The John Bonham drum sound from close mics in a small room using plug-ins

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  • Опубліковано 19 січ 2025

КОМЕНТАРІ • 73

  • @dawerrors1701
    @dawerrors1701 10 років тому +1

    I've needed this video for a LONG time! Explaining things in forums is one thing but seeing it done with all of your steps and tweaks is a whole nother thing. Thanks Ronan!

  • @orionbenjamin7484
    @orionbenjamin7484 6 років тому +1

    john, used big "very live" rooms,also his attack to the drum or the way he hit the things,the big shells and "airey" tuning. also his "tell tell" supraphonic ludwig deep snare, with the cranked bottom head, is a must.he did love the jimmy/john, old school, distant ,no port hole, micing techniques, on the bass.Alot of space, in his style,he had a shuffle, about his playing also and he had great control, whacking the shit out of the sweet spot, every damn lick! and of course very alive big rooms....we all know the castle, they recorded in.Many times I've had guys seek, this sound, and come up disappointed due to the fact it was more of his playing than anything.However,i have also seeked, other sounds, or not gone for the bonham sound, and we end up so much like a bonham thing.Its 1 of those things the more you go for his specifics, you kinda loose it somewhere....and I think it was simply the big shells,big rooms,space in his style and the way he delivered the whack, to the airy tuned head, that just ended up being his natural thing.And when ur commfy,in the norm playing in the likes of such... a natural loose will come over the player,a loose grip....gave a big ass whack...it was simply natural for him.He never had to work, for his sound, that's for sure.but if u can manage to get all the things I mentioned in a big hot room, compress it right, using everything total analog...id think u would have gotten closer than what u had here.I personally liked what u had here...sounded fine! Just Bonhamish...naaa,it was struggling for the round or whole of things and also the deepness in tone, was coming up short...for John's thing that is.But like I say... and many others have said....it's hard to duplicate a natural sounding, Bonham, and i've also had trouble with Mr.alex van halen, as well....it's just a very natural style, for those guys, and thats something that ppl find hard to pull off!I enjoyed anyways keep up the good work dude!!!

  • @christopherdunn317
    @christopherdunn317 9 років тому +1

    The problem people miss is they don't know much about the UA1176 compressor, and he used this live ,and for recording, even van halen one,people don't realize eddie sound was not just the sm57, and his amp ,but also the UA1176 COMPRESSOR.

  • @sxdrujandis
    @sxdrujandis 7 років тому +1

    I love at one point you almost hear a voice in the heavily processed drums. :)

  • @AmpsforBuddha
    @AmpsforBuddha 10 років тому

    Thank you Ronan! …This is the best example on how to achieve this sound. Trying this out now. Always enjoy your videos.

  • @slimyelow
    @slimyelow 9 років тому

    And loud hats (also crasheez) in a recording environment can create quite a headache. I once swore by Sabian 13" Hand Hammered Fusion, but the volume of these hats overwhelmed everything on the drumbus. - I then switched to 14" K-hats, total bliss....

  • @MuttsofthePlanet
    @MuttsofthePlanet 8 років тому

    I bet using ribbons on the overheads would solve the hihat brightness at the source without so much subtractive eq needed. I like how the SPL seems to add reverb.

  • @slimyelow
    @slimyelow 9 років тому

    Keith Moon figured out that gently stroking crash cymbals actually made them sound bigger in the mix.
    I don't know which compressors / limiters they used back then.

  • @KoolKatRecordingStudios
    @KoolKatRecordingStudios 9 років тому

    Thanks though, because I consider You a Mentor and Ive already learned so much from You Brother. And I only discovered you this evening. Yes I Subscribed & Ive already watched a number of Your Vids. ThankYou Sir

    • @RonanChrisMurphy
      @RonanChrisMurphy  9 років тому

      +Jimmy SantAngelo Thanks Jimmy. You can check out the Recording Boot Camp web site and get on the email list. I send out free recording advice a few times a month.

