Recording Drums

Recording drums may be one of the most daunting tasks that face the home recording enthusiast. Recording the drums usually requires many more mics to fully capture the full range and combination of loud and soft sounds. Multiple mics means you will need multiple inputs to keep the tracks separate. Also with multiple mics phase cancellation can be a huge problem causing drums to sound thin and weak. Often small moves of one mic can ease this problem so remember to use your ears. If you are having trouble refer to the drums on an album you like as a reference. If you are recording other instruments at the same time make a tent over the drums using blankets to block “bleed through” to other microphones or use a separate room for the drums if possible. Also keep in mind that drums have a very large dynamic range so don’t try to record too hot or you may overload your preamp causing very unpleasant digital distortion. Well recorded drums can make or break a recording much like a good vocal. Now that you know the difficulties you face in recording drums let’s jump in and get started.

Snare Drum

First let’s start with the snare drum. A good snare sound is key to a good drum sound so take your time and get it right. For snare drum recording we recommend a Shure SM57 mic placed two inches above the edge of the front or audience side of the drum and aimed down at a 45 to 65 degree angle. To get a little less bottom end move the mic up a few more inches away from the drum head. Remember to keep the angle deep enough to avoid getting a “bleed through” from the high hat or cymbals. We recommend recording the snare separately to allow EQ adjustments later when we get to the mix down stage. Remember as with all recording use your ears to determine if the snare drum sounds right through the headphones before you record. If you are getting an annoying ringing sound try a piece of tape across the top head of the drum to eliminate or diminish the ring.

Bass Drum

Now that you have your snare drum ready to go its time to tackle the bass drum. To properly record a bass drum you need a mic that first of all can handle the incredible pressure caused by the bass drum. Also you need to have a mic that can accurately record the low end frequencies. We recommend a dedicated bass mic like a Sennheiser 421 or AKG D112 to accurately capture the low end spectrum. Next we need to get a good bass drum sound. We recommend removing the drum head and using a pillow or soft heavy object inside the drum to help muffle any bad ring or overtones. Don’t let it touch the head too much or you will muffle the sound. The mic should be placed about half way inside the drum but be sure to listen through the headphones to hear what the recorder will “hear” and make any adjustments. Point the mic at or near the beater angled away from the the snare drum and make small adjustments if necessary. To get a roomier sound pull the mic out a bit or use a second mic a few feet back from the first but as will all multiple mic placements be sure to avoid any phase problems. Note: To get the classic kick drum sound recording on Nirvana’s Nevermind engineers used a ten foot cardboard tube which was connected to the bass drum and the microphone was set up at the end of the tube.

Toms

To record toms we recommend a good bass mic like the above Sennheiser 421 or the AKG 414 or in a pinch use a normal dynamic mic like a Shure SM57. Mic all the toms from 1 1/2 to seven inches above the outer rim of the drum and pointed at a 40 to 60 degree angle down and away from the audience. The further the mic is away from the source the more room sound you will get so experiment to get the desired sound. As with the snare use tape to reduce any ring in the drums. Many engineers assign a direction to toms panning toms on the left to the left side of the mix and the right tot the right side to give a moving or flowing feel to the drums. Some studios will combine the stereo overheads with the toms, using two tracks panned far left and far right for all the toms and cymbals.

Overheads or Cymbals

Recording cymbals with overhead mics (or overheads as they are commonly called) may be one of the most difficult tasks assigned to the home recording enthusiast. Overheads are usually recorded in stereo with one mic placed over the left cymbal and one over the right cymbal. In a typical studio setup the left signal is bussed or assigned to the same side as any other drums bussed to the left like left toms for example and the right to the right respectively. Experiment with this to see what sounds better for your particular situation. Also try to use a good quality mic for these like a Neumann U87 or the very versatile AKG 414 or possibly a Shure81. Don’t forget you need two mics here, one for each side. In a pinch use a dynamic mic here like a Shure SM57 over each cymbal or if you only have one mic just mic the overheads in the center high above the kit. Overheads are notorious for phase problems so really use your ears here to get a good result. If your drums sound thin when the overhead mics are assigned then you have a phase problem with the overhead mics. Start with the microphones about 18 inches over the two cymbals pointed strait down. Remember the three to one rule, you want the mics three times as far from each other as they are from the sound source so don’t go too high or you will have more phase problems. If you have a high roll-off switch on your mic or console try it and see if it helps the sound. Again a little piece of tape can help with any annoying or overly bright sounding ring that the cymbals may have. Remember if your short on tracks you can combine the stereo overheads with the toms, using two tracks panned left and right for all the toms and cymbals.

Room mics

If you are recording in a nice sounding room then take advantage of it by setting up a room mic or two. Where to set it up depends on the room so do some experimenting to get the best sound possible. Some options might be corners of the room, far in front of the kit, or far behind to name just a few. The only real rule is not to put the mic too close to the kit or you will get phasing problems.

The Video Signal

THE VIDEO SIGNAL

In the U.S., the video picture is composed of 525 horizontal lines. These lines are created by a beam of electrons that write the lines one at a time on a picture tube. When the beam has sprayed 525 of the lines, the viewer sees one still frame of a video picture. The illusion of motion is then created by repeating this process 30 times each second. Each of the 30 frames is a still image, but each shows a progressively different stage of the motion.

It’s really like watching a slide show in fast motion. You’re seeing 30 stills every second, but they blur together in your mind’s eye to produce the illusion of motion. This little trick is called “persistence of vision.” Without it, neither motion pictures nor video would exist.

