Drums

The first thing we recorded were the drums. We used the isolation booth to do this because it would reduce the spill from the drums. The disadvantage of this was that we were limited to 8 outputs meaning we could only use 8 mics. To record we used the following mics’:

Kick- AKG D112. We used this it is a dynamic mic making it less sensitive and meaning it can handle higher SPL’s, ideal for a kick drum. The D112 is also pre-set for low frequencies 20hz-17Khz again making it suitable.  If we had more outputs we could have used more mics these are: SM57 on the kick beater as it can deal with high SPL’s which the kick beater ha. Finally we could have put a mic away from the kit meaning a more ambient sound, this would be more suited for Jazz and not our song.

Snare Drum- Audix D2, SM57.  The D2 was used on the snare top because it has a good mid-range frequency pick up 68hz-18Khz meaning less spill from other drums, it is also a dynamic mic. The mic position was pointing towards the centre of the snare because it gave us a better pronunciation.  The SM57 was for the snare bottom, this was because it can handle SPL’s well as it is also a dynamic microphone.  We positioned it as close as physically possible to the snare to reduce the spill from other drums.

Rack Tom- Audix D2. We chose this as it could deal with the high SPL’s and its frequency response range meant it could pick up all the tom’s frequencies. It was positioned on top of the tom pointing to the centre.

Floor tom- Audix D4. This mic could deal with the low frequencies from the tom due to its frequency response range 40 Hz-18 KHz. It was positioned on top of the drum pointing towards the centre of the drum.

High-Hats/Overheads – Audix DX51. This mic was chosen as it has a wide frequency response range (40Hz-18 KHz). They are also very sensitive and more responsive as they are condenser microphones. The signal is then taken into and audio interface. We positioned the high hat mic 1inch above them meaning there would be less spill. For the overheads we positioned these a meter apart from each other and 30cms above the kit. We could have used AKG C414’s but didn’t as these are better at picking up ambience which is non-existent within a isolation booth.

We also created a talkback system and fold back mix for each off the two rooms that were playing. To do this we used the Desk’s ability to create to independent fold back mixes and a control room mix, we did this by putting the pre-setting on the channels. Foldback A was for the dead room and B was for the drummer. This meant that we were able to easily communicate with both rooms allowing us to create a more relaxed environment alongside keeping everyone informed.

Within pro tools we were shown the playlist system. This system allowed us to do new takes much quicker, as all we had to do to save existing takes was click on the drop down and click new take. This meant that the process was much quicker than it would’ve been without it. I worked as an engineer meaning I helped to set up the equipment and helped on the desk. We managed 3 good takes due to our good time management skills.