    • @KoolKatRecordingStudios
      @KoolKatRecordingStudios 9 років тому

      Ronan Chris Murphy Thanks Brother :)

  • @rickblackers88
    @rickblackers88 6 років тому

    Great tips and sounds.Bonhan apart,really useful tricks!!Thanx for sharing!

  • @SomebodyPickaName
    @SomebodyPickaName 7 років тому +4

    At 4:40 I started humming the Billy Jean bass line. ;-)

    • @LACRIHERION
      @LACRIHERION 7 років тому +1

      hahahaha i was doing the same

    • @rockboy360
      @rockboy360 6 років тому

      sure, he definitely nailed that sound!

  • @Griffin_Sniped_U
    @Griffin_Sniped_U 10 років тому +1

    Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.

  • @Pilotinbeugehaft
    @Pilotinbeugehaft 9 років тому

    Great Video indeed! I like the the "dry" Sound as well. can you tell us what kind of overhead technique/mic you used? thanks

  • @slimyelow
    @slimyelow 9 років тому

    I was just about to bring up multi band compressors..... Nevertheless it is easier to get UAD-2 and use the Studer 800 and perhaps the RMX 16 for snare 'boom'. Tape saturation and compression make a lot of EQing obsolete. - ask Alan Parsons

  • @issaccartwright736
    @issaccartwright736 9 років тому +1

    is it just me or is the kick slightly panned slightly right and snare left on the overheads?

    • @jacobsmith1877
      @jacobsmith1877 7 років тому

      Sounds like a bad overhead setup. Guys that don't measure and keep their kick and snare centered end up with crappy overhead stereo placement

  • @ultramouse
    @ultramouse 7 років тому

    Not gonna say it sounds like Bonzo but it does sound bigger. Thanks for the tips. For those of us who don't play in a band with Bonzo (which apparently is every band on earth including Queen - can't even argue with that) and don't always have access to huge rooms... this is helpful. Sometimes your only option, acoustically speaking, is a "dead and lifeless" track. But if you have a half-decent kit and a good drummer, I don't see any evils in compensating for your crappy room.

  • @yepyep3897
    @yepyep3897 10 років тому

    What about adding some slap-back delay?

    • @RonanChrisMurphy
      @RonanChrisMurphy  10 років тому

      It would be fun to try, but a slap delay will have a very different feel and start to effect the groove a lot.

  • @AlexSolano
    @AlexSolano 9 років тому

    Hi Ronan, how would you advise using the Transient Shaper on Toms. Would you use them to gate the bleed from other mics or use it to sustain the tom tone?
    Thanks!

  • @FVDaudio
    @FVDaudio 9 років тому

    4 microphones (including version 3 only), sound better than my cheap Chinese also four microphones (2 Behringer) from the dry signal to infinity and beyond!

  • @KingBlonde
    @KingBlonde 9 років тому +1

    The pumping compression changes the accenting of the hi-hat. Good tutorial but I feel like engineering takes place over production in instances like this.

  • @Salantsoundstudios
    @Salantsoundstudios 9 років тому

    Awesome vid ronan!

  • @DennisAlvey
    @DennisAlvey 9 років тому

    Ronan,
    Thanks for making this video! I have a question. I am using Addictive Drums and it has some great sounding Bonham sounding sets right out of the box. However, if I wanted to give it a little more life, would I use my compressor or get that SPL transient designer? They seem to do the opposite things, yes? can you explain / advise? Thanks!

    • @RonanChrisMurphy
      @RonanChrisMurphy  9 років тому

      Dennis Alvey The transient designer is kind of a different beast than a compressor. I can sort combines compression and gating like functions into something new. For samples the Transient Designer might actually give you a more dramatic range of options for tweaking out sounds. You really need to play with one to understand it. The good news is that Plug in Alliance who sell the plug will let use down load a fully functioning demo to play with for 14 days. Hoe that helps a little.

