Comments on: Kick Drum EQ Settings and Compression

By: Emerson Maningo

Emerson Maningo — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 16:17:20 +0000

Hi Seto Baagh,
Thanks for visiting my blog,anyway you can find some answers relating to your problem here: http://www.audiorecording.me/how-to-record-drums-with-4-mics-drum-tracking-tutorial-adobe-audition.html
Good luck.

Cheers.

By: Seto Baagh

Seto Baagh — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 04:38:10 +0000

ive recorded live drum using a 4 channel mixer and 4 mics via adobe audition 3.. but the sound is not clear enough… im new to this so plz help me out…..

By: Emerson Maningo

Emerson Maningo — Sun, 09 May 2010 10:24:43 +0000

Hello Danny,
Yeah sure, I am planning to write a tutorial about it and post it in my blog. Please subscribe to my feeds (at the topmost part of the site, there is a form that asked for your email address), so that you can received my latest post.
It’s great to know that my tips gradually improve the sound quality of your drums. Cheers.

By: Danny

Danny — Wed, 05 May 2010 05:17:52 +0000

Hi Emerson, it’s me again.
Thanks for your inputs so far, right now I’m going to start mixing the drums. I’m excited, I’ve implemented your tips on the kick drum, snare, and hihat, so far they work quite well, each instrument sounded much more defined. Also with the panning of each instrument I decided to widen the drum kit, instead of -12.5 to 12.5 pan, I used -20 to 20, I kinda like the more spacious sound of the drum. So thank you for your wonderful blogs.

Can I ask you one more thing? Can you direct us about how to mix the toms of the drum? What freq to cut or boost to make em sound better (I know, better is a very loose term, but please a little direction would be nice).

I found that “playing” with sound is very addicting, don’t you agree?, I’m finding new things to learn everyday.. I’m hooked for life… Cheers.

By: Emerson Maningo

Emerson Maningo — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:06:33 +0000

Hi Danny,
I am still using the old version of Adobe version but it suits me perfectly. Sadly, there is no punch in feature in that version. What I would normally do is:

1.) If performance mistake occurs such as a solo guitar, I will delete the recorded wave entirely and asked the guitarist to re-record again.

2.) I am not sure with your setup but you can always refer to the recorded software manual in case you are confused with the settings.

It is why before I start the recording session, I need to ensure that all artists (guitarist, vocals and drummers) are completely rehearsed before doing the recording. In this case, not only it reduces the amount of mistakes but will make sure their performance is optimum.

Now I can tell you why I am not in favor of punch-in technically,
1.) Of course, fixing it can be complicated, and raw made fix can sound the recording artificial and less lively.

2.) There is some problem with volume. The volume before may not be the same volume after punching in. So a contrast in volume can be difficult to mix, adding complexity.

3.) There might be some problem with pitches. This is true even the guitars are not tuned again one day after as guitar pitching variations can vary with time, as a result, a solo might sound slightly out of tune after the punch in. Again adding some complexity if use pitch correction plug-in or re-tuning before recording.

The best fix for this type of problem is to be “better rehearsed” and “practice” before doing any recordings. In this case, a “one-take” recording always sounds best than a “punched-in” or corrected recordings. It is why audio production is different from film production. In films, you can “cut” a scene because the eye behaves like that (close and opening of eyes naturally cuts the scene). But ears are different, it needs to sound entirely continuous and natural, so a punched-in is less advisable unless you are a master of corrections that even technical listeners or audio critics cannot even noticed that there is some “punched in” at that track.