Dennis Logan’s Mixing Room

Recording great sounding live drums is probable the hardest part of recording. First the drums must be properly tuned and all the sqeeks and pedal noise must be delt with. Then it’s time to mike the kit. Start with the kick drum, it is best to use a mike designed for kick drum there are several brands ranging from about $100 on up. place the first mike inside the drum about 2″; from the inside drum head pointed at the center or at where the mallet strikes the head. Next place your second kick mic so that the mic is either just inside the hole or about 2 to 4" from the center front head. Have a friends or the drummer sit at the kit and beat the kick until you have the sound you want going into your daw. Next use 2 SM57’s or similar mikes to record the snare. Place the first mike under the snare or bottom about 2" from the center over the snare strings. You may have to move the mic several times until you get the sound your looking for. The bottom mic is use to add the vibrations of the strings to the over all snare sound. Then place the second 57 facing the top of the snare pointed toward the center but keep the mic out of the way of the drummers sticks. Again you may have to play with the placement until you hear the sound you’re looking for. Be sure to label the mic in you DAW as top and bottom for both kick and snare. Again have someone hit the snare in the spot the drummer would and blend the two mic together until you have you perfect snare sound. You may want to add your EQ at theis point to get the kick and snare to sound balanced and clean. Next place 57’s on the toms, again about 2" in at an angle pointed down to the sweet spot on the top head. This works with all toms. Some engineers like to mike the bottom of the toms to fatten up the sound and get a huge clear tom sound. You don’t have to do this, it’s a matter of taste and time. Next use two thin condenser mics designed for overhead miking of cymbals. place them on each side of the kit about 3 to 4′ above the kit pointing at the cymbals. Again have some one hit the cymbals until you have the right mix of cymbals verses kit. Then add EQ to tighten the cymbals so they don’t clang. Next place a 57 on the hi hat about 2 to 4" from the hat and above the top cymbal pointing at an angle just above the point where the cymbals close. Don’t place the mic facing the open space between the two cymbals as you will get a windy and crappy sound. Then EQ and blend with the kit. Again some engineers like to mic the top and bottom of the hi hat. Unless you want your drums to sound like cardboard boxes, don’t put napkins, towel or duck tape on the heads. They make a stick rubber like material that comes in small squares the you can place on the edge ot the head to deaden an overly ringing or donking tom. Try to keep them as open as you can and use EQ to get the tone you want. Be prepared to spend several hours setting up the drums and then don’t move anything. Make notes as to what you have done so that if you have to do it again you will have a guide to speed up the process. Be sure the kick isn’t buried by the low tom and that you have your paning set so the drum kit pan across the palette just like sitting behind the kit. Next you add your room mikes. Use large diaphragm condenser mikes and place the about 2 to 6 feet from the front of the kit at a hard right and left position. Keep moving the mics until you have the sound you want and the blend them into the over all kit. Remember a little goes a long way. EQ to taste and record the kit with the drummer for at least 3 minuts and then listen back to the recording, then make adjustments as needed.