  • @tomasniemisto4858
    @tomasniemisto4858 8 років тому

    The raw tracks sound amazing! Did you use any compression and/or eq when printing? Is this four mic recording technique demonstrated in your Drum recording boot camp online course?

    • @RonanChrisMurphy
      @RonanChrisMurphy  8 років тому

      Thanks Tomas, There is not processing at all on the raw drum tracks. Yes it is exactly the technique I talk about in the Drum Recording Boot Camp course. (I also talk about a few other techniques in the course, but this is the main one.

    • @tomasniemisto4858
      @tomasniemisto4858 8 років тому

      Thank you for the fast reply! I will absolutely purchase you Drum recording course.

  • @Czyszy
    @Czyszy 8 років тому

    As people've said... not much Bonhamy, but still really good.

  • @slim1275
    @slim1275 6 років тому

    This seems like creating a "sound" out of nothing. If you are to go through this much effort, just program the drums and call it a day. I am a drummer with a small drum room. I am able to capture a pretty good representation of the kit just with 6 mics - three close, two overhead, and one room. I do add an SSL simulator, a flat plate reverb, and a touch of compression (all are on the factory settings). This simply enhances the natural sound I am capturing; it does not replace it. I am not trying to achieve someone else's sound, but on a good day, it can come mighty close to that "Bonham" sound.

  • @wrongfuture
    @wrongfuture 8 років тому

    Where did you place the mics? and what models?

    • @RonanChrisMurphy
      @RonanChrisMurphy  8 років тому +2

      Main mics where Shure KSM32 overhead, Beta52 on the kick and an SM57 on the snare. I think the room mic might have been a SM58

  • @ericfloyd9917
    @ericfloyd9917 6 років тому

    Thanks for this

  • @moonkef
    @moonkef 8 років тому +1

    Or just shit 'Old Zep Kit'' kick and snare on the kik and snare! I know you're demonstrating the technique here though, great vid great sound. Thank you :)

  • @divanola
    @divanola 6 років тому

    instead of copying the "dry" track and mixing in the compressed track, why not just send the dry track in a bus over to the compressor on an auxiliary track??....also most modern compressor plug-ins have a "mix" function for the same purpose

  • @pjones8404
    @pjones8404 9 років тому +34

    As a drummer of 42 + years...I do not subscribe to this type of mixing or engineering. The quest for the "Bonham" sound is a fool's journey. Thinking you can load a bunch of applications and add-on's to a otherwise dead and lifeless drum track, is silly. This nowhere comes close to what John was able to do. Here's why.
    1) The tuning of his drums made a massive difference to the sound of his kit. The openness and huge tonal note he was able to produce can not be "added" after the fact. IF the drums are dead..you just added stuff to dead drums.
    2) The most amazing part of Bonham's drumming was the remarkable way he played his kit balanced from the start. Pushing up the snare..pull back the kick..or hi-hats..is the result of a drummer NOT playing balanced and therefore aren't recorded balanced. It's hard to do for sure...but if you heard Bonzo live on the floor..it already sounded mixed! That is a HUGE part of his sound.
    3) The way he hit the drums can NOT be equaled and certainly not added with a bunch of reverberation, EQ or compression. His strength and technique created a very full and round sound. The better they sound live...the better they will record. (if you know what you are doing.)
    4) His kick drum had a ton of attack! It had to if it was going to match the attack of his instantly recognizable snare sound. It just wasn't that subsonic garbage that most drummers are doing now thinking that if they do the drums will sound "heavier"..when in fact it's the opposite. The higher pitch moves the air faster and therefore increases projection and tone.
    5) Yes...better rooms. Simple. More space...the potential for a bigger sound. Again..IF you know what you are doing.
    A crappy drum room is a crappy drum room and trying to hide that fact behind a bunch of "extras" takes the drum so far away from where they began..what's the point?
    I can clearly tell you know what you are doing and I respect that greatly. I just think the "approach" is flawed and nowhere comes close to achieving what really can't be achieved. Watch Roger Taylor and Chad Smith play at Headley Grange and even they can't come close to achieving what John was able to do and I LOVE Roger Taylor's sound.
    It's chasing a ghost....I encourage all drummers and engineers to find their own sound. This one is taken...and we don't get to have it back.
    Great post however....I just don't happen to agree with the outcome. Doesn't make me right ...just makes me me.
    Good day.

