How should you track your drums?
Tracking drums is one of the most complex tasks a studio performs. Most setups involve anywhere from one to a dozen mics, all requiring different preamps. Finding the right microphone and preamp for each piece of kit can be a daunting, if not extremely costly, endeavor. Most people will tell you the hassle is worth it; engineers take a great deal of pride in their setups and many will only record drums acoustically. Electronic drums, however, have come a long way in recent years and provide a much simpler, cleaner alternative to recording live acoustic drums. Take a look at the pros and cons of each method…
Acoustic Pros:
-Unique sound; captures how your drummer really sounds
-Easier on the client, who is used to his/her own kit
-Depending on the engineer’s experience, this is the most intuitive and straightforward method of capturing drum sounds
-(possibly a negative, though I feel it’s a strength) Forces the right sound to be captured during a session rather than attempting to “polish” it into being during post
Acoustic Cons:
-Setup can be very time consuming
-Getting the “right” sound can be incredibly difficult
-Isolating each piece of kit is very difficult; some bleed will occur
-Mic bleed can make editing extremely challenging
-If something is not properly captured during a session, the work will likely have to be completely redone
Electronic Pros:
-translates to MIDI information, which is easily edited
-The sound of each drum can be changed after a session
-Setup is far simpler than mic’ing
-Each drum is isolated, so no need to worry about sound bleeds
Electronic Cons:
-Many drum samples can sound “fake” or too clean and perfect
-The kit can feel uncomfortable if a drummer is not used to using pads
-Ambience cannot be captured; you’re more or less stuck with the way your samples sound
-There may not be much of a sense of accomplishment knowing everything about your session can be easily changed and edited
-The feeling of a particular take may change because of the lack of “real” drums at the drummer’s disposal
-Latency issues may arise
Obviously any good engineer/studio can and will be equipped to utilize either method to accomplish the goals of their projects, but both methods of drum tracking are valid and should be taken into consideration. Of course, if there is no drummer involved with your project, you can always use EZ Drummer…