This also a testament and puts major perspective on how much we can accomplish from a limited funds/gear perspective. You said that you prefer these situations for recording but there was a point in time where the only option was the big studio for album quality. So thank the tech gods for so much progression and advances in recording!
Got my subscription. This is exactly the sort of thing I've learned over progressing to high level mixing over the last few years. What it sounds like is what it sounds like. With a good sources, everything can work with everything with enough knowhow. Bravo.
I'd be interested in listening to a mixed recording from your studio and then from your garage (not knowing which is which) and then we can decide which is the better of the two. I think that would definitely prove your point. Thanx for everything you do for us.
It's refreshing to see this, a lot of other audio recording channels & forums make recording drums so intimidating, and they make it seem like you can't get decent quality tracks without spending numerous thousands of dollars. I like the approach of working with the gear you have.
I also love drums in cinderblock rooms. And totally agree with the idea that room mics sound good no matter what the room (they just might take some more EQing). You get real drums that sound like they were recorded in a real room, which I think is more and more important nowadays in the era of sample replacement and quantized drums. Home studios should really start utilizing what they have to get cool, unique sounds as an alternative to the pristine sound that is the “modern production” we’re hearing on what they call rock these days. So I’m all for everything in this video. Another tip: those PZM mics are some of the best kick mics around. Stick it inside your kick drum on top of a blanket or whatever muffling you’re using in it, HUGE kick sound with lots of sub lows. Also, if you’ve got a ribbon mic put it in front of the kit like 6-8 feet away 90 degrees off axis so the drumset is in the dead zone of the polar pattern and you’ll get nothing but room sound. Play with the height to adjust how much low end you want. Even just that one mic blended in with the close mics will make the whole kit sound like what you’re actually hearing live in the room while the drummer is playing.
I used to have a 3000 square ft facility here in Denver. Ive made a mobile rack with 32channels of PT HDX and preamps. I can travel and make records in unique places now. Ive traveled all over the US now and can honestly say. Its more fun than being trapped in a studio.
As a highly prolific and terribly untalented basement recording artist, I greatly appreciate this video and your approach…..great tips and advice and thank you for the free download……my e609 and AT2035 salute you sir……
A couple of important things (imo) to note that were not brought up: 1.) Even IF you're lucky enough to have access to a garage or other large enough space for this, that doesn't mean your neighbors will be happy about drums being played loudly over and over again for tracking (something that is hard to avoid when you're in a non sound treated space). 2.) Continuing off of sound treatment and isolation, you might also have to worry about the sound of vehicles/traffic and other unwanted sounds if all the separates your room mic is a thin garage door. Nothing like a random car horn, alarm, or motorbike to ruin a take. 3.) I counted 14 mics total. Sure, this is not as many as a pro-studio might use but it's also not "only a handful of mics". I agree with the ethos of this video. Recording should be accessible and not some mythical, expensive, or unarchivable thing for musicians. These 3 things I listed are just potential issues some might run into. Yes, 100% the source [a good musician with a good sounding instrument(s)] is certainly the most important variable when recording.
My band recorded our last EP ourselves, and we used a reflective room (old converted garage). Got some good results. We're going to do the same thing for our next album with a bit more knowledge, and some slightly better gear (still fairly budget). Hoping for a killer product without the pro studio costs.
Love this! I often record in untreated rooms with natural reverb. Always seemed more natural than playing in a dead room and applying reverb in post. Work with what ya have mindset!
i like running my ride mic from underneath, tucked in close near the bell. Seems like it helps reduce bleed significantly, using the ride as a shield from the top side of the kit
I love it! I do it from time to time as well, but sometimes I find I capture too much kick transient in the ride mic with certain drummers. It definitely works well for me for extreme metal when guys are usually hitting lighter.
I just downloaded your PDF. I always love scheduling books/personal philosophies on recording methods. Engineers who release those kinds of things always get an instant sub from me because it's like having your college professor in your pocket.
My philosophy for recording drums is simple: as long as the drums are good sounding and tuned correctly, you have the right mics for the drums (doesn't have to be expensive mics just as long as they sound good on the kit), you don't need a good sounding room. You don't even need a big room (the garden hose technique and micing the adjacent room works fine).
My band recorded two albums in a studio converted barn in 1996 & 1997. (There was a cow shed next door). It was the most basic set up ever. The mic’d drums came out killer, but I can’t recall the close mics we used, but I know we used two RadioShack PZM flat mic as overheads that were stuck to the ceiling. The guy recording us swore but these cheap mics for ambience.
The method of using a cheap live digital mixer as your interface is a legendary tip that not many people seem to realize is a great solution in most cases. I own an M32 that I use at home in exactly the same way.
I'd recommend if you want the room mics to sound like what the drummer is hearing, work out the distance and then delay the tracks to replicate the return journey to the drummer. Sound travels at just over 1ms per feet. The Haas effect occurs beyond 40ms, so ideally you will get the best results with room mics being greater than or equal to 20 feet away from the kit. A tip learned by watching videos of Steve Alibini recording.