    • @Ash_Hudson
      @Ash_Hudson 9 років тому +4

      I agree. To get a great drum sound from the start you need 3 main components:
      -A great drummer
      -A beautifully tuned kit
      -A good room
      Without these components from the beginning, you will not achieve a truly great natural drum sound, which if it isn't, just creates more work for the engineer as well as cheating yourself and others anyway.

    • @mackenziemcdougall8885
      @mackenziemcdougall8885 8 років тому

      PREACH

    • @ZeroChannelZero
      @ZeroChannelZero 7 років тому +9

      Dude, I can be a tight assed purist myself, but in the real world you have to realize you're not going to get the perfect sound on a session, especially if you're paying by the hour and/or dealing with musicians who are getting progressively lazy/sloppy/stoned while you're tweaking mics. This is a great video that helps us doctor up those less-than-ideal recordings that we all have to deal with. PS I'm not a drummer; I'm a keyboardist and as much as I'd love to tell everyone they need an 18' Steinway D, a 350 lb Hammond B3 w/ Leslie and the ghost of Keith Emerson to play them, I know the reality is people use software to emulate all that stuff. If they can get close enough, more power to them!

    • @Braglemaster123
      @Braglemaster123 7 років тому +1

      pjones8404 Exactly

    • @Braglemaster123
      @Braglemaster123 7 років тому +1

      rickyzig False Advertising !!!! No Bonham sound here at all.

  • @KoolKatRecordingStudios
    @KoolKatRecordingStudios 9 років тому

    I followed you on the mix &, the high hat is still too much, no matter what, in my own opinion. No, definitely Not to critcize You, yet as a listener to it, I would ask this, that at The Source; was it that the Mic placement couldve been a bit off in the first place or even The Pan was too forward on the High-hat? Because it seems the amplification of it couldnt be corrected exactly. .....Nonetheless ThankYou & Respectfully; Jimmy

  • @mackenziemcdougall8885
    @mackenziemcdougall8885 8 років тому

    3/10 eh...
    Pretty good tutorial for beginners, but I think the best way to get a room sound is to ACTUALLY record a good room... What I mean to say is run whatever you'd like to add space to.. say the snare... and run it solo through your speakers, then set up an omni mic somewhere in the room (experiment but i find a reflective floor surface usually works best) and just record that sound through the omni mic. You'll actually be amazed at the results. Then blend those... or bash it up with a comp.. whatever you'd like.
    Bonham's sound derives from simplicity, nice recordings rooms, a few good microphones and of course JOHN HENRY BONHAM

    • @RonanChrisMurphy
      @RonanChrisMurphy  8 років тому +3

      Of course having a larget room is best is exactly what I said in the video, but I offered an option for those that do not have access to a big room.

  • @rafaelbarerez7066
    @rafaelbarerez7066 9 років тому

    jhon bonham doesnt sound plastic, extra reverb and in other dimension

  • @Clairvoyant81
    @Clairvoyant81 8 років тому

    The pumping effect completely changes the way the beat feels... and it's a lot more annoying to me than the hi-hats.

  • @grandeline
    @grandeline 7 років тому

    Wow!! but its digital not analog...not Bonham sound..like a drum machine without that groove.. does it do Keith Moon as well?? I don,t think so.....

  • @AudioReplica2023
    @AudioReplica2023 6 років тому

    sounds ugly...but at the same time exciting and cool. Then again is the sound from 70's and 80's cant really complain. I prefer the final processed sound 20 times.

  • @juanignacioleyenberger55
    @juanignacioleyenberger55 9 років тому

    U ROX!

