MALIK ARSHAQ
Recording
Metal
drums
Nothing hits the spot like some
blisteringly massive sounding metal
track. As a huge fan of the genre, I’ve
observed and appreciated the detail
and the effort that goes into the overall
production involved in achieving the
hard-hitting sound. Since, the music is
generally loud and abrasive, with a lot
going on, it’s very easy to go wrong in the
process of recording metal, especially the
drums. In this edition, we’ll be looking
into the different recording techniques
that you can use to achieve that ideal
drum sound.
Before we get into the mixing and editing,
the first thing that we need to understand
is that to achieve a good end product,
we need to get a good recording. This
includes the choice of equipment and
microphones, the way they’re positioned
and the environment that you’re
recording in. Take a good look at the space
that you’ll be recording in. Make sure
that you have basic room treatment that
cancels out your standing waves and bass
build ups. Correct placement of diffusers
and bass traps should suffice. Ideally,
recording in a room that does not have
parallel walls would give you the best
results. The next thing that you’d want to
do is to make sure that your drum kit is
sitting on a riser or an elevated platform.
If not, a DYI 8x8 plywood platform should
do the trick. This helps you brighten
the tone of your drums and saves a lot
of effort in the later mixing and editing
30
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
stages. Having sound absorption on the
ceiling above the kit also helps.
Make sure that your kit is in good
shape, whether any of the cymbals are
broken or the skin is torn or if there
are loose lugs in your kit that rattle.
Fixing all these issues will result in a
cleaner, more professional mix. Now, it
is very important at this stage to start
considering your options and decide
the kind of tone you’d want each piece
of your kit to have. It is essential that
your kit is properly tuned. Since a lot
of drummers have trouble with being
precise with their tuning, devices like
the Tama Tesion Watch TW100 help
you get your drums tuned accurately.
Invest on the best skins and cymbals
that you can afford as the quality of the
recordings that you hand out to your
clients will be heavily dependent on
them. For example, you’d want to use a
muting ring on the snare which will kill
the sustaining overtones while retaining
the attack. The type of the beater that
you’ve used on your kick pedal will also