Session Log: Drums

 8/5/25

First I setup the Senheiser MD421-II inside the kick, there was no sound hole so I took the head off to get the 4 inch distance inside (figure 2) and placed the mic slightly off center. Additionally to dry the sound out two blankets were placed inside (figure 1).


Figure 1: The overall kick setup.


Figure 2: Tape measure displaying the 4 inch mic distance in the kick.


The AKG C451 B was setup 700mm over the ride (figure 4), with an angle pointing towards the snare (figure 3). The mic sat slightly to the side to ensure that the cymbal was still picked up despite the mic being cardioid. The snare also had an O-ring to dry it (figure 3).


Figure 3: The C421 above the Ride cymbal.


Figure 4: Tape measure displaying the 700mm distance between the mic and Ride.


The MKH 30-P48 was located 3ft above the hi-hat (figure 6). This provided a close sound but also caught room due to the bi-directional pickup pattern setting.


Figure 5:The MHK 30 above the hi-hat.


Figure 6: Tape measure displaying the 3ft distance between the mic and hi-hat.


Overall kit setup


The tracks were recorded all at once (figure 7) where they were routed to the Neve 1073DPA preamp (figure 8), unfortunately due to only having only two inputs I was unable to route the MHK 30 this way. To compensate for this, I used Magneto II (a tape saturator plugin) on this track (figure 9).



Figure 7: the mic cables entering the wall box.

Figure 8: The kick and cymbal overhead being routed to the preamp.


Figure 9: Tape saturator used on the MHK 30.


For the preamp, only a slight boost was applied to the kick and cymbal mics, adding some gentle analogue distortion (figure 10).



Figure 10: The settings used on the Neve preamp.


Following the preamp, the kick and cymbal were routed through the DL441 compressors as planned (figure 11).  The kick had a smaller threshold and ratio reigning in the transience with the other track being wetter (figure 12). I used the CLA-3A compressor on
the hi-hat track to compensate (figure 13).



Figure 11: outboard gear chain


Figure 12: DL441 compressor settings used.


Figure 13: CLA-3A compressor settings used.


Reflection:

Overall, I feel this recording session went well, particularly with the kick however, I encountered a few notable issues. Firstly the lack of outboard processing on the MHK30 (hi-hat) track, although this was somewhat rectified with plugins, I wish I went back and processed it the same way. Additionally, the snare contains a resonant tail that needs to be EQd and the overall kit is not as dry as I would like.

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