DRUMMING UP MORE BUSINESS
In the last issue, we took a brief look at the evolution of drum sounds through history, and discussed different ways to approach your microphone count, choice and placement. There are, however, countless factors influencing the way drums sound on a recording before the mics even come into the equation. As a home producer, the more of these variables you're aware of, the more chance you’ll have of dealing with issues, chasing tones, guiding musicians and being able to produce an outcome, rather than simply throwing mics up in front of the kit and hoping for the best.
Fair warning, this article isn’t actually aimed at drummers; it’s aimed at the people who work with them and want to learn how to tweak the sound at the source. Getting a great tone is a team effort between the drummer and the engineer. Rather than reaching for plugins, effects or replacement samples in order to rescue or completely rework drum takes after the fact,
