So, for the drum recording session of our sound-a-like project I was assigned the role of microphone engineer which was a great place to start for me as it’s where I felt most comfortable. My job throughout the session was to place and help pick microphones that would achieve the best possible result. Understanding mic placement and techniques was a much needed skill that most definitely gave me a head start in understanding what needed to be done in order match the original drums sound. With the help of some research we as a group decided on a set of microphones that were either used in the original recording or within a similar range of timbre and specifications.
Here is a diagram of what is believed to be the original setup for the drum recording.
Here is the list we used:
Kick In - RE-20
Kick Out - C414
Snare - C414
Toms - MD421’s
Overheads - 451’s
Room - TLM103
These mics achieved a very good drum sound which is very reminiscent of the original.
We had already planned out everything for our inputs, pre amps and signal flow before hand so that the session would run smoother, and this went to plan with the only changes that needed to be made were slight movements of microphones and pitching up and dampening the snare. I took on these tasks fairly easily while communicating between the rest of the group in the control room and our drummer. The result we accomplished was so well played and recorded that no editing or overdubs were needed and the take on our sound-a-like is a full pass of the song.
The session ran very well with no major problems and to be honest not much could’ve been carried out better other than the type of gear we used. The group were quick to make agreements on any changes that need to be made allowing us to have finished tracking within 2 hours. A fair amount of time was actually spent on break waiting for our drummer to arrive. A few days later we tracked bass using a Fender P Bass going directly into a BAE 1073 pre that gave us the saturation and warmth we were looking for and the result matched well with our kick to lock in rhythm section. We were lucky enough to have very talented musicians to play on this track which made our job much, much easier.
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