| Home recording and general music post from the archived Yabb Recording Website Message Board. Some of the info here may be outdated but many of the audio recording and home studio tips are still good. Note: The only tags I made and attempt to convert are italics, bold, center and underline. So if you see some gibberish surrounded by brackets, just ignore it.
Recording Website Archived Yabb board Post
Febuary 2001 Yabb Message Board Archive
Subject: Where is the best place in a house to record drums
by Craig | 06/11/01 at 08:38:01
Hello,
I play in a group called Pascal. We are setting up my ol' basement studio set-up in my friends 1928 bungalow to record a full length. It is an incredibly comfortable atmosphere to work in and every room has natural oak floors. We have the use of a spare bedroom(approx. 8 x 10 or 10 x 12, I haven't measured), a dining room(approx. 10 x 10) which is connected to a living room(approx. 10 x 12).
At the moment we have the guitars/organs set-up in living room, the computer/mixer in the dining room and the drums in the spare bedroom.
(Of course)The recordings have a very roomy sound---however, the drums tend to be a bit boomy in the bedroom. The only real con of moving the drums elsewhere is that we can shut the door which offers just enough separation from the guitars.
MY QUESTION: Should I leave the drums in the bedroom and some how dampen the 'verb or should I move the kit into dining or living room?
Any advice would be great!
Thanks,
Craig
Subject: Re: Where is the best place in a house to record d
by BananaHead | 06/11/01 at 10:50:41
Ya, since the drums are shut in a closed little room like that they are going to get a bit boomy. Still given the options maybe that's the best call. Just suck some 250-500hz out of the drums later. The dining room is going to give a more open, less boomy, sound most likely. Since it's connected to another room the sound has somewhere to go so it doesn't just all pile up. But then you're going to have bleed unless you really close mic all the instruments in the living room.
I'd probably say do what you're doing now, and just try to manage the boom issue. Unless you want to try the dining room and see if you can manage the bleed issue. Or you could overdub and try to manage the stale/robotic issue. But what you're doing now seems logical.
Subject: Re: Where is the best place in a house to record d
by JR#97 | 06/11/01 at 11:31:29
Not entirely music related, but is the bungalow restored? Arts and Crafts style? Where is it located? I'm trying to restore my 1912 Bungalow. The floor plan was drastically altered which is great for recording. The den, dining room and living room were all combined for a very open space feel and the floors are hardwood.
Do you have pics of the house and recording layout? I wouldn't mind seeing them.
Subject: Re: Where is the best place in a house to record d
by Angus_Podgorny | 06/11/01 at 22:33:20
Have you considered putting all the guitars in the bedroom and the Drums in the living room, rather than having everything together? Have you thought about close-miking everything? Have you considered the positive affect bleed can have on the vibe of your recordings?
I'd say, set up everything in the living room, just as you would to practice. Close mic everything, and throw up a few room mics while you're at it. Get everyone together and jam for an evening. If you don't get the results you want, seperate everything. But hey, you might find a pleasant surprise coming out of your speakers (and hopefully it isn't something a young family-member stuffed in one of the ports!)
Oh, and run three compressors in series at 20:1 ratios on your room mics. Apparently, doing that makes you cool.