Recording Drums

Check out the latest episode of our Creative Recording with Tape Op video series. Tape Op's editor, Larry Crane, and our online publisher, Geoff Stanfield discuss the oft-debated topic of how to pan the drums when mixing!

This book, subtitled Bridging Science and Creativity, covers everything that its title implies: How do drums work? Why tune them? How can we record them? What about mixing drums? Author Rob Toulson is a musician, producer, engineer, and professor in London, who also developed...

Die cast hoops

Die cast hoops give a drum more body, not "crack." I totally think of triple-flanged hoops as giving a drum more crack without the substantial body that a die cast hoop adds.

Nylon washers

Instead of replacing the metal washers between the tension rod and...

Most engineers would probably agree that recording a drum kit is one of the most challenging studio tasks. The popularity of sampled drums and drum replacement software is a testament to the facts that: 1. Recording live drums may be a dying art, and 2. It can be a pain in the...

I worked as an engineer and tech at Cherokee Recording Studios for over ten years and was involved in recording sessions at many other major Los Angeles recording studios. During that time I saw the recording methods used on many hit records and was able to watch world-class...

Re-amping guitar tracks is a pretty common technique these days, but did you know you can also re-amplify drums? This process can solve problems and expand your sonic palette during mixing.

I was recently hired to mix an album that was tracked live in a club. The drums...

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for first-time recordists is tracking overhead drums. When I get a song to mix I usually solo these tracks first, and it's always a relief to hear simple, clear sounds that conjure up an aural image of one person playing one instrument —...

Dave Mattacks is arguably one of the world's best drummers. His recording credits include: Joan Armatrading, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, Brian Eno, George Harrison, Jethro Tull, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Fairport Convention, Paul Simon, Cat...

The adage "garbage in garbage out" takes on added meaning when it comes to recording drums. An out of tune drum can ruin any recording session. Unfortunately, very few people know the basics of drum tuning — including drummers! Many studio sessions involve drum heads...

Recording music is often a challenge of doing the most amount of work within the shortest amount of time. The demand is that the work be done well and immediately, if not sooner. This is usually due not only to time being in short supply, but energy and patience as well.

Like many other Tape Op readers, I have a home studio. Although I've had numerous opportunities to record in "real" recording studios, I often prefer the laid-back comfort of my own living room. My home setup has neither the carefully constructed walls nor the...

Ingredients:

piezo discs (at least one for each drum you want a trigger on, preferably more in case you screw up) small gauge, double-stranded wire (about 6" of wire per trigger) speaker wire or patch cord cable (however long you need your trigger cables to run) 1/4"...

Setup/Getting sounds

When I first started recording I used wonder how long I was supposed to take when setting up and getting drum sounds. Sometimes it took one or two hours, and other times it took... well, a long time (with the rest of the band standing around getting...

This is an article that I've written, not as a response to, but let's say as an addition to, articles about drum recording that I have previously read in Tape Op. A more technical,"tracking" point of view, as far as signal flow is concerned.

By no means is...