Salvaging poorly recorded drum tracks for $13.99

Here’ a recording tip from world-class producer/mixer Ronan Chris Murphy, whose expertise in recording drums includes work with Terry Bozzio, Victor Bisetti (Los Lobos), Gregg Bissonette (Santana, David Lee Roth), and Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, Mister Mister, The Rembrandts). 

In a perfect world, every time we recorded a drum set, the drums would be tuned well, played great, and recorded perfectly, with just the right gear for the sound we were going for. Unfortunately we don’t get to live in a perfect world. Trying to mix a song and realizing that the raw sounds on your drum track are not happening can be a really frustrating experience. There are some advanced mixing techniques as well some often costly software and hardware options that can go a long way to salvaging poorly recorded drum tracks, but if you do not yet have the experience for advanced mixing techniques, the money for the right tools to do the job or if the drum tracks seem beyond help there is one cool option that is effective, easy and best of all cheap:

The mighty tambourine!

Believe it! One of the best techniques I’ve found for helping mixes with poorly recorded drums is strategically adding a tambourine track. A simple mono tambourine track (a real one, played live and recorded with a microphone) can add a sense of depth, texture and energy to a mix, and actually pull the listeners attention away from the “sound” or timbre of the drums but not the performance or its groove.

The great thing about the tambourine is that it can be mixed fairly loud and come across as a creative choice. The loud tambourine has been employed in rock records for decades, from Motown and the Rolling Stones to Oasis and Rob Zombie. A big loud tambourine track is part of far more great mixes than you may have ever realized. The important thing to keep in mind when applying the drum-salvaging tambourine track is to make nice clean recording with conservative recording levels and simplicity. The latter is the secret to the whole trick. Your tambourine performance must be very, very simple, with no variations. I usually prefer a simple doubling of the snare that goes through the whole song (except during drum fills). A simple part with out any kind of variations will not draw the listener’s attention to the tambourine and many listeners will not ever notice it, even if it is quite loud in the mix. If you do any kinds of fills or accent it will draw the attention away from the drums and the trick is ruined.

We’d like to thank Ronan Chris Murphy for sharing his valuable knowledge and experience. As you can see, you don’t always need to invest in expensive equipment to make the most out of your recordings. In fact, the best investment you can make is knowledge, and there’s no better way to learn to make the most out of your recordings than up close and personal with someone like Ronan Chris Murphy. Check out Ronan’s Home Recording Boot Camp at www.homerecordingbootcamp.com and keep checking your email for more recording tips from Ronan Chris Murphy. 

Comments

[Marcos]

What if we're doing some samba sessions?

[steve gipson]

WEll, what I've done about drum tracks that didn't sound that great is move the drum set to a small bedroom (adds bass), mic it out with three mics, one ~3'-6" from the bass with the mixer volume on 3 or 4 and the mid/high on 4 and low on 5 1/2, another mic about 4' above the snare with the volume on 5 1/2 and the low on 4, mid/high on 6 1/2-7, another 2'-6" over the ride with the volume on 2 1/2-4, low on 3, mid on 6 and high on 7, and another 3'-6" over the crash with the volume on 4, low on 4, the mid on 5 and high on 6. After that, I adjust the tract's EQ on my $50.00 Cakewalk Guitar tracks software I bought 8 years ago. They come out pretty good. At least that's what people tell me.

[Heath and Miller]

Nothin like Tamborine Man.....Great advice!!

Heath and Miller

Merry Christmas

[charles Marlowe]

Well I kinda think just from my own experience that shitty drum tracks need to be redone and a tambourine is not going to make up for the lack of prefomance of the drummer. I've recorded demos with a few different studios locally in Syracuse NY, so my opinion is just that if the drummer can't nail it in a couple takes, I mean, get rid of him.
Well written though

[CJ]

I'm still trying to figure out if this is like the "more cowbell" thing or if it's serious. I guess I've been around wise-guys all night, so this article is coming off as tongue-in-cheek.

[Daryl Shawn]

Such an excellent tip! Agreed, tambourine almost always sounds great, even in loud rock (Husker Du knew it).

[DC Cardwell]

ABSOLUTELY! I always have poorly recorded, poorly played drum tracks recorded on a poor kit with poor gear. And I know from long experience that a tambourine is the answer.

AND, even if you do have great drum tracks, a tambourine will often lift a track to greater heights anyway.

And I must also mention handclaps, shakers and maracas - real ones, of course!