The best way to an incredible drum sound is a properly tuned set, a great sounding room and a fantastic drummer; today we had all three. Our friend Andrew Owens came by to help host our first workshop. Also attending were James Waas of Live to Tell, Nick Barnes (our studio intern here at Cedar Street), Daniel Dejesus, studio manager Jessica Richardson, and producer/engineer Ted Richardson.
Andrew shows James of Live To Tell his tuning techniques
We were able to exchange ideas and try them out on the numerous sets and multiple snares in our studio. Those sets included an early 90′s Tama Granstar, an early 70′s Rogers with an additional Hayman Vibrasonic floor tom, and our newest kit, formerly of Sigma Sound, a late 70′s Yamaha. Snares included a Mapex Pro series maple, a Ludwig Supersensitive (also from Sigma), an early 80′s Ludwig 5 ply Maple, a Yamaha Signature series with wood hoops (Sigma again), and a Tama Maple with metal outer shell.
James and Nick tuning a tom from the Tama set.
Of course the only real way to hear if you have any drum kit tuned just right is to play it. This is where it started to get really fun. We were able to really partner each kit with its ideal snare. Then after this we mixed and matched between kits and with simple tuning adjustments we were able to achieve multiple colors and flavors. We even took this a bit further with an impromptu performance titled ‘Three Drummers and No Ideas”. I have to admit, it was way cooler than 38 Special. Think of “one louder” here.
Ted, James and Andrew have fun playing three kits at once.
So now that you have read about the day, let us leave you with something to listen to. Remember the idea of a great sounding room? Here are two audio examples from the end of the day. They are the same recording, one with the room mic engaged and the other without. We captured the Yamaha kit and Signature series snare utilizing a modified Glyn Johns micing technique. Mics used were a pair of Neuman U87′s overhead and back, a 57 on the snare top, and a Audix D6 in the kick, and a CAD 95 placed away from the drums in the middle of the 2000 sf room. Talking about BIG! This also happens to be a favorite mic setup used on drums here at Cedar Street.
[dewplayer:http://blog.noisiarecords.com/Audio/SS%20Yamaha%20Kit%20no%20Ro128K001.mp3]
Play the file above to hear the kit without the room mic.
[dewplayer:http://blog.noisiarecords.com/Audio/SS%20Yamaha%20Kit%20Room128K001.mp3]
Play the above file to hear the kit with the room mic engaged.
Andrew getting the great tones of the Yamaha kit down on tape.
Here is a great website on drum tuning, and drums in general. Enjoy!
We hope to have more workshops in the future, so please check back for updates.