Dude you have become my favorite recording/mixing/production guy on UA-cam. This information is helping so many people (especially those of us who don't have a ton of money to go to some fancy recording studio). From listening to you over the past couple years, I can confidently say our new album I'm wrapping up will be leagues better than our EP from 2021. Thank you so much! I hope you have exponential success as you go along. ☠🖤🤘
This is a breath of fresh air. I have some of this gear already, and feel more confident with the use of this “junk” 😂. Learned alot and look forward to making some recordings. Thanks man!
Great video. I also have an unfinished laundry room surrounded by concrete walls which I have added some acoustic treatment but nothing to expensive. Maybe 100 bucks on foam for the ceiling and sides of the room but that's it. I like some of open natural sounds and close mics do a great job of getting the sound. Love the room mic techniques and snakes for suggested tips. Keep it going!
I’m getting ready to upgrade my Steinberg UR22 to Audient Evo 16 so I can start tracking drums in my home studio. I use EZdrummer 3 for my demos. I write and record the bass/vocals/guitars myself. I found a killer drummer that played in Blue Man Group. This video makes me feel like I’m on track with my plan for recording my music. Thank u🤘
I'm not sure if it was said in the video, so apologies, but this works because drums are usually in the "Background" of a mix. If you did record in an "acoustically perfect" environment, you would very likely add reverb and delay in post to make the drums sound "big". However, not everything in the mix SHOULD sound "big" or big. Vocals for example would not do as well an environment like that basement, unless that's the vibe you're going for, which a lot of folks probably aren't. A good hack for that would probably be to record your vocals in your car or a closet full of clothes. Very cool video man and very cool way to challenge traditional recording concepts!
Just recorded drums in my reflective dining room , with room mics lying on the floor in the hallway... It was the best sounding drum recording I've made BY FAR. This is so underrated as a technique! Not to mention that none of the mics cost over £150, and it sounded way better than a kit I mic'ed with Neumann mics in a studio...
I’ve had an XR18 for over 4 yrs. Can’t believe more folks don’t use it in the home studio realm. Bought a refurb for under $600. Where can you get 18 I/O?! Match that with PSM-16s, and you’re tracking monitoring is checked off the list, all with two CAT cables. Great vid, thanks!!!
I often record my drums with 4 mics using My rehearsal room. I have a set of those Octavias for overheads an old 70s shure unidyne II For the snare and a CAD bass drum mic.
This is awesome Bobby!! I've attempted to record my drummer I got one track finished with lots of editing and drum samples. Mic placement is where I'm falling short . I need to get better results at the source! This is great insight on your simple approach! Great video.
Fantastic video! I’ve always had the same opinion that the room isn’t super important; my friends seem to think you gotta rent out a real studio for great drum sounds, but I’ve tracked drums in a completely drywall basement and got good results. The room mic setup you have is great, and I love the sound you got!
You know what sounds sick? A good band playing in a bar or club. Bars and clubs are big, reflective rooms, so it wouldn't make sense to try and recreate that in a nice, sound treated studio. If you want the true sound of a band, record them in a similar setting to where they're likely to be heard. My friend's band had the drums recorded for their first EP in their other friend's basement, and then I recorded everything else and mixed it in my bedroom, since I offered to do it for free because I still wasn't quite there in my mixing. It's not the best mix you've ever heard, but it sounds exactly the way I heard them when I sat in for a practice. It sounds like them. The band is called Vacant Space if anyone is curious, they released the EP in 2020 and their most popular song is Head In The Clouds. I knew that song was their hit and I told them it had to be their first single.
I agree! I have a 2nd UA-cam channel where I record bands in small venues and I love the way those rooms sound: ua-cam.com/video/CjKQnPFQtTs/v-deo.htmlsi=WjG6a0PvcfU_IQH0
Thank you for taking the time to produce this very informative and casually entertaining video. Anybody who is hating on you at this point, should probably spend their time producing content instead of trolling people.
Maaaan this video is super inspiring; thanks a ton for making and showing all of your process! I don't know if you'd consider continuing this video, but would love to see a video where you go through and show your EQing / processing of these room mics vs your overheads. My biggest problem right now is figuring out how to treat overheads vs room mics.. my room mics either have way too much low end to deal with, or can get too harsh.
I do mobile recording with mixing/mastering at home. I like open spaces like this. The studio is cool but something about recording in spaces like this feel more cooler and real. With gear of today you can record anywhere and still make it sound professional!!!
I think the point you're missing when you record in a "proper" studio is that they purposely make the room sound sterile so that it can be a one size fits all kind of thing. That's why the old school albums that are always celebrated for their drum tone were recorded in "unideal" places. Like houses, or barns or whatever. Also, back in the day if you wanted a reverb with "character" many studios had chambers, or plates. I think it's Sunset Sound in LA has or had a basement floor that was an empty concrete room, they'd pipe audio into it from a PA speaker, and record with mics spread out around the room. Essentially making a parking garage for their reverb chamber. They also had actual plates, and spring reverb units for more character. These days, studios have tuned live rooms out of tradition. You mentioned Albini, perfect example, his studio is not a perfectly treated room it was designed with intent, but the intent was to not be sterile. So yes, you can get "pro" results in all kinds of rooms because those are the same types of rooms that pros used for years and years. I couldn't agree more with your list. A great drummer, and well setup kit are infinitely more important than anything else. I have two drummers that I work with pretty consistently, one is a world class drummer, the other has been drumming a long time, but never very serious. It's night and day recording them. Will, the worldclass guy, his tracks are basically done once they are tracked. Add a little compression here and there and a little EQ maybe, and that's it. The other guy takes hours of editing, and so many tricks to avoid using samples. But often times I have to use samples with him.
