Hello Catherine, what hardware or software do you find most useful in your recording / mixing drums on your rock productions? Thank you!
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your question!
I love using Neves or API’s to record drums. Especially 1073 channels. I find they give a really nice “chunky” solid sound to the drums. I will also heavily compress one or two mics on the kit, usually a ribbon mic set up close to the drummers shoulder or somewhere in front of the kit, and, again, depending on what is available, I will use an Empirical Labs Distressor compressor or something like an 1176 or LA2A… something that has the flexibility to be extreme or subtle. The intention of this mic setup is to give the kit a sense of “height”.
I will also place a mono room mic somewhere in the centre of the space, usually an sm58, and use a pre with an eq like a Helios channel and play with the lows and highs to either pick up things like thunderous toms or splashy cymbals and then run that channel through a compressor like a Valle People Dynamite ( I don’t know why I like using this compressor for this specific thing…I just started one day and it’s kind of stuck).
I then play with the attack and release and threshold to get the room pumping and sucking in time with the track. This one mic setup and chain is often the glue that brings the whole sound of the kit to life. It picks up the sound of the room and adds a depth to the the overall kit sound.
As far as software goes… I am pretty obsessed with the Waves Sheps Omni Channel. There is a preset called “Beef My Drums” which does exactly as it says on the tin - and thenI will play with the settings to adjust.
When I’m just starting to get a mix going, I will run all the drums through that and then mix in to it.
Also, if I want some instant excitement I will add in a Sound Toys Devil- Loc. I feel like I’m cheating a little but it helps to get something going and to keep the vibes up 
Hope I’ve answered your question but message me any follow ups if you have any.
cxx
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