harveyband: Blog

Recording Drums-

For a great recording you need real drums played by a real drummer. I have to say that drums are the most difficult instrument to record due to there being so many single instruments that comprise a “drum set”. First you need good sounding well tuned drums. There is no way to make a poor drum sound sound good with plugins short of replacing every thing with samples. If you are practicing and don’t like what you hear, you won’t like what you record.
A great sounding snare is of first priority. Next is a good sounding bass drum. Good cymbals will record well with the right mics. Dynamic mics like the good old SM57 work well on the snare and toms. You can get an OK sound on the Bass Drum but a larger diaphragm mic such as the AKG D112 will require much less EQ. For the cymbals you really need some type of condenser mics (2 for left and right). These overheads also draw the sounds of the other mics together.
Now for the drummer. The drummer [...]

How We Record Guitars
Some years ago I built an isolation box for my studio. It is really about the size of an ugly dog house , 5feet by two feet by two feet. It's made from plywood, is completely sealed and lined with quiting. By putting the box in another room, it creates the room within a room sound isolation. There are two 12” speakers in the box, usually one is a greenback for that traditional British sound and one is a Jensen reissue for the Fender sound. The mics are set up between the speakers in the middle with the intent of using only one speaker at a time. I use an assortment of mics including the great old time honored SM 57 but I also use some type of ribbon mic (right now an Apex 205 )for warmth. This is a big part of the box working well. Also, the ribbon has a figure 8 pattern so it can mic speakers from both direction- nice. You just have to move the mics around for the best sound and check the phasing in mono. I have them about 6 or 7 inches from the speaker [...]