How To Quickly & Easily Improve Your Drum Sound

Ever wondered why less is more when micing drums? Find out in this video...

Thanks to @Soundradix for making this video possible and supporting Audio University.

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00:00 - Intro
01:06 - Understanding Stereo Miking and Phase Interference
03:36 - Comb Filtering and Mic Equidistance
06:21 - Introducing and Using the Auto Align Plugin
08:04 - Polarity, Time Delay, Phase Shift, and All-Pass Filters
11:09 - Dual Miking Techniques for Drums
12:51 - Using Vector Scope and Real World Recording Challenges
15:22 - NEXT VIDEO - Everything You Need To Know About Comb Filtering [with Audio Examples]
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[studios]

One of the best places to check when you’re searching for solutions to audio issues. Great job, Kyle.

[Burbah]

it's important to mention that phase unalignment isn't all bad to the sound. Without at least some of it you wouldn't have any stereo width. Also, phasing "problems" can be a creative way to create a certain tone, rather that using an eq.

[santiagoavila]

Great tutorial, as always! Thank you very much, Kyle, and congratulations!

[LoftyAssertions]

1:32 despite the context, I STILL thought my headphones lost their right cable... it's such an instinctual panic at this point hahaha

[doctorarmani]

Another great video with good visuals to explain the topic.

[etiennerenevey]

Once again. Good job on the topic Kyle!

[RealDavidN]

Excellent demo of phase interference / comb filtering. This worst when the signals are the same level, differing only in phase, which usually translates to same distance.

[LVNDRUMS]

Amazing video man! I'll try that for sure!🤘🤘🤘

[rfldss]

4:40 they could if you set up the drum kit to be perfectly symmetrical and position the two mics at the same distance to the plane of symmetry. In practice, that's probably a lot to ask of a drummer, but it could be a cool experiment i guess.

[XRaym]

👉Extra tips: it might be a good idea to render the phase corrected audio, to have waveform on the arrange view matching the audio Post-FX. This will make drum editing (quantizing etc) more accurate. Also, it will off-load the CPU of all the Auto-Align instances.

[Newschoolcovers]

Autoalign is a cool tool, even if it isn't useful for me as a drummer who wants a latency-free and good direct mix.

In general, you shouldn't drive yourself crazy. It's enough to flip the polarity of the reso mics and cut the overheads at over 500hz if you have enough close mics. The higher the phase problems occur in the frequency range, the less you will hear them.

What is often forgotten: Any EQ or multiband compressor will affect the phase.
It's simply not possible to make a technically perfect drum mix - but that's surely not what you want.

[freemanz]

I learned a method that puts all mics equidistant from the snare mic. Maybe this was mentioned, but I missed it?
Very nice illustration/demonstration of ideas presented. Thanks. Love your lessons. I predicted your focus here would be on phase alignment. Yeah me!
Loved the voice pan demo making the vox fly to the left. (if my playback system's correct.)
My mentor and friend, Sound Pioneer Bill Hanley, asked me if I'd read Leo Beraneck's seminal acoustics book. I believe he developed the perfect loudspeaker model expressed as a sphere that changes size, compared to a simple diaphragm. Too hard, I said. Too much math! Bill employed Leo's column theory before 1970 to fly a line array for the Rolling Stones in Manhattan. He's credited for many modern stage concepts; directional mics and wedge monitors among them.

[BarryH]

This is an excellent tutorial, Kyle. Of course, a lot of this can be avoided by mic'ing the drums with a coincident pair... ; >)

[malegria]

"sometimes less is more"

me, who can only afford a single sm57: "tell me more"

[huldraslaat]

Could i use an analog guitar delay pedal to do the delay portion? 🤔

[tanishqrao]

Can you make a video on layering multiple guitar parts

[donaldbundy]

Another excellent video. Auto Align sounds like a great tool. My two cents worth if I may. A snare drum has a unique sound due in part to the acoustical distance between the heads. Some prefer a deeper shell like a 8" and some like a 5" etc. My goal is to try and capture that sound. I stand in the room in front of the set listen to the snare so I can best capture it. My point is when processing drums or any instrument is not to over process or you'll be chasing your tail. And I have to admit using Auto Align sounds like the best way to experiment without spending hours going from control room to studio adjusting mics and baffles. To be able to compare alignment and phase settings in real time, whether laying down tracks or with tracks already recorded. Wish I had that long time ago. Question, can Auto Align be used in a live show situation? Is there any significant propagation delay?

[fjoiewafno]

What are your thoughts on leaving the room mics out of time/phase alignment? My practice right now has been delaying my kick and snare mics (one each) to the overhead mics (in glyn johns method positioning) and then leaving the two omni room mics (which are about 20 feet away) as is. I suppose I'm using my room mics as more of a reverb/delay to capture the room sound.

[conorm]

Will AA2 analyse the channels post-processing also? Say if a few channels had compressors and EQ added?

[megwatts]

I like Auto Align because it allows me to be a dummy when it comes to mic placement. Some of the coolest sounds I've gotten from drums is just out of pure laziness. I work alone but I play live drums. I don't have the luxury of a separate control room and an engineer geek (no offence intended here, geeks will someday rule the world, if they don't already). If I'm in a hurry, I'll just throw a few mics up and go for it. That is not so say that I'm a complete dweeb as far as mic placement goes. I DO give things some thought. But I'm not getting out the tape measure when I'm setting mics up. Back to the coolness. Some of the coolest sounds I've come up with are, technically, , wrong. And so the problems start. Phase, distance, polarity, they've all thrown me some curve balls. Auto Align can take the worst of what I've done and make it, if not perfect because, well, dweebbiness, at least coherent and useable. And renders things that might be considered absurd, unique and "vibey". It takes the fear out of recording something in a unconventional way. It's a great tool, whether you're an experienced engineer or just a home-studio hack. I can do both but sometime you want to just cut to the chase and not get bogged down in endless calculations. Some of the most hip sounding hits from back in the day were recorded all wrong. But who really cares if you end up with something that nails a quirky vibe you may not have even imagined as a viable way to get the job done? It's a problem-solver and a creative tool. I'm a fan, if you hadn't figured that out already.