Nice job man, I'm a fan of these procedures as well. The only problem I experience with very budet friendly electronic components like the Behringer mixers, cheap monitors, etc. is their durability when using them a lot. Greetings from Germany
Oh man I have almost all the same stuff... you can get super good sounding stuff for not that much. Also running Yamaha stage custom birches with aax cymbals - reasonably priced and sounds really good. Same mics too, just a couple different. Love it
hey!!! We have the same Mac hahaha! I do home recordings too and on my last "studio space" the room is very small. I kinda glued some acoustic panels to control a little bit the high freqs. loved the video!! cheers from Mexico!!
I think the last point is actually the most important: be prepared. Lay out the track in your daw before recording. Make sure the drummer knows their parts. Think about how you want your drums to sound to serve the sound of the whole track (like in the video with the Albini/Bush comparisons). Also during recording, make sure that the song was actually played correctly. I've had two whole sessions that were unusable because the drummer played some parts too long/short, or skip one beat. Also he wasn't playing to the click very well, so it couln't be saved though editing. Dumb mistakes, but I learned a lot from that.
I can see the close mics and overheads going well, but there are some prices to pay with using room mics in a room with no acoustics. You can “make up” for it in the mix, but it honestly just doesn’t match up with the quality of a real studio setup, or at least having some acoustics. Even some room reverbs tend to do really good in comparison when it comes to the final product IMO. There are a lot of factors to this however, such as the products, the user, etc. You could easily make your own acoustic panels or use blankets, and easily improve the quality you would get out of your mics. You don’t need a fully decked out acoustic setup, but you can control and dial in that reflective environment you like to get a cleaner tone overall that you won’t have to make up for later. I think even just makeshift bass traps themselves would help a lot after listening to the room mics. The setup is unique, and I feel like that is apart of the art itself, so I cant really say what you’re doing is wrong, if anything I think it’s really cool that you’re doing this. I’d even encourage others to do the same, I even started off using iPhone demos to track lol. Buttttt, as someone who records in the garage as well, I would personally aim for a little bit more control of the room. You could get a lot more out of your overheads and room mics using your current mic placements. I’m jealous of the amount of space you have as well lol. Please don’t take this as harsh criticism, I think your doing good, I just had some opinions on some the claims you had about not needing acoustics. I think it would make your life a little easier in the mix, especially on the low end. Maybe even nicer on the ears while recording.
I've been recording and playing live with my Yamaha stage custom kit for years with nothing but compliments. I now only use my Yamaha absolute Maple Custom on special projects. Yamaha are dollar for dollar the best drums and hardware on the Planet.
I’m a year behind the ball here but I would love to know more on why you chose the xr18 as your go to interface. I think it’s a great idea just would love more info on it!
I get very good mixes from an xr18, some 57s and a NT1 pair, a 52. Maybe 7 mic. Into a BS old Lenovo running Linux with reaper. I love the challenge and the savings.
With regards to the space/room that you're recording in, a lot of emphasis is placed on having an acoustically perfect room. There is a significant advantage to having and acoustically perfect room, but it isn't necessary for good sounding tracks. To prove my point I offer the following; I live in Southern New Hampshire, I had a subcontracting business and I ended up doing work in Tom Schultz home in Massachusetts. I was in the basement where Tom Schultz recorded the first Boston album. And I can tell you the basement was anything but acoustically correct.
What many people get wrong about acoustic treatment is that you have to make a dead room. What you want is a room with the sound you're looking for. That's why good studios have dead rooms as well as lively rooms and rooms with crazy hall reverb tails, the point is that the artist/producer/engineer picks the room that's as dead or as lively as the song needs. I personally don't like the room sound you got on this video, just a taste thing. IMO it's a very closed sound and it's very metallic. At least to my taste. I still think you could have gotten a warmer and more open sound by just placing the drums somewhere else and by opening the doors and garage (if possible) and maybe by doing some DIY absorption on the mids, maybe with strategic placement of blankets and cushions. Again, the point of a studio with good acoustics is that they have lively and reverberant rooms that sound wide and warm "straight out the box" without DIY absorption and with the benefit that a room mic placed anywhere will instantly sound amazing. Still you can DIY those results tho.
Nice. My band is very DIY when it comes to recording stuff so I'll show this to our bassist/sound engineer to see if there are any nuggets of info he didn't already know about.
I wish more people would recommend the xair or other digital rack mixers (i have a soundcraft ui24r) for drummers on a budget recording. Nearly everyone at this level uses 8 channel interfaces like a Focusrite or Tascam and those mixers not only have more channels for not much more money, but they are great for mixing band practice, recording quick ideas without a computer, etc. I had no idea they were even an option until recently.
I agree! You definitely get way more band for your buck with a digital mixer as far inputs. It's also great that it can be used for multiple purposes, like live sound.
