Drum recording practices?

Hi folks:

A couple of questions. First, anyone know how the drums were recorded on early Rolling Stones records, up through say Between the Buttons? I know there was an article talking about how "Brown Sugar" was recorded; I'd love to see that again (it's somewhere in a box several rooms away) but I'm also interested in the early stuff.

Also, can anyone point me in the direction of material on drum recording practices on Stax and pre-Bob Ohlsson Motown? Thanks!

Peace,
Paul

Hi Paul,

I know Bob hangs out on the Ampex list (as well as a lot of other biggies in the industry); he may know what his predecessor did.

Hi Paul

Very minimal micing, a single U67 or perhaps a dynamic around the drummers head. For stereo a pair of U67's, one between the drummers head and rack tom and the other off to the floor tom side, pan left right. Make sure your snare level is equal between the two microphones. D20 or variant on the kick drum. I believe Bob has said that they used an RCA 77 on the kick at Motown. You could add a snare mic into the mix to give some additional definition/options.

Regards,
Mark

That sounds like Led Zeppelin style drum micing too.

riggler said:

That sounds like Led Zeppelin style drum micing too.

Click to expand...

The key is a well tuned, great sounding kit and a drummer that can hit/balance everything well.

A great room doesn't hurt.

Regards,
Mark

pstamler said:

Also, can anyone point me in the direction of material on drum recording practices on Stax

Click to expand...

Terry Manning has recently posted about it in his forum
http://prorecordingworkshop.lefora.com/

There's a vid on the net somewhere showing the recording of Sympathy for the Devil which shows some of this.

Cheers

Ian

There's a vid on the net somewhere showing the recording of Sympathy for the Devil which shows some of this.

Click to expand...

not sure if it's what Ian is referring to, but Godard's Sympathy for the Devil is an amazing film.  if you're into french cinema and/or The Rolling Stones and/or songwriting and/or recording music, it's a must-watch.

http://www.amazon.com/Sympathy-Devil-Sean-Lynch/dp/B0000DC13U/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1324963299&sr=1-1


peace.
david.

Biasrocks said:

riggler said:

That sounds like Led Zeppelin style drum micing too.

Click to expand...

The key is a well tuned, great sounding kit and a drummer that can hit/balance everything well.

A great room doesn't hurt.

Regards,
Mark

Click to expand...

unfortunately this does not happend anymore..... :'(

Some stuff I gathered about the Al Jackson, Jr. days at Stax:

The drum kit was usually a Rogers, sometimes with a Ludwig 400 or Ludwig Acrolite snare
Drums were either recorded in a small booth or surrounded by baffles (gobos)
Jackson often placed his wallet on the snare drum to deaden it
Snare mics included Neumann KM84, RCA 77DX, ElectroVoice RE-15, Shure 545
Kick was often mic’ed with an RE-20
Drums were recorded through the Specrasonics console
Snare was sometimes detuned until the head was floppy and then tightened with the snare’s built-in damper
Hi-hat was never mic’ed

In this video I see a U67 just in front, pointing down at the snare. Kick mic appears to be a Shure 545 or similar. I've read that the snare was often miced with a ribbon, as you suggested to pick up the snare and hat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amo2PQKHmq4&feature=player_embedded#!

Well worth the time to watch, some real gems in there.

Regards,
Mark

Meathands said:

Some stuff I gathered about the Al Jackson, Jr. days at Stax:

Snare was sometimes detuned until the head was floppy and then tightened with the snare’s built-in damper

Click to expand...

Now that's just silly...

I get that it's something different, but that's no way to treat a snare on a regular basis...and not to mention difficult (at best) to duplicate tuning and pitch...

You just have to listen to the recordings to know it's not the case.

Low tuned yes, canvas bag no.

Regards,
Mark

Maybe its the ocd drummer in me talking, but it just makes me cringe. Again, not saying its wrong or can't sound good. Just sharing a personal opinion... Sorry to hijack, the thread is titled "drum recording practices, not drum tuning idiosyncrasies. My bad... ;]