condensers are preferred. If you have a low ceiling like many of us home recordists, either treat the ceiling with some good acoustic panels or 4" foam, or point your small diaphragm condenser mics(AT 3031's or Rode NT5's are good AND affordable) at the ceiling as close as you can get without touching(no kidding, this works wonders in the average 8' high bedroom). It mimics the PZM effect. Once you have good tracks, I like to insert BF76 on kick and snare(remember if you record a bottom snare mic-insert a plugin EQ that allows you to phase invert the track). As for EQ, on kick, dip around 250-315Hz, boost around 3-8K for click and maybe add a bump around 75-85Hz. Snare-depends on the sound. Some snare drums have a metallic clang that can be lessened with a tight notch and/or a gate plugin. Best EQ advice is this: start with a fairly narrow band at +8 and sweep it across the spectrum while you loop-play a solo'd track. When you hear UGLY jump out of the speakers, cut at that frequency. Always start by cutting the UGLY freq's before you do any boosting with EQ. I also like to aux-send the kick, snare and toms to a stereo aux track and insert a BF76 on the aux track set for heavy squash. Add that into the straight drum mix to beef up the sound. This all only scratches the surface but there are better books out there than my 2 cents.

[M.Brane]

You don't need an ADAT pre for more than 4 mics on an 002. You just need 4 more pres you can plug into the 4 line-ins. That will give you 8 ins which should cover a basic kit no problem. Of course adding an ADAT pre will give you 8 more.

Beware of phase problems when multi-micing. Always check your kit mix in mono as this will help to reveal phase/placement issues. Very often mic placement that looks good won't sound good so trust your ears. The better you can capture the kit in tracking the less "band-aids" you'll have to put on it at mix time.

[Leadfinger]

Check out this recent thread - helped me out heaps...

http://duc.digidesign.com/showflat.p...part=1#1112153

[mcgirr]

Almost all ( and I do mean ALL.) modern producers use either the 1176 or the la-3a on drum tracks!!
Put an 1176 plugin on even the most modest kick track and watch your eyes light up.

Im not saying it is a substitute for quality recording technique but.. try it.
Hell, run the weakest kick sound from the worst drum machine you own through an 1176 and it will come alive/ thump.

Snares will come alive also.

If you have the option of a decent limiter/ compressor hardware, use it on the overheads to riegn in the transients on the cymbals. They will sound much better.

If you have the faichild plugs give these a whirl but... go easy, the "pump and breath" sound can be over the top if used too liberally.

[scava]

Thanks guys for your help.

Right now im using the 4-mic pres of the digi002, and i'm running the other for analog through a mackie board.

As far as your suggestions, i think i got most of that covered. The EQ suggestions are great (thanks).

I'll look into that 1176 plug-in as well? What is it exactly? A drum trigger, or just a effect plug-in

thanks guys again