It came out sounding good! IMO I’ve had experience with garage recordings my entire early career and for super fast music is where it does tend to hit its limit in having a pleasant sound. Too much wash. Easily solved with some DIY treatment though!
It's about time people wake up and realise, the entire industry post analogue is riddled with clever marketing and lies. As someone who has been recording as a minimalist (small sudio) for almost 20 years now, you dont need fancy speakers, rediculous treatment, expensive microphones, bold claim software, all you need is a pathway to deliver what you hear in your head to the consumer. Digital amp sims have NOT got better in years, theyve just got clever at selling them to you, Drum programs are barely changing right now, its just endless samples that confuse you. You can make top records in any circumstance, the question is, understanding the space, and adapting accordingly, if you have that talent, you are golden. Nice video my dude :)
Excellent video, about to record my first project with my own band , been mixing and mastering for a while but first time tracking.any advice for recording drums in a 10x10 room?
I cannot agree more with the stress on pre production/rehearsals before recording. The last band I was in took 6 months of from playing shows to finish writing our next record. Twice a week in the rehearsal spot, 4+ hours each time. The result? I tracked 9 of 11 songs in a day and a half and it was the hardest shit i've ever played
It was a combination of a few things: 1) We chose the right snare (an old Yamaha that sounds similar to a Black Beauty). 2) We spent a lot of time finding the right snare tuning. 3) Jake hits the drums very hard....consistently. 4) the room mics captured the natural power and ambiance of the snare in the physical space.
Hi Bobby, when micing the cymbals as you do do you worry about phase alignment with the snare or does it not matter because you’ll high pass most of the snare out anyway?
“We were playing in one room in a house with a recording truck, and a drum kit was duly set up in the main hallway, which is a three storey hall with a staircase going up on the inside of it. And when John Bonham went out to play the kit in the hall, I went “Oh, wait a minute, we gotta do this!” Curiously enough, that’s just a stereo mic that’s up the stairs on the second floor of this building, and that was his natural balance.”
Maaaaan this is sick! Freaking cool! But, you do think about the room and that´s why you choose this space.. If you need to record jazz or something like that, you will not do it here.. But this cool sound huge drum room makes the REAL source sound... So, in my opinion, the room IT IS important depend on what you need to record, sometimes I use my stairs to record grunge compressed loops.. but congrats bro, those drums sound REAL WARM HUGE!
Not only neglecting a room sound crappens the drum tone, but also the voice in 99% of talking heads channels, not even background music saves the torture of jumping from zero to whatever loudness you've set on your headphones
Blending in even one room mic can give you some amazing results. Kinda pissed at myself for knowing this but not doing it until recently. I'm in a basement and getting some damn good recordings
Reminds me of the first Ironman film when the scientist dude says building an arc reactor can't be done and Obadiah reacts with: “Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a bunch of scraps!”
►► Download your FREE Polished Production Checklist by clicking HERE: frightboxrecordingacademy.com/polished-production-checklist/
LENT! (NO such word as 'lended'! )
Bobby out here trying to topple the entire recording industry. If he goes missing, we'll know why
Protect Bobby at all costs!!!✊🏽
LMAO!
This also a testament and puts major perspective on how much we can accomplish from a limited funds/gear perspective. You said that you prefer these situations for recording but there was a point in time where the only option was the big studio for album quality. So thank the tech gods for so much progression and advances in recording!
Well-said, Leroy!
Got my subscription. This is exactly the sort of thing I've learned over progressing to high level mixing over the last few years. What it sounds like is what it sounds like. With a good sources, everything can work with everything with enough knowhow. Bravo.
I'd be interested in listening to a mixed recording from your studio and then from your garage (not knowing which is which) and then we can decide which is the better of the two. I think that would definitely prove your point. Thanx for everything you do for us.
That's a great idea!
Well I doubt it will sound better. Just different.
Professional level recordings can be done at home. Zepplin recorded Levee Breaks in a house.
Well said...and to think that was recorded in a house 50 years ago! What we can do now with next to no gear is virtually unlimited@@adainjarrio
@FrightboxRecording Facts. We get so caught up in recordings sounding great we forget to capture the performance.
kevin parker made innerspeaker in a beach house with run of the mill gear and that album won album of the year@@adainjarrio
It's refreshing to see this, a lot of other audio recording channels & forums make recording drums so intimidating, and they make it seem like you can't get decent quality tracks without spending numerous thousands of dollars. I like the approach of working with the gear you have.
I also love drums in cinderblock rooms. And totally agree with the idea that room mics sound good no matter what the room (they just might take some more EQing). You get real drums that sound like they were recorded in a real room, which I think is more and more important nowadays in the era of sample replacement and quantized drums. Home studios should really start utilizing what they have to get cool, unique sounds as an alternative to the pristine sound that is the “modern production” we’re hearing on what they call rock these days. So I’m all for everything in this video.
Another tip: those PZM mics are some of the best kick mics around. Stick it inside your kick drum on top of a blanket or whatever muffling you’re using in it, HUGE kick sound with lots of sub lows.
Also, if you’ve got a ribbon mic put it in front of the kit like 6-8 feet away 90 degrees off axis so the drumset is in the dead zone of the polar pattern and you’ll get nothing but room sound. Play with the height to adjust how much low end you want. Even just that one mic blended in with the close mics will make the whole kit sound like what you’re actually hearing live in the room while the drummer is playing.
