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Thread: Should I be worried?

  1. #1

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    Question Should I be worried?

    My band and I are going to record for the first time in a couple of days. Our vocalist knows a guy that has experience recording and has a home studio. He is going to give us a discount and record for us. Earlier this week, I made a thread talking about my snare buzz. Every drum I hit causes my snare to buzz slightly. On top of that, when I hit my bass drum my toms make a slight sound as well. NOW, I like all of the extra tones of my kit, and I dig it. But will it sound weird in a recording venue? I've spent hours trying to get my kit to sound exactly how I want it to. I'm currently very happy with how every drum on my kit sounds and I'm excited to record, but should I be worried about buzz and overtones in a recording setting?
    Gretsch Catalina ash kit
    Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare
    Paiste Alpha Cymbals
    Stock hardware and pedal. Vic Firth 5B sticks.

  2. #2
    ThePloughman Guest

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Yes.

    You need to get rid of any buzz in your tom tuning.
    As for the snare..... try two turns above finger tight on the batter, two and a half on the reso..... fine tune for balance. If that doesnt fix it..... hopefully your sound engineer will have some dope.

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    I wouldn't recommend studio rings, the plastic sometimes will buzz and show in the mix. Moongels will most likely be a close friend and, if the resonants are responsible, something will most likely be done to them as well. Any recording studio that knows what is up will help you out in no time.

    It'll be fun, no need to be nervous.
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  4. #4

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Also, snare sound is almost personal preference. Your record studio dude will most likely give you free reign, it's up to you to decide what best fits the music. Ploughman's tuning idea sounds great, too. Just tried it out.
    C&C ll Rogers ll Ludwig ll Slingerland

    Istanbul Agop 16" Signature Hats ll 15" 30th Anniversary Hats
    Istanbul Agop 22" Special Edition Jazz Ride ll 22" Trash Hit
    Istanbul Agop 24" Turk Jazz Ride

    DW 6000/9000 Hardware ll Aquarian Drumheads ll Roland SPD-SX ll Ableton Live 9

  5. #5

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Okay thanks for the suggestions. I got rid of the tom overtones when hitting the bass drum. My 12 inch tom was where most of the ring was coming from. I tuned them all a little bit lower and the ringing is gone. I wrote down my drumdial settings after tuning by ear. My toms' resonant heads are within the 77-82 range and my snare's reso is 77. I'm sure that's what's causing the buzz. I'll try tomorrow to tune the reso to around 85. BTW the batter on my snare is currently 90.
    Gretsch Catalina ash kit
    Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare
    Paiste Alpha Cymbals
    Stock hardware and pedal. Vic Firth 5B sticks.

  6. #6

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Also, make sure you have no rattles coming from loose wingnuts, tension bolts or other parts of your hardware that could be picked up by a sensitive microphone. If you like your cymbals to swing loose on the cymbal tilter part of a stand but you don't want to all of a sudden hear the rattle of the loose metal washer that's under neath your cymbal felts, a tip I picked up from an engineer long ago is to cut a small square patch of gaff tape, stick it onto the bottom of the metal washer, then poke a small hole into the tape before you place it back onto the tilter screw an place back your felts, cymbal sleeve, cymbal and wingnut. That way, you have eliminated any metal to metal contact that might otherwise buzz in a recording session.

    And check your bass drum pedal to make sure you haven't any squeaks from the pedal board hinges, beater axle etc. I use a small spot of WD-40 on those trouble spots, and I always have a small sized can of it in a pocket of one of my bags, together with the extension tube and any small tools necessary, such as a range of allen wrenches, drum keys, screwdrivers, spare felts, screws, washers, bolts, etc.
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  7. #7

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Ah man my stock kick pedal definitely has a squeak to it! I didn't think of all the additional noise my kit makes that can be picked up from microphones. I hope it turns out okay. Thanks for the tips Professor Drumbledore.
    Gretsch Catalina ash kit
    Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare
    Paiste Alpha Cymbals
    Stock hardware and pedal. Vic Firth 5B sticks.

