Here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 2-A Solid Foundation: The Drummer and the Drums. In this chapter I try to explain the importance of the source and it’s relation to the quality of the recording. Too often drummers and fledgling recording engineers believe that anything is possible with good gear, a great room and not much else. I try to dispel this myth in this short section.
Great Drummers Produce Great Recordings
If you have ever listened to a great drummer in person (and I mean in person; not miked up or amplified in any way) you may notice how balanced things sound. The kick drum is clear and powerful. Snare hits are articulate and even. Cymbals don’t overpower everything else and tom fills are explosive and well placed. This is the hallmark of a great player: one who concerns himself with how he sounds musically. He is not waiting for someone to mic up his kick drum so he can finally hear it; nor is he waiting for someone to turn down the hi-hat mic to bring it back into balance. He fixes all that stuff himself. His drums are one instrument that he has complete control over. He is the musician and the mixer all in one.
Drummers like this are easy to play with. This is a big reason why great drummers work more than not-so-great drummers. Other musicians find them easy to follow, easy to lock in to, and easy to groove with. Great drummers make good bands better!
And although it should be no surprise, these drummers are so much easier to record! It’s not that they are a little easier to record; they are a lot easier to record!
If you choose to use fewer mics with a great drummer, you still have a great balance because that’s how they play. If you use more mics, it’s easier to make it all fit together because the drummer is consistent and predictable. Once you achieve a basic balance on all of your mics, the sound just sticks together as if by magic. Subsequently, great drummers make recording engineers sound even better than they might otherwise. It takes less work to make it sound right and the engineer ends up looking like a genius. Ironically, the engineer ends up doing half as much in half the time with 10 times the improvement in sound over what he might have gone through with a less experienced drummer.
Since the inexperienced engineer is more likely to wallow in mediocrity with his inexperienced musicians, his development is stunted in a way. He works hard to end up with barely mediocre results and then wonders when things are going to get better. He will usually blame himself for not knowing what the real problem is. Once he gets a taste of good players and good playing then suddenly the light bulb will illuminate! Although his technique may still have a long way to go, the realization that the source is king will be enlightening and reaffirming. It’s usually then that the real improvement in recording techniques happens.
In summary, it’s important to have good recording technique and any diligent, driven recording engineer should strive to improve his or her skills. However, a great drummer will always deliver a top-notch performance, which will supersede any recording technique, good or bad. Start at the source—and everything else will fall in place.