I used to have a 3000 square ft facility here in Denver. Ive made a mobile rack with 32channels of PT HDX and preamps. I can travel and make records in unique places now. Ive traveled all over the US now and can honestly say. Its more fun than being trapped in a studio.
I love it!!!
As a highly prolific and terribly untalented basement recording artist, I greatly appreciate this video and your approach…..great tips and advice and thank you for the free download……my e609 and AT2035 salute you sir……
Garages are super cool to record drums.
Great ER reverb, much better than a dead booth in a studio.
I agree!
A couple of important things (imo) to note that were not brought up:
1.) Even IF you're lucky enough to have access to a garage or other large enough space for this, that doesn't mean your neighbors will be happy about drums being played loudly over and over again for tracking (something that is hard to avoid when you're in a non sound treated space).
2.) Continuing off of sound treatment and isolation, you might also have to worry about the sound of vehicles/traffic and other unwanted sounds if all the separates your room mic is a thin garage door. Nothing like a random car horn, alarm, or motorbike to ruin a take.
3.) I counted 14 mics total. Sure, this is not as many as a pro-studio might use but it's also not "only a handful of mics".
I agree with the ethos of this video. Recording should be accessible and not some mythical, expensive, or unarchivable thing for musicians. These 3 things I listed are just potential issues some might run into.
Yes, 100% the source [a good musician with a good sounding instrument(s)] is certainly the most important variable when recording.
Rare to find sound points in YT comments, but I liked the video and also agreed with all your takes. Well said.
Music production UA-camrs will always say you can achieve anything with your own gear, all you need to do is watch their videos and buy their courses
My band recorded our last EP ourselves, and we used a reflective room (old converted garage). Got some good results. We're going to do the same thing for our next album with a bit more knowledge, and some slightly better gear (still fairly budget). Hoping for a killer product without the pro studio costs.
Love this! I often record in untreated rooms with natural reverb. Always seemed more natural than playing in a dead room and applying reverb in post. Work with what ya have mindset!
I've found the same to be true!
i like running my ride mic from underneath, tucked in close near the bell. Seems like it helps reduce bleed significantly, using the ride as a shield from the top side of the kit
I love it! I do it from time to time as well, but sometimes I find I capture too much kick transient in the ride mic with certain drummers. It definitely works well for me for extreme metal when guys are usually hitting lighter.
Wow! Does Not look crappy to me!! Where I live this garage would cost me $1,000,000
My only concern if I'll record like this in the future (or in any room that’s not acoustically treated), is how to deal with the neighbors?
I just downloaded your PDF. I always love scheduling books/personal philosophies on recording methods. Engineers who release those kinds of things always get an instant sub from me because it's like having your college professor in your pocket.
My philosophy for recording drums is simple: as long as the drums are good sounding and tuned correctly, you have the right mics for the drums (doesn't have to be expensive mics just as long as they sound good on the kit), you don't need a good sounding room. You don't even need a big room (the garden hose technique and micing the adjacent room works fine).
My band recorded two albums in a studio converted barn in 1996 & 1997. (There was a cow shed next door). It was the most basic set up ever. The mic’d drums came out killer, but I can’t recall the close mics we used, but I know we used two RadioShack PZM flat mic as overheads that were stuck to the ceiling. The guy recording us swore but these cheap mics for ambience.
The method of using a cheap live digital mixer as your interface is a legendary tip that not many people seem to realize is a great solution in most cases. I own an M32 that I use at home in exactly the same way.
I agree!
I'd recommend if you want the room mics to sound like what the drummer is hearing, work out the distance and then delay the tracks to replicate the return journey to the drummer. Sound travels at just over 1ms per feet. The Haas effect occurs beyond 40ms, so ideally you will get the best results with room mics being greater than or equal to 20 feet away from the kit. A tip learned by watching videos of Steve Alibini recording.
Dude you have become my favorite recording/mixing/production guy on UA-cam. This information is helping so many people (especially those of us who don't have a ton of money to go to some fancy recording studio). From listening to you over the past couple years, I can confidently say our new album I'm wrapping up will be leagues better than our EP from 2021. Thank you so much! I hope you have exponential success as you go along.
☠🖤🤘
Dude I'm so happy to hear the content has been helpful to you and I can't wait to hear your new album!!
Fuck yeah man! I will send it your way when we're finished@@FrightboxRecording
This video came at the right moment for me. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge!
This is a breath of fresh air. I have some of this gear already, and feel more confident with the use of this “junk” 😂. Learned alot and look forward to making some recordings. Thanks man!
So stoked to hear that...keep me posted on your recordings!!
Crazy how dry those close mics were given the space! Sounds really good 👍
I really admire your creativity. This is a very clever approach to recording with astounding results. Great work! 👍
Great video. I also have an unfinished laundry room surrounded by concrete walls which I have added some acoustic treatment but nothing to expensive. Maybe 100 bucks on foam for the ceiling and sides of the room but that's it. I like some of open natural sounds and close mics do a great job of getting the sound. Love the room mic techniques and snakes for suggested tips. Keep it going!
