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Drum Lessons in Stirling Scotland

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Recording Acoustic drums is probably the biggest challenge any Sound Engineer has to face, in his or her career. The second challenge is convincing a Lead Guitarist, that ‘they can’t have everything louder than everthing else!’ (Deep Purple)

If you are planning to record a Demo for the first time, here are some tips that I hope will help you achieve the best recording, for the least amount of money!

1. Tune and maintain your kit before going to the Studio. If you are not sure how to tune your kit, try some of the great Websites on the Net: www.drummerworld.com or www.drumbum.com for example.

2. Do your research! Check out your local Studios and ask them for examples of their work. Make sure you know how they plan to record your band and know what format they are recording onto. Will it be Digtal or Analogue? What type of Mics will be used? Will the band be recorded in one room (Live) or will it be Multitracked ie.each instrument is recorded in isolation? If the latter is the case it is a completely different experience to playing ‘Live’, you will be prompted to play along with a Click Track. Make sure you practice playing along with a Metronome, this will help you establish the proper Tempo before arriving at the Studio!!! Preparation is the key, if all the ground work has been done, it will give you more time to play and therefore will cut time in the Studio. (And Save Money)   3. Be realistic! Don’t attempt Ten songs in a day! Ask the Studio what they recommend as a reasonable time to record your songs but this will obviously differ from Band to Band. Remember, if you book a certain time at a Studio you will pay from the minute you arrive! It’s not possible to arrive an hour early and expect to set the kit up, so the less time you take, the more time you have for recording. 

Okay, I can hear you saying, it’s all very well talking to me about all this but I don’t even have a Kit or I don’t have transport to get my drums around. Well, fair comment but there is always a solution to every problem and here it is:

Cymbal Simon has always been sceptical about the use of ‘Electronic-Kits’ but since he has been teaching using the Roland TD6 V Drums, he has been knocked out by the quality of sound that these kits produce. In fact he has been using these kits to record onto his computer with great results. The main advantages to recording using an electronic kit are:

1. No Tuning problems.                                                

 2. No ‘Overspill’ when recording in a Live situation. ( Drum Mics will pick-up the other instruments if you record altogether in the same room).                        

3. If you record your drumtracks at Cymbal Simon’s, there will be no ‘Set-up’ time required.                                                            

4. You can choose to record in MIDI or use WAV files, either way you can leave with a Professional recording on a CD, which you can then take to another Studio and record all the other tracks.                                               

5. It works out a lot cheaper!!!!

 If you like what you hear and want to know more about recording your Drum- Track, or you need CS to play on your latest Album, e-mail him today!! 

Here’s some “Great Tips on Recording” from the owner of “Homegrown Productions” James Taylor.....