  • @bubinga_basher
    @bubinga_basher 3 роки тому

    Big drums, big cymbals (PAISTE B8 alloy) John's Mic technique, and most important, Tune the kit like a jazz kit. Plug ins, or room size doesn't make a big difference. This is far more complicated than it needed to be

  • @misfit2022
    @misfit2022 9 років тому +2

    It still does not sound like John Bonham because of where he placed his bass drum. I can hear what you have done with the bass drum but even with that big sound it does not groove like Bonham. I think this proves Bonham was more than just the sound at Hedley Grange.
    I once was told by a producer the number one thing he was asked by drummers was how do I get my drums to sound like John Bonham and he said even when you have something approximating Bonham it does not sound right with their sound. This is why no one uses such effects as it only works for John Bonham and why drummers are still talking about him over 45 years after his first recording.
    No drummer has had that effect before or since. Dave Grohl comes close at times but you would never mistake him for Bonham. A friend once played me an old Donovan track and straight away I said that drummer sounds exactly like John Bonham and knowing no one sounds like John Bonham I said it is John Bonham and it was. I can not think of a single drummer who could be singled out like that. Also that track was not recorded at Hedley Grange but that big bass drum sound was still there.

    • @jonahmartinez6374
      @jonahmartinez6374 8 років тому

      +misfit Super true! Ginger Baker has that same sort of thing..you always know it's him playing.

    • @ButeSound
      @ButeSound 7 років тому

      misfit - hurdy gurdy man was Donovan track right?, also featured jp Jones and Jimmy page just before they formed zep. 😬

    • @timbrown2637
      @timbrown2637 7 років тому

      Not Page or Bonham on Hurdy Gurdy Man, it was Clem Cattini on drums and not sure of the guitarist. Jones, Donovan and Page have all verified this.

  • @Braglemaster123
    @Braglemaster123 7 років тому

    No the snare is way too tight

  • @TheFRiNgEguitars
    @TheFRiNgEguitars 7 років тому

    Good tutorial but synth drums will always sound more like "Billy Jean", cool sound but not Bonham.

  • @slimyelow
    @slimyelow 9 років тому

    John Bonham is not 'IT"!
    You guys should get a hold of Supermax: "The World of Today", recorded in 1977 by some German nerds. - the title song is on youtube, get the album, and tell me that it isn't the best 70s snare, toms, bass, synth and guitar ever tracked!

  • @L.A.W.Studios
    @L.A.W.Studios 7 років тому

    Sounds NOTHING like Bonham's kit..decent vid... but IMO, the title should be changed...

  • @joelboudreaux2920
    @joelboudreaux2920 7 років тому

    you may be good at what you do but that's not bonhams drum sound not even close you ed need first Bonham then his drum kit no one has come even close there can only be one John Bonham

  • @TheSevenSiner
    @TheSevenSiner 7 років тому

    I think your burger is actually smaller than the cheese. For such a presumptuous lesson as to dare "teach the Bonham sound" you do not have the right equipment, ie the drumming is 100% sinthetic and sounds like a smpler being used..

  • @slimyelow
    @slimyelow 9 років тому

    and since you dilettantes know nothing about drums check out Dave Weckl and Jojo Mayer. - peace

  • @slimyelow
    @slimyelow 9 років тому

    9 years ago I learnt from a duo of lousy amateur engineers: "Play like Tommy Lee when recording". In other words keep the hats soft and bang the sheit outta 2 and 4. These clowns were 100% right; which is why you should never learn drums on crap like Roland V-drums......

    • @Smurf431
      @Smurf431 8 років тому

      "crap like Roland V-drums......"
      With an ignorant comment like this, we all know who the clown is....

  • @Braglemaster123
    @Braglemaster123 7 років тому

    The is BS

  • @raythackston1960
    @raythackston1960 7 років тому

    Hate Pro Tools.

  • @tjfreak
    @tjfreak 7 років тому

    This is really stupid ? Yes there is a Bonham sound & it came from him.