I’m getting ready to upgrade my Steinberg UR22 to Audient Evo 16 so I can start tracking drums in my home studio. I use EZdrummer 3 for my demos. I write and record the bass/vocals/guitars myself. I found a killer drummer that played in Blue Man Group.
This video makes me feel like I’m on track with my plan for recording my music. Thank u🤘
That's so exciting to hear...keep me posted on how it goes!
@@FrightboxRecording will do. I dig your channel🤘
I'm not sure if it was said in the video, so apologies, but this works because drums are usually in the "Background" of a mix. If you did record in an "acoustically perfect" environment, you would very likely add reverb and delay in post to make the drums sound "big". However, not everything in the mix SHOULD sound "big" or big. Vocals for example would not do as well an environment like that basement, unless that's the vibe you're going for, which a lot of folks probably aren't. A good hack for that would probably be to record your vocals in your car or a closet full of clothes. Very cool video man and very cool way to challenge traditional recording concepts!
Loved the drum sound...the snare is absolutely killing it.
Just recorded drums in my reflective dining room , with room mics lying on the floor in the hallway... It was the best sounding drum recording I've made BY FAR. This is so underrated as a technique! Not to mention that none of the mics cost over £150, and it sounded way better than a kit I mic'ed with Neumann mics in a studio...
I’ve had an XR18 for over 4 yrs. Can’t believe more folks don’t use it in the home studio realm. Bought a refurb for under $600. Where can you get 18 I/O?! Match that with PSM-16s, and you’re tracking monitoring is checked off the list, all with two CAT cables.
Great vid, thanks!!!
I love the organic approach, even using digital tech. This video makes me want to build a studio
love hearing that!
I’ve got those E3.5 monitors in my bedroom studio and they are fantastic
They can also withstand a beating, which is great for Guerilla recording.
Very cool video. In my previous band we recorded our drummer in our practice space. It was so much fun and the results were pretty decent.
I often record my drums with 4 mics using My rehearsal room. I have a set of those Octavias for overheads an old 70s shure unidyne II For the snare and a CAD bass drum mic.
This is awesome Bobby!! I've attempted to record my drummer I got one track finished with lots of editing and drum samples. Mic placement is where I'm falling short . I need to get better results at the source! This is great insight on your simple approach! Great video.
Fantastic video! I’ve always had the same opinion that the room isn’t super important; my friends seem to think you gotta rent out a real studio for great drum sounds, but I’ve tracked drums in a completely drywall basement and got good results. The room mic setup you have is great, and I love the sound you got!
You know what sounds sick? A good band playing in a bar or club. Bars and clubs are big, reflective rooms, so it wouldn't make sense to try and recreate that in a nice, sound treated studio. If you want the true sound of a band, record them in a similar setting to where they're likely to be heard. My friend's band had the drums recorded for their first EP in their other friend's basement, and then I recorded everything else and mixed it in my bedroom, since I offered to do it for free because I still wasn't quite there in my mixing. It's not the best mix you've ever heard, but it sounds exactly the way I heard them when I sat in for a practice. It sounds like them. The band is called Vacant Space if anyone is curious, they released the EP in 2020 and their most popular song is Head In The Clouds. I knew that song was their hit and I told them it had to be their first single.
I agree! I have a 2nd UA-cam channel where I record bands in small venues and I love the way those rooms sound: ua-cam.com/video/CjKQnPFQtTs/v-deo.htmlsi=WjG6a0PvcfU_IQH0
Thank you for taking the time to produce this very informative and casually entertaining video.
Anybody who is hating on you at this point, should probably spend their time producing content instead of trolling people.
Maaaan this video is super inspiring; thanks a ton for making and showing all of your process!
I don't know if you'd consider continuing this video, but would love to see a video where you go through and show your EQing / processing of these room mics vs your overheads. My biggest problem right now is figuring out how to treat overheads vs room mics.. my room mics either have way too much low end to deal with, or can get too harsh.
Stay tuned!
Awesome video Bobby, looking forward to hearing the finished product 🤘😀
I do mobile recording with mixing/mastering at home. I like open spaces like this. The studio is cool but something about recording in spaces like this feel more cooler and real. With gear of today you can record anywhere and still make it sound professional!!!
Totally agree!
I love the different styles of content and how you demonstrate the method that you used to get those phenomenal results. Keep it up! 🤘🏼😎
I think the point you're missing when you record in a "proper" studio is that they purposely make the room sound sterile so that it can be a one size fits all kind of thing. That's why the old school albums that are always celebrated for their drum tone were recorded in "unideal" places. Like houses, or barns or whatever. Also, back in the day if you wanted a reverb with "character" many studios had chambers, or plates. I think it's Sunset Sound in LA has or had a basement floor that was an empty concrete room, they'd pipe audio into it from a PA speaker, and record with mics spread out around the room. Essentially making a parking garage for their reverb chamber. They also had actual plates, and spring reverb units for more character. These days, studios have tuned live rooms out of tradition. You mentioned Albini, perfect example, his studio is not a perfectly treated room it was designed with intent, but the intent was to not be sterile.
So yes, you can get "pro" results in all kinds of rooms because those are the same types of rooms that pros used for years and years.
