Last month, one of our collaborators, sound engineer Carlos Bricio, carried out a drum recording workshop at GG Producciones in Madrid, Spain. A fully practical experience where Carlos taught the art of capturing the power, presence, and excitement of the drums. The aim was to show the participants various recording and mixing techniques that could be applied in home studios, rehearsal rooms, or other recording sessions and obtain great-sounding results. 

Sonimus, always interested in supporting this type of educational initiative, partnered up with Carlos and provided the professional digital tools needed for the event. In this article, we will summarize some of the main points of the workshop and show you how Sonimus plugins were used to create.

It’s All About Choices

The drums, the location, microphones, preamps/console, maybe even the drummer. The whole recording process is a game of choices. All of those decisions will lead to the final sound of the song. 

In many ways there is no right or wrong. It will depend on the result that we want to achieve. Do you want a retro-sounding kit or perhaps a classic 80’s rock ballad drum? No matter what you are after, having the background and knowledge to make educated choices is of great help when you are recording. Especially if you are in the studio with a limited time and budget.

That’s why Carlos focused on delivering a wide view of the recording process that included type of microphones, stereo microphone techniques, room acoustics, and mixing techniques that provided the participants the tools to start making the correct choices for their recordings.

The Holy Trinity

One of the main messages of the workshop was that getting a great sound out of the drums happens long before it is picked up by the microphones. The drums, the drummer, the sound of the room, and the interaction between these three elements is what create an uplifting and engaging drum sound. 

Drums are so loud that it’s more about capturing the sound they generate within their space than each element separately. That’s why finding the perfect spot where the room and the instrument will be locked together is one of the most important things of the recording process and one worth spending time on. 

More often than not we lack the luxury to choose where the drums will be recorded. That’s why it is important to learn how to get the most out of our location. The best way to achieve it is by doing a very simple technique: listening. By just playing the bass drum around the room and listening to how the room reacts to it, it can be very easy to find that sweet spot where the kit will sound to its best. Many great records had their drums recorded in unusual places, but they were chosen because the acoustics and the sound of the room were great. A classic example is the Led Zeppelin song When the Levee Breaks, in which thunderous drums were recorded at the bottom of a staircase at Headley Grange, a poorhouse in Hampshire, England.

Limitations

It is great to be able to record 12 microphones of different types and colors on just one instrument and then choose which option fits best for the song. That is part of the benefit of recording in a commercial studio but in a home or project studio, we are normally limited to smaller interfaces with perhaps a couple of dynamics and a good condenser microphone for our all-round work. This was taken into account during the workshop and Carlos showed how to use a smaller setup to record the same takes and then compare both recordings. By doing this the participants were able to listen to the differences between the setups, understand the limitations that could be found outside the studio environment, and how to work around it to obtain the best result.

Level Up Those Drums With Sonimus

Once the drums were recorded it was time to audition the different setups; to choose one and take it to the next level. Carlos showed his all-time favourite plugins to process drums: a combination of Britson, Burnley 73, and Tuco. 

He followed a top-to-bottom mixing approach to keep a full vision of the drums all the time and don’t lose focus. He started by getting a balanced mix of the microphones and then began processing the Drum bus with Britson Buss and Tuco. He continued with each individual microphone using the Britson channel and Burnley 73 shaping each sound to get the presence that they needed.

The simplicity of the plugins and the cohesion they added to the recording were a success upon the participants. Something as simple as using Britson channels and Britson Buss on the different channels of the session, delivered a cleaner, rounder, and punchier sound and glued together the whole kit. In this article Carlos also covered how to process your drums with both stock and Sonimus plugins and showcased how plugins like Tuco or Burnley 73 can give that extra punch and texture to your recording.

Carlos teaches music production and sound engineering workshops like this one and is a regular collaborator and product specialist at Sonimus. We carry free one-on-one sessions with our customers where Carlos answers their questions about our products. Sign up to our newsletter to find out how to book your session and start getting the most out of Sonimus plugins.