WILLY T gives drummers (and sound engineers) some advice on pulling a great DRUM SOUND.

The most common drum mic-up method in the live scene is a close miked, multi-microphone setup. Each drum in the kit has an individual microphone, going to an individual channel in the mixing desk. This lets the front-of-house sound engineer adjust the balance between the individual drums, and for each signal to be processed and equalised separately.

DRUMMERS, DO YA HOMEWORK!

Any noises that are in front of the mic – good or bad – will be blasted through the PA. So the first thing to do is to get rid of all those clicks, rattles and buzzes. The kick drum pedal is often a culprit. It must be securely attached to the drum shell, and should be oiled if it squeaks. Any of the metal fixings on the kit that rattle should be tightened or damped with good ole Blu-Tack.

Next, tuning and preparation of the drum kit is a vital first step towards pulling a great rock sound. [As opposed to a collection of woolly thumps and rattles and squeaks!] Each drum must be tuned by adjusting the tension of its skin. This should be tightened evenly, and you should check by tapping the skin round its perimeter, ensuring that the pitch is constant. Experiment with different tuning pitches on the bass drum: you’ll be surprised at how much this can affect the vibe. If you’re using double-headed toms, ensure that both heads are tuned to the same pitch.

A powerful and well-defined sound is more easily achieved if the bass drum has a hole cut in the front skin. Some drummers cut a small hole, of seven inches or so in diameter. This can make the rest of the skin resonate, so the other alternative is to cut a much larger hole, leaving just an inch or two of the skin around the perimeter. It is not advisable to remove the front head altogether, because the drum shell would then be subjected to uneven stresses, with the potential for damage and warping. A cushion or pillow should be placed inside the bottom of the bass drum, about half an inch away from the head, to reduce unwanted resonance. This can be moved into contact with the skin, if required, to damp it further.

Any drum that rings or resonates to excess should be ‘damped’, by gaffa-taping a small pad of paper tissue or fabric to the drum skin close to the edge. Don’t damp a part of the drum that the drummer will want to hit ... ‘cause they will! Another trick to get rid of a ‘ringy’ snare sound is to get an old skin and cut a hole in it so it’s like a giant ‘washer’ and place it on top of the snare skin. [Unless of course your after the classic ole-skool ringin’ snare sound made famous by John Mellencamp or more recently like The Datsuns. So … let it ring!]

The most important parts of the drum kit are the bass and snare drums. If a blurred sound is to be avoided, both must give clear, positive beats, which decay before the next beat. The sound of the bass drum is determined by the material of the beater. Wood gives a modern, snappy sound; leather and felt produce more of a thud, better suited to a rock style. Also, ‘black dot’ drum skin gives a harder, better-defined beat. For more ‘click’ go old skool and tape a beer mat onto the skin at the point where it is struck!

The tom-toms often have an excessive ring, which should be damped as described previously, rather than by using the drums’ internal dampers, which apply pressure to the rear of the skin and thus affect the tuning.

It’s important not to damp the kit excessively and suck all the dynamics out of it, ending up with a sound like a dull collection of soggy cardboard boxes. We want the drums and bass guitar to combine to be the ‘engine room’ of the band!

REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF MICS

We can reduce the amount of mics we need and not mic up every single drum by using the inevitable spill/bleed to our benefit. As the kick and snare are the driving force of the drum sound and band, they are the most important. The hi-hat bleeds through onto the other mics to such an extent that a separate mic is often not needed. If you do need to mic up the hi-hat, be careful to position the mic where it won’t receive a blast of air every time the cymbals are shut! As the Toms tend to be played only during drum fills, most of the time all that the tom mics pick up is spill. By carefully playing with the placement of the snare mic, the toms can be captured. When I am doing live band recording I routinely put a minimum of 8 mics on the standard rock & roll drum kit. But come mixdown, I usually end up using just the kick, snare and the very carefully positioned stereo-overheads (for a balance of toms and cymbals).

Sorry if I’ve been telling all you drummers out there how to suck-an-egg, but you’ll be surprised how many drummers forget these basics and expect the poor overworked sound-dude to fix it up! So drummers, until you can afford your own personal drum tech, do it yourself – it’s not our gig!

Willy T runs Giraffe Media. Providing Words, Pics and Live-Audio Recording Services to the Entertainment Industry. Email

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