Today we would be tracking the drums for our track with Clementine.

We used the technique of Close Mics so you could hear more definition and Attack within the drums. With using this technique we have chosen we have to be careful of cymbal bleed because it will cause fazing and would make the recording sound messy.

As today was the first day of recording we would have to set up our session in Pro Tools, and today as I was given the job of using Pro Tools, this is what I had to do…

Set up a New Pro Tools Session on the 24in24out setting which is used for all sessions when using Studio 1, I then had to set up the Drum tracks between tracks 17 – 24 – this is where the drum room is programmed into the desk, these channels on the desk correspond to channels 1-8 in the drum room. I also had to set up a guide vocal track and a guide guitar track – these would be on track 1 and 2 in the live room. These are set up to make recording the drums that little bit easier, so it feels like you’re all playing in the same room. As well as this, I set up a Click Track on track 16 for convenience to make it easier for everyone to stay in time, however this was scrapped after a couple of takes because it was easier to play without it. I also set up an Auxiliary input for everyones headphones on Aux A.

The mics we used were:

• Audix D2 – Super Cardioid – Tom Mics – Seinhiezer V906 also good for Toms.
• Audix I5 and SM57 – Cardiod – Snare Top and Bottom – Reverse the Faze of either Snare Top or Bottom so you can hear more of the Snare Attack
• AKG 414 – Overhead Left and Right
• AKG D112 – Kick Drum Mic – Good at pickup low frequency good at taking lots of SPL (Sound Pressure Level). Common Practise is two use Mics on the Bass Drum – one near the beater for the click and one near the back for the ‘Boom’
• Audix ADX-51 – Mono Room Mic- Picking up the whole of the drum kit (Like the Overheads) this Mic ‘glues the sound together’