I couldn't agree more with your list. A great drummer, and well setup kit are infinitely more important than anything else. I have two drummers that I work with pretty consistently, one is a world class drummer, the other has been drumming a long time, but never very serious. It's night and day recording them. Will, the worldclass guy, his tracks are basically done once they are tracked. Add a little compression here and there and a little EQ maybe, and that's it. The other guy takes hours of editing, and so many tricks to avoid using samples. But often times I have to use samples with him.
Nice job man, I'm a fan of these procedures as well. The only problem I experience with very budet friendly electronic components like the Behringer mixers, cheap monitors, etc. is their durability when using them a lot.
Greetings from Germany
Oh man I have almost all the same stuff... you can get super good sounding stuff for not that much. Also running Yamaha stage custom birches with aax cymbals - reasonably priced and sounds really good. Same mics too, just a couple different. Love it
hey!!! We have the same Mac hahaha! I do home recordings too and on my last "studio space" the room is very small. I kinda glued some acoustic panels to control a little bit the high freqs. loved the video!! cheers from Mexico!!
I think the last point is actually the most important: be prepared. Lay out the track in your daw before recording. Make sure the drummer knows their parts. Think about how you want your drums to sound to serve the sound of the whole track (like in the video with the Albini/Bush comparisons).
Also during recording, make sure that the song was actually played correctly. I've had two whole sessions that were unusable because the drummer played some parts too long/short, or skip one beat. Also he wasn't playing to the click very well, so it couln't be saved though editing. Dumb mistakes, but I learned a lot from that.
Very inspiring Bobby.
Question: Is the mono room mic (LDC) pointed at the wall (for reflections) or the drum kit (for more direct sound) ? 🤟
Great question! The mono room is actually facing the kit, but it's much lower in the mix. I have the L & R rooms cranked much louder.
Excellent room sounds!
Great as always, Bobby!
I can see the close mics and overheads going well, but there are some prices to pay with using room mics in a room with no acoustics.
You can “make up” for it in the mix, but it honestly just doesn’t match up with the quality of a real studio setup, or at least having some acoustics. Even some room reverbs tend to do really good in comparison when it comes to the final product IMO. There are a lot of factors to this however, such as the products, the user, etc.
You could easily make your own acoustic panels or use blankets, and easily improve the quality you would get out of your mics. You don’t need a fully decked out acoustic setup, but you can control and dial in that reflective environment you like to get a cleaner tone overall that you won’t have to make up for later.
I think even just makeshift bass traps themselves would help a lot after listening to the room mics.
The setup is unique, and I feel like that is apart of the art itself, so I cant really say what you’re doing is wrong, if anything I think it’s really cool that you’re doing this. I’d even encourage others to do the same, I even started off using iPhone demos to track lol.
Buttttt, as someone who records in the garage as well, I would personally aim for a little bit more control of the room. You could get a lot more out of your overheads and room mics using your current mic placements. I’m jealous of the amount of space you have as well lol.
Please don’t take this as harsh criticism, I think your doing good, I just had some opinions on some the claims you had about not needing acoustics.
I think it would make your life a little easier in the mix, especially on the low end. Maybe even nicer on the ears while recording.
This is excellent
I've been recording and playing live with my Yamaha stage custom kit for years with nothing but compliments. I now only use my Yamaha absolute Maple Custom on special projects. Yamaha are dollar for dollar the best drums and hardware on the Planet.
Agreed, I love how this kit sounds.
Super cool video! I'm really curious what those AT boundary mics are doing to enhance the sound.
I’m a year behind the ball here but I would love to know more on why you chose the xr18 as your go to interface. I think it’s a great idea just would love more info on it!
I get very good mixes from an xr18, some 57s and a NT1 pair, a 52. Maybe 7 mic. Into a BS old Lenovo running Linux with reaper. I love the challenge and the savings.
Amazing video as always and definitely an eye opener for the gear obsessed…..
With regards to the space/room that you're recording in, a lot of emphasis is placed on having an acoustically perfect room. There is a significant advantage to having and acoustically perfect room, but it isn't necessary for good sounding tracks. To prove my point I offer the following; I live in Southern New Hampshire, I had a subcontracting business and I ended up doing work in Tom Schultz home in Massachusetts. I was in the basement where Tom Schultz recorded the first Boston album. And I can tell you the basement was anything but acoustically correct.
Love this! Sounds killer
What many people get wrong about acoustic treatment is that you have to make a dead room.
What you want is a room with the sound you're looking for. That's why good studios have dead rooms as well as lively rooms and rooms with crazy hall reverb tails, the point is that the artist/producer/engineer picks the room that's as dead or as lively as the song needs.
I personally don't like the room sound you got on this video, just a taste thing. IMO it's a very closed sound and it's very metallic. At least to my taste. I still think you could have gotten a warmer and more open sound by just placing the drums somewhere else and by opening the doors and garage (if possible) and maybe by doing some DIY absorption on the mids, maybe with strategic placement of blankets and cushions.
Again, the point of a studio with good acoustics is that they have lively and reverberant rooms that sound wide and warm "straight out the box" without DIY absorption and with the benefit that a room mic placed anywhere will instantly sound amazing. Still you can DIY those results tho.