The scanning electron beam starts at the top left of the picture tube and writes one horizontal line. Then when it reaches the right hand side of the picture or raster area, the beam drops down and writes the next line from left to right. In the early television systems, this process of writing 525 lines for each frame created noticeable flickering. To minimize the flicker, engineers developed a system of “interlaced scanning.”

The interlace system divides each frame into two separate fields each with half of the picture information for a total of 525 lines of picture information. The first field contains all odd- numbered lines #1, #3, and so on. The second field contains the even numbered fields #2, #4, etc.

After field one is scanned for all the odd-numbered lines, a vertical synchronization pulse returns the electron beam to the top center of the picture tube and then scans all of the even numbered lines. Each of the 30 frames of a video picture includes these two interlaced fields so the actual scanning rate is 60 fields per second.

In countries that adhere to the NTSC conventions (National Television Standards Committee), there are seven types of electronic information that comprise the video image. Together they are called the television composite waveform, more commonly referred to as composite video.

The Composite Video Signal

The seven elements of the composite video signal include:

1. Horizontal line sync pulse
2. Color reference burst
3. Reference black level
4. Picture luminance information
5. Color saturation information
6. Color hue information
7. Vertical sync pulse

Horizontal Line Sync Pulse

Before each line is scanned, horizontal sync pulses set the electron beam to a locked position so that each line of picture information starts at the same position during scanning.

Color Reference Burst

To insure standard hue and color saturation, a 3.58-megahertz color reference burst is added before the picture information on each scan line. It is a sine wave with eight to nine cycles. Its phase is set at zero degrees.

Reference Black Level

Black level is also called “setup” or “pedestal.” It is defined as 7.5 IEEE units (from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers referred to as “Eye triple E.”) Formerly these units were called IRE units from the Institute of Radio Engineers.

Picture Luminance Information

Picture Luminance ranges from 7.5 IEEE units for black to 100 IEEE units for peak white.

Color Saturation

Color information is interleaved with the picture luminance information. This is called the 3.58-megahertz subcarrier. The saturation of the colors is determined by the amplitude of the subcarrier. The hue of the color is determined by comparing the phase of the subcarrier with the phase of the Color Reference Burst (see above.)

Color Hue

Color hue is also present in the 3.58-megahertz subcarrier. The accuracy of colors in the picture is determined by the phase or rotation of the color hue information.

Vertical Sync Pulse

The vertical sync pulse controls the length of time of the vertical blanking interval. This is the period when the TV screen goes blank between the end of one field and the beginning of the second field. The vertical blanking interval is sometimes used for inserting time code, automatic color tuning and captioning information in the video signal.

There is also a horizontal blanking interval that occurs between the end of one scan line and the beginning of the next. The horizontal sync pulse controls this blanking interval. Within this interval are the horizontal sync pulse and the color reference burst.

THE WAVEFORM MONITOR

To see the various elements of the composite video signal two special test oscilloscopes are used – the waveform monitor and the vectorscope. The waveform monitor displays the black and white (luminance) video signal information. With it you can analyze and improve the video signal. It allows you to analyze the information from an entire frame or from just one line of video. The waveform monitor displays the signal on a scale like this:

+ 100 ———————

7.5 ———————
0 ———————

- 40 ———————

By viewing the video signal on this scale, you can modify any signal that goes above the 100 mark or below the 7.5. Signals that are outside of this range lose all detail so that if a light colored face is at or above 100 units, it will be washed out. A dark colored face below 7.5 units will be so dark as to have no detail. Faces in the +50 to +80 range are generally considered to be properly exposed.

The waveform monitor is especially helpful in two phases of video production: shooting and online editing. For the shooter you might wonder why you couldn’t just look at a standard video monitor to see if your picture looked all right. The problem is that the picture monitor is not a reliable guide to the picture you are recording or to how that picture will look in the finished videotape.

When used with a video camera, the waveform monitor is a reliable guide to exposure. If the average value of important information in the picture is over 100 or under 7.5 IEEE units, the exposure is off. This exposure can be adjusted by changing the camera’s aperture and/or by adding more or less light to the scene.

In an online edit session the waveform monitor works the same way only this time it measures the values of images from videotape or other online devices like character generators or special effects generators.

THE VECTORSCOPE

Typically used in conjunction with the waveform monitor, this scope displays and measures the chrominance (color) of the video signal. The scale of the vectorscope is a circle overlaid with the color amplitude and phase relationship of the three primary colors (red, green and blue). In the center of this circle graph is the luminance (black and white) value of the signal. Through this center point, three axes represent the primary colors.

If you pointed your camera at a white card, the vectorscope would display a dot in the center. If this dot were off center, the white card would not be recorded as pure white, but with a tint of color. To record the white as white, the camera operator must use the camera’s White Balance Control. The camera can also be adjusted internally with the red and blue gain control. On the vectorscope this would be adjusted until the signal on the scope were dead center and not favoring red, blue or green.

In the online edit session, the vectorscope determines the proper colors through the use of Color Bars. The standard procedure is for the camera operator to record 60 seconds of color bars at the beginning of every tape. This insures that when edited, the colors will be the same from tape to tape and from any effects that are generated in the online editing session.

THE PROCESSING AMPLIFIER

Called a proc amp, this device can modify both the chroma and luminance values of the video signal. The