NOTICE! Some of the information in this guide is outdated! (2012)
Recording powerful and punchy drums is something I have been after since I started my audio engineering journey. I have read countless articles and books about drum recording, but most of them have failed to give me the results I am after. I have been recording mostly metal and rock bands.
I'm a drummer. I used to play drums in a death metal band called Dauntless (1993-2008) and in various other projects. I have played drums years before I started recording them and. I also run my little studio called Drop Hammer Studios. I have had the honour of recording many different drummers, and many of them have been a lot better than me.
Today's drum sound is not very acoustic. Most records have some sample replacement or augmenting going on to make the sound more powerful and consistent. I want to create a great drum sound right from the start and try to keep it acoustic in the mix. Get it right in the beginning and the mixing engineer will get 100 % out of your tracks. Even if he is going to use sample replacement.
I will go through every phase of drum recording from the "aggressive" sound point of view. It will not be pretty. It will not be cheap. It will drive you to the edge! I know these techniques work in practice. Still, there might be better ways to do them. Let me know if you find one!
Remember! Everything in this guide is subjective. Feel free to disagree.