I ran a mobile setup like this for years before I got out of it. never had an issue with rooms unless they were way too small
Nice. My band is very DIY when it comes to recording stuff so I'll show this to our bassist/sound engineer to see if there are any nuggets of info he didn't already know about.
Give it a shot and let me know how it goes!
@@FrightboxRecording He said he's already seen your video. Which was kind of expected of a DIY recording geek.
I wish more people would recommend the xair or other digital rack mixers (i have a soundcraft ui24r) for drummers on a budget recording. Nearly everyone at this level uses 8 channel interfaces like a Focusrite or Tascam and those mixers not only have more channels for not much more money, but they are great for mixing band practice, recording quick ideas without a computer, etc. I had no idea they were even an option until recently.
I agree! You definitely get way more band for your buck with a digital mixer as far inputs. It's also great that it can be used for multiple purposes, like live sound.
Thanks. Looking forward to the new King Kelly songs
thanks alot buddy the recording sounds awesome thanks for all the tips
It came out sounding good! IMO I’ve had experience with garage recordings my entire early career and for super fast music is where it does tend to hit its limit in having a pleasant sound. Too much wash. Easily solved with some DIY treatment though!
Awesome video as well as the stellar sound you have produced.
Glad you liked it!
The crashes/overheads sound great man, this is what the samples struggle with the most! Looking forward to the rest of the process :))
More to come!
This is the acoustical definition of “if you can’t beat them, join them”
It's about time people wake up and realise, the entire industry post analogue is riddled with clever marketing and lies.
As someone who has been recording as a minimalist (small sudio) for almost 20 years now, you dont need fancy speakers, rediculous treatment, expensive microphones, bold claim software, all you need is a pathway to deliver what you hear in your head to the consumer.
Digital amp sims have NOT got better in years, theyve just got clever at selling them to you, Drum programs are barely changing right now, its just endless samples that confuse you.
You can make top records in any circumstance, the question is, understanding the space, and adapting accordingly, if you have that talent, you are golden.
Nice video my dude :)
Nice Bobby!
Some decent good advice here 👍🏼
Protect this man at all costs.
Meant to tip before but it crashed my browser. Excellent video - very inspiring and brilliantly put together. Thanks again
Excellent video, about to record my first project with my own band , been mixing and mastering for a while but first time tracking.any advice for recording drums in a 10x10 room?
Don't skip the room mics. Also try adding one or two mics in an adjacent room, it'll add a ton to your drum sound.
Very cool!
We record all our stuff in a garage.
Going to take some tips from this.
Thank you!
Happy to have been a help 🤘
+1 on the room mics. They really should be the meat of your drum sound!
I cannot agree more with the stress on pre production/rehearsals before recording. The last band I was in took 6 months of from playing shows to finish writing our next record. Twice a week in the rehearsal spot, 4+ hours each time. The result? I tracked 9 of 11 songs in a day and a half and it was the hardest shit i've ever played
Dude the snare sounds awesome. Result of the far away room mics + a drummer hitting consistent rim shots?
It was a combination of a few things:
1) We chose the right snare (an old Yamaha that sounds similar to a Black Beauty).
2) We spent a lot of time finding the right snare tuning.
3) Jake hits the drums very hard....consistently.
4) the room mics captured the natural power and ambiance of the snare in the physical space.
Bobby got them 🐐Skills that make EVERYTHING sound KILLER 🤓🍻🤘
Very useful info here!!!❤❤❤ Thank you!
Hi Bobby, when micing the cymbals as you do do you worry about phase alignment with the snare or does it not matter because you’ll high pass most of the snare out anyway?
Can you post a link to your band's music?
“We were playing in one room in a house with a recording truck, and a drum kit was duly set up in the main hallway, which is a three storey hall with a staircase going up on the inside of it. And when John Bonham went out to play the kit in the hall, I went “Oh, wait a minute, we gotta do this!” Curiously enough, that’s just a stereo mic that’s up the stairs on the second floor of this building, and that was his natural balance.”
F@ck yeah! Well done bro
interesting perspective on drum recording
Maaaaan this is sick! Freaking cool! But, you do think about the room and that´s why you choose this space.. If you need to record jazz or something like that, you will not do it here.. But this cool sound huge drum room makes the REAL source sound... So, in my opinion, the room IT IS important depend on what you need to record, sometimes I use my stairs to record grunge compressed loops.. but congrats bro, those drums sound REAL WARM HUGE!
Really good vid. New sub
Thanks for watching!
Not only neglecting a room sound crappens the drum tone, but also the voice in 99% of talking heads channels, not even background music saves the torture of jumping from zero to whatever loudness you've set on your headphones
Blending in even one room mic can give you some amazing results. Kinda pissed at myself for knowing this but not doing it until recently. I'm in a basement and getting some damn good recordings
a steve albini/bush sound, hell yeah brother
You DID it mate! \m/
You could probably record a metal band on a 4 track cassette recorder and make it sound killer. I love recordings with minimal tracks lol.
nice video! where you able to phase check during setup?
Thank you for this video! I subscribed.
Reminds me of the first Ironman film when the scientist dude says building an arc reactor can't be done and Obadiah reacts with: “Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a bunch of scraps!”
Room mics for the win!
Quite sure the bike plays a huge part in the sound. Nice video!
😂