  8. #8

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    i wouldnt worry about it to much unless there's a drum solo

  9. #9

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    the kit will cometogther it will be ok
    if you have never played to a click befor you might be in for a long day
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  10. #10

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Hey jag.
    All suggestions above are excellent. Especially the kick pedal. That is a massive issue if it sqeaks because of where the frequency range of the squeak lives will be picked up on a lot of mics.

    Now, A very important aspect for the engineer to handle is something called "Strip silencing". Make sure you have him do it if he has experience doing and the ability. The way it works is the software evaluates all of the wave forms for your snare track, tom tracks, bass drum track, overheads and rooms. Then what it does is digitally remove or "silence" the baseline noise in each track so you don't hear your toms singing every time you strike your snare or bass drum and vice versa. It is similar to old school gating. With this technique you can tune your drums where you want them and don't have to worry about the other drums singing in the background. Talk to your studio guy.... Strip silencing.

    Oh and btw, good for you to think about those aspects of recording. They are very important and often overlooked causing poor recording.

  11. #11
    ThePloughman Guest

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    I honestly have no idea what my reso or batter dial settings are. I do own one. I dont use it. However......... I do know that if your snare reso is the same as your tom resos........... the snare is too loose and part of your problem lies right there. From buzz to how it sounds.

  12. #12

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Quote Originally Posted by nucjd View Post
    Hey jag.
    All suggestions above are excellent. Especially the kick pedal. That is a massive issue if it sqeaks because of where the frequency range of the squeak lives will be picked up on a lot of mics.

    Now, A very important aspect for the engineer to handle is something called "Strip silencing". Make sure you have him do it if he has experience doing and the ability. The way it works is the software evaluates all of the wave forms for your snare track, tom tracks, bass drum track, overheads and rooms. Then what it does is digitally remove or "silence" the baseline noise in each track so you don't hear your toms singing every time you strike your snare or bass drum and vice versa. It is similar to old school gating. With this technique you can tune your drums where you want them and don't have to worry about the other drums singing in the background. Talk to your studio guy.... Strip silencing.

    Oh and btw, good for you to think about those aspects of recording. They are very important and often overlooked causing poor recording.
    I will definitely bring that up. Thanks for the advice.

    Quote Originally Posted by ThePloughman View Post
    I honestly have no idea what my reso or batter dial settings are. I do own one. I dont use it. However......... I do know that if your snare reso is the same as your tom resos........... the snare is too loose and part of your problem lies right there. From buzz to how it sounds.
    I tightened the reso head on my snare to about 84/85 and the same buzz is there from my toms. Not from the bass anymore though. My tom's resos and batters are around 75-80. So it's not an issue of the heads being the same tension. I've had my drumset for almost a year now and I've always had the buzz no matter what I do. (I made a thread regarding the acoustics of my room earlier this week). The only thing I really can do is make the buzz as soft as I can get it because no matter what I do, I can't remove it.
    Gretsch Catalina ash kit
    Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare
    Paiste Alpha Cymbals
    Stock hardware and pedal. Vic Firth 5B sticks.

  13. #13
    ThePloughman Guest

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    So, I pulled two random snare drums off the rack that last tuned months and months ago.

    One COB dynasonic, one maple Superten. Checked the heads with the dial...
    Top is at 90/91 Resos79/80 That is at my standard tension setting, two over two and a half, adjusted by ear tuning.
    Pulled a random 8x12 Tom, 75/76 on the Reso, 80 on the batter.
    Pulled a second 8x12 from another set, 80 reso, 78 batter.
    I was surprised to find the tension on the snare at two and a half turns to be so close to the toms at a much lower rod tension. Equally surprising was to find my by ear tension to be so close on the dial.

    Your tuning is probably pretty decent on its own. So try looking at....

    How do you tension your snares?

