Recording drums for my son's college projects

[Bubba]

I may not be supposed to share this, but I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. I've done six tracks for his college stuff, but I'd like some feedback on the recording.

I was sent a stereo wav of his band's demo without the midi drums that were used initially, and I've added the drum tracks with EQ, gating and some ambience.

[rayc]

I love the PiL intro.
Gentle Arctic Monkeys indeed.
The drums are cool - they fit well - may be a tiny fraction more present than the rest of the track but that's not amazing given you're fitting it to a stereo wav. Good work.

[Greg_L]

You've come a long long way with your drum tracking. I think the drums sound very good overall. My only critique would be to get the kick tuned deeper and lower. It's a little boxy, a little tight. It seems like the low floor tom goes to a lower pitch than the kick. Speaking of toms, they sound awesome.

[Bubba]

You've come a long long way with your drum tracking. I think the drums sound very good overall. My only critique would be to get the kick tuned deeper and lower. It's a little boxy, a little tight. It seems like the low floor tom goes to a lower pitch than the kick. Speaking of toms, they sound awesome.

Thanks a lot, Greg. Yes, the kick was tuned a bit tight. On later sessions I tweaked it down and it was much improved. I've just uploaded a new mix where I have pitch-shifted the kick down a couple of semitones. I think it has improved matters. I also took a little 2-3k out of the right-hand overhead in order to sweeten the hi-hat sound a bit.

[JD01]

It's not like me to comment that much on drums 'cos I don't really know what I'm doing, they do sound really good though. Just listened to the first and 2nd version back to back - really like the 2nd version, the lower kick is good.

The guy is a really good singer. Love the "I don't want you there" at 50s.

[rayc]

Wow, difference much.

[Bubba]

Here's another one I mixed recently. Same again, a stereo wav file of the original track without drums, then Frank and I added live drums.

[Greg_L]

The drums to me are the same as before - needs deeper kick. They seem to be tracked well and the rest of the kit sounds good, but the kick is too high and tight. Very nice job on the snare. I know you like the Pixies, so their drum sound would be a good reference for stuff like this, I think. They were kind of roomy. Listen to the intro of Bone Machine. I think that kind of drum sound would be perfect for this. The Pixies kick has a mix of thud, attack, and outside-the-drum room mic sound. Also, the drums in your mix are too dry for the rest of the track. They went bananas with reverb, so the drums should be sitting in that same space - maybe even wetter.

[Rob Aylestone]

When you said you may not be able to share this, are you sure you've not caused some grief.

It's his college project, and while I can only comment from the UK perspective, so much depends on what the project is, and what he gets marks/grades/points for.

So if he is getting awards for his work - maybe he wrote it, then even though you tinkered with the drums they might consider that artistic interpretation by the drummer.
If he is getting marks for recording it, it's tricky - because you've done the work
If he is getting marks for all sorts of areas - like maybe mixing - then your input causes head scratching.

At worst, here, it would be cheating - the teacher would sign the assessment that signifies it's the students work. what they have demonstrated they're good at
At best, the grades would be good and sound because perhaps he is getting marked for the planning and implementation. We don't know, do you?

If the idea is he is doing the work, then clearly he hasn't - you did. What happens if he hands it in and one of the teachers is a member here and has heard the song - they'll say he cheated.

When I was a principal examiner for music technology, we had this happen a lot - work recorded in their dads pro studio, with a little note that he was present when it happened - he did not pass, other times they shot themselves in the foot by describing the process using 'we' not 'I', and many could not put into words what the real people who had done the work actually did. Your hearing said, ah- gates, compression, sub-grouping, time-aligned effects, and the student said - then I put some mics on the drums and recorded them?????

Seriously - I suspect all is well, and he is allowed to get this help, and the grades come from other things - but what if he forgot to mention what he is being judged on? You could cause a fail by accident - and with the way back machine working well nowadays, all these posts could come back and haunt him.

I recommend you read the rules on the project to make sure, not take his understanding as totally right.

[Bubba]

Hi, Rob, I think you may have misunderstood what I meant by this. This isn't a college assessment, it's his band that he has formed independently with friends he has met over there. The backing tracks were recorded in a professional studio in the year or so before Frank started college. In any case this is only my mix and I sent the raw tracks to the singer-songwriter (who pretty much leads the group) for him to mix. I only meant that I haven't told him I'm letting other people listen to it.