Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
mixing desk
Music Production Tutorials “Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here
Best beginner DAWs: Cockos Reaper 6
Music Production Tutorials New to making tracks? Start here
Plugin Chains
Tutorials How to emulate a classic analogue recording system entirely with plugins
Millenium Drums Legendary Drumbook
Drums “An extremely well-thought-out and all-encompassing piece of drum education”: Millenium Legendary Drumbook review
Sleep Token drummer II Drumeo
Drum Gear “I’ve taken inspiration from the UK dance music scene": Mixwave put Sleep Token’s drummer in a plugin
Recording vocals in a studio
Music Recording Tutorials Want to record some real musicians in your studio? Here’s how to prep for success
Sleep Token
Drums “We tried it as a laugh and now it’s our standard setup”: The secret sauce behind Sleep Token’s live drum sound
  1. Tutorials
  2. Music Recording Tutorials

A step-by-step guide to recording drums

Tuition
By MusicRadar last updated 28 October 2019

How to record and mix a full kit setup

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Setting-up a great recording

Setting-up a great recording

RECORDING WEEK: Here we step out from behind the kit to take a look at setting up a drum recording session.

Part one: setting-up a great recording

Step 1: Plug the mics into your audio interface. The overheads go to inputs 1 and 2 and will need 48v phantom power (unless you’re using ribbon mics - in which case, don’t touch that switch!) Kick in and out go to inputs 3 and 4, while snare top and bottom go to 5 and 6. The ambient mic (hopefully a condenser, so requiring phantom power) goes into 7, and the floor tom mic into 8.

Recording Week is brought to you in association with Universal Audio. 

Page 1 of 10
Page 1 of 10
Test the levels

Test the levels

Step 2: Get a drummer to beat the hell out of the kit. They always play louder on the actual takes, so don’t worry about getting too hot a signal - having the highest peaks spike at around -5dB is a good target. There’s something to be gained from clipping, but not on the way into the interface - keep it clean.

Page 2 of 10
Page 2 of 10
Test take

Test take

Step 3: Once your levels are sorted, it’s a good idea to run a test take to check for silly mistakes and any uninvited hum, hiss, clicks or crackles. You can also use the test recording to check the phase of the mics and ensure a fully fat sound on playback. Even though the theory of phase is complex, the practice is easy.

Page 3 of 10
Page 3 of 10
Adjusting the kicks

Adjusting the kicks

Step 4: Insert a trim or gain plug-in into each of your eight drum channels. Bring up the first kick mic, followed by the second. When the two are balanced, try inverting the phase on the second kick channel (the button labelled with a circle with a diagonal line through it). Leave the button set where the sound is best.

Page 4 of 10
Page 4 of 10
Sorting the overheads

Sorting the overheads

Step 5: Now turn down the kicks and bring up the overheads, panned centre. Try inverting the phase of one of them. If the overheads sound fatter with just one channel phase inverted, leave it like that. Bring the kicks back in and blend them with the overheads. Change the phase on both the overheads now, and leave them set at wherever the kick sounds fattest.

Page 5 of 10
Page 5 of 10
Balance the snare mics

Balance the snare mics

Step 6: Balance in the top snare mic and switch the phase to whichever setting sounds fattest with the kick and overheads. Bring up the bottom snare mic and set the phase to the opposite of whatever the top is set to. Repeat this process with the floor tom and ambient mics. This is quick ’n’ dirty, but now you’re set to record.

Page 6 of 10
Page 6 of 10
Setting up a rough live mix

Setting up a rough live mix

Part two: setting up a rough live mix

Step 1: Although you won’t create your final drum sound until the mixdown, you’ll need to get your mix half-decent for recording. Here’s some CPU-friendly advice to help you get it right. Create two auxiliary sends and returns from the ambience track. Insert a delay plug-in over the first return and set the L and R Delay times to 30ms and 60ms.

Page 7 of 10
Page 7 of 10
Adding reverb

Adding reverb

Step 2: Next, insert a room reverb over the second aux return set to around 0.6s Decay time. Compress this and add a harmonic distortion effect like SPL TwinTube. This artificial space will help the kit sound more ‘finished’ while you’re tracking - and a more exciting sound will make your drummer play better.

Page 8 of 10
Page 8 of 10
Creating busses

Creating busses

Step 3: Take your individual drum channels and the two new aux returns and set their outputs to a new bus. Create a new aux return for this bus and call it ‘Kit master’. This is your main drum channel. Now create two or three more busses and returns for the rest of your recorded track stems (guitars, bass, vocals, etc).

Page 9 of 10
Page 9 of 10
Finishing the mix

Finishing the mix

Step 4: You should now have five or six ‘master’ faders, making it easy to create a good working balance and hear the drums properly in context. You can also create a separate sub-mix for the drummer by adding aux sends to the master faders and routing them discretely to the headphones output. To minimise latency, you want your audio interface buffer size to be as small as possible.

Page 10 of 10
Page 10 of 10
MusicRadar
MusicRadar
Social Links Navigation

MusicRadar is the number one website for music-makers of all kinds, be they guitarists, drummers, keyboard players, DJs or producers...

  • GEAR: We help musicians find the best gear with top-ranking gear round-ups and high-quality, authoritative reviews by a wide team of highly experienced experts.
  • TIPS: We also provide tuition, from bite-sized tips to advanced work-outs and guidance from recognised musicians and stars.
  • STARS: We talk to musicians and stars about their creative processes, and the nuts and bolts of their gear and technique. We give fans an insight into the craft of music-making that no other music website can.
Read more
mixing desk
“Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here
Best beginner DAWs: Cockos Reaper 6
New to making tracks? Start here
Plugin Chains
How to emulate a classic analogue recording system entirely with plugins
Millenium Drums Legendary Drumbook
“An extremely well-thought-out and all-encompassing piece of drum education”: Millenium Legendary Drumbook review
Sleep Token drummer II Drumeo
“I’ve taken inspiration from the UK dance music scene": Mixwave put Sleep Token’s drummer in a plugin
Recording vocals in a studio
Want to record some real musicians in your studio? Here’s how to prep for success
Latest in Music Recording Tutorials
Compressor settings
The ultimate compression cheat sheet – go-to settings to help you make better music
Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne
“He's making up lies”: Did Sharon Osbourne just boot a band off the Black Sabbath megagig?
Heart
“The baritone Tele was made uniquely for me, and Paul’s mandolin has been with him for decades. We’re heartbroken": Someone just stole Heart’s gear on the eve of their comeback tour
Recording vocals in a studio
Want to record some real musicians in your studio? Here’s how to prep for success
1176 tutorial
UA is giving away its 1176 plugin as a Valentine's gift – here's how to get it and use it!
Lady Gaga
“A magical part is this sidechain with the bass”: Lady Gaga breaks down Disease in new studio video
Latest in Tuition
Plugins
How to get famous sounds and effects using only Logic’s stock plugins
Plugin Chains
How to emulate a classic analogue recording system entirely with plugins
Odin 2
Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: The Wave Warden Odin 2
ableton
8 things you can do with Ableton Live's updated Auto Filter device
Native Instruments Raum
How to use reverb to build impressive-sounding filters, reverses, risers and pads
mixing desk
“Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...