  14. #14

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Thanks for checking out your tunings. You've been very helpful. The tension of my snares are tight mainly because if the snares aren't tight, then the buzz is much, much worse.
    Gretsch Catalina ash kit
    Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare
    Paiste Alpha Cymbals
    Stock hardware and pedal. Vic Firth 5B sticks.

  15. #15

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Hey guys the recording went really well today! We ended up doing a live recording and then having the vocals and guitar solos played over the top afterwards. The drums turned out very well on the recordings. The studio guy is working on the master tracks for us over the next couple of days. Both of the guys doing the recording for us played my drums and they gave me some great compliments on the sound of my kit. So I'm excited about my tuning!
    Gretsch Catalina ash kit
    Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare
    Paiste Alpha Cymbals
    Stock hardware and pedal. Vic Firth 5B sticks.

  16. #16

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Quote Originally Posted by jaguar36023 View Post
    Hey guys the recording went really well today! We ended up doing a live recording and then having the vocals and guitar solos played over the top afterwards. The drums turned out very well on the recordings. The studio guy is working on the master tracks for us over the next couple of days. Both of the guys doing the recording for us played my drums and they gave me some great compliments on the sound of my kit. So I'm excited about my tuning!
    Most excellent. I hope we get to hear the finished product, too.
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  17. #17

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    I'm heading to the studio in a couple weeks myself. I'm really been working on having my fills and drum parts solid. And my tuning...I might replace my EC2 heads with G2 before I record.

  18. #18

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Great it all went well !

    I used to worry about buzz/ring/noise also, but actually ALL these sounds make for a LIVE drum sound, if you isolate to the max, you WILL sound like a sample...

  19. #19

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Get rid of the buzz! Even if you detune a little and it does not sound right, you can always mix your drums to sound how you want.

  20. #20

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    just moving the snare away from the first tom helps

  21. #21

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    So the rough mix came out for the 3 songs we completed. It sounds great! It does have some flaws though... Two of the songs open with a bass riff, so you can hear the snare buzzing while the riff is being played. My floor tom also appeared to be ringing a little bit after I hit it. It sounds awesome at the end of the first song when I end with the floor tom and snare, but it doesn't sound great in the middle of songs. He gave us all three cds and told is to listen to the songs and write down the imperfections. I'm in the middle of doing that right now. There were also some sound mixing issues. The vocals had a bit of an echo to them and they were much louder than the rest of the music. I would also like my bass drum to be louder. He assured that he will address everything we write down. I'm really excited! I'll keep you all posted!
    Last edited by jaguar36023; 02-16-2011 at 06:47 AM.
    Gretsch Catalina ash kit
    Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare
    Paiste Alpha Cymbals
    Stock hardware and pedal. Vic Firth 5B sticks.

  22. #22

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    I wouldn't worry about the tom ring too much. There's always going to be some ring. You should want your drums to have some life. The snare buzz sucks though. The pedal squeak may or may not be that big of a deal. Did you try oiling it?. What type of music does your band play?. Besides the snare buzz you probably will never notice the other stuff.

  23. #23

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    Overtones, buzzes and squeaks are absolute no no's in the studio. You want your drums to sound as clean as possible.

  24. #24

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    Default Re: Should I be worried?

    I love my toms to have overtones... I love the natural sound of them. But I agree with NR that they do not belong in a recording. Trust me when I say that certain parts of the song when the floor tom rings... it doesn't sound good. The guy doing the mixing assured me he can eliminate the buzz (which is only in about 7 seconds of all three songs by the way). I have yet to ask him about the floor tom ring, but I'm confident that he can work on it. He told us that whatever we don't like he can either fix or try to make it sound better. I have completed my list of song imperfections of the recording. I will keep you posted when I give it to him!

    Oh and also.... My kick pedal does give off a slight noise when doing fast bass drum parts but it was not noticeable at all in the recording.
    Last edited by jaguar36023; 02-16-2011 at 09:11 PM.
    Gretsch Catalina ash kit
    Pork Pie Big Black Brass snare
    Paiste Alpha Cymbals
    Stock hardware and pedal. Vic Firth 5B sticks.

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