OK, here we are trying to get our music heard and maybe make a buck or two. However it seems to me that most music users feel that they are entitled to free music no matter who is making it. It a sense of entitlement that drives me crazy because they don’t understand the truth. If and artist can’t afford to make a great album because they have to give it away. Soon there will not be any great music to hear. Oh sure, you can make it up playing live, right? Wrong, you have just cut off 1/2 of a musician songwriters revenue, and if they aren’t Cold Play or Trent Reznor, your not going to be able to earn enough to make up the difference. In fact you won’t get a chance at all. My current album cost the record company about $600,000.00 to make. I’ll never see a budget like that again even if it sells a million copies. There is no value in music anymore, there’s so much garbage that no one takes the time to listen anymore. I remember when you would by a new album and take it home and rip the plastic off the album cover. Then album covers were works of art,. You had a square foot of wonderful artwork. Then you would slide that big black grooved plastic record and gently place it on your turn table and carefully drop the needle on the edge and sit back with the cover and listen to the whole album. Back then, artists sequenced that album to take you and a trip through sonic nurvana. I remember the first time I listened to Led Zeppelins first album. You know, with the burning Zeppelin on the cover. As soon as I heard the first note I knew I was going places I’d never dreamed of. It change my idea of what music could be. The first time I had anything close to that feeling was when I first heard, Sargent Pepper with headphones. Now days your lucky if a listener listens to more than 20 seconds of one of your songs. They completely have lost the point of great music. I feel sorry for them, they don’t have a clue about what they are missing and that’s why I think it’s important to inform them of what they are missing. One thing that gives me hope is that it never stay static. More people are buying vinyl records. They sound so much better and it is a true life experience to collect and play vinyl records. More and more young people are listening to Zeplin, Beatles, Janis and on and on. I hope we had reached the critical mass of cookie cutter music and people are really seeking great music again. It will take time for the masses to catch up but I think people finally understand that mp3’s sound like shit. Ipod’s don’t come close to playing a vinyl record on a turn table with big loud speakers. It is a holy experience and everyone that has done it, know what I say is true. Cd’s are a mirror image of sound, their are no grooves in CD’s. They are harsh and digital imatations of sound waves. They are false, fake and unworthy because they don’t give you the real sound of the artist. Yes I record on a computer, but from now on all my records will be on vinyl with a cover with glorious artwork and it’s hard to download a vinyl record without turning it into a shitty mirror image. Great music is vital to our growth as human beings. Next time you download someones music without a thought of paying the artist, think what it will be like when all there is to download ismusic you wouldn’t want to download. Is it worth supporting your favorite artist so they can continue to make great music? Is 12 bucks for an albums worth of great music not a fantastic bargin? A movie with popcorn and a drink that might last 2 hours costs over 20 bucks, a great album gives you a lifetime of great memories and emotion. Isn’;t 12 measley bucks worth that? You can always by the single for 99 cents, at least show the artist that their blood, sweat and tears and creativity have value. You’ll feel better, the artist will be able to keep making great music and everyone wins. Is that too much to ask for? I think not. And if you are so poor that you can’t pay for the music, then by all means, steal it. It will have no value to you anyway.

Too Often home recording projects end up sounding less that stellar. It’s either one of two reasons; bad technique or bad environment. If you are recording live music tracks like drums, guitars or vocals, you must control reflective sound and use proper miking technique. I your walls are hard they reflect sound and you aren’t hearing the true sound of the instrument. If you use the wrong mikes for the task you’ll get a poor recording. Hear are a few tips to improve your next recording project at home. First cover your walls with sound absorbing materials, acoustic panels or for the small budget use old curtains, blanket, rugs,etc. A cheap but attractive way to treat the room is with gardeners felt. That’s right, it comes in 4′ wide rolls of felt used to cover the ground to control weeds and the like. It cost about 7 buck a roll that 50 yrds just staple the felt to your walls. Place whatever ugly blankets, material, foam on your walls and the staple the felt over the padding like wallpaper. Make sure your play back speakers aren’t reflecting off you desk  will be surprised how warm everything sounds and how well you hear the sound you’ve recorded. Next get the best sound go into you DAW first without the plug ins or enhancements. Experiment mic placement near and far miking. Don’t use a large diaphragm condenser mike to record a guitar amp. Try a sure 57 on or of axis. Naddy make a ribbing mike for $79 that is quite good. For acoustic guitars use a small condenser mike like the Naddy cm90, $40, also great sounding. Try adding and ART tube pre,$30 and point the mike at the 12th fret at an angle toward the sound hole abour 4 to 6″ from the acoustic guitar. Then us a dynamic or large diaphragm condencer mike about 2′ from the sound hole just above the top off the guitar pointing at the sound hole. Pan each mike either hard left or hard right to get that full stereo sound palette. After you have the best sound you can get, do a take and listen, then make adjustments to your placements of the mike. When you have the best sound live recorded the start with the eq to add or remove the frequencies until you have a tight clear and crystal sound. Then add comprssion  at a ratio of 2.1 to 3.5 with attack set at about the middle with a medium release. If you want the bell chime sound so popular in Nashville add another compressor with a 4:1 ratio, high attack, be sure to raise the high and mids and lower the low end eq. You will get a crystal clean acoustic guitar that will fit well into the mix and an electric guitar will not be fighting to be heard because it’s frequency is the same as the other guitar, keyboard or bass. Next time tricks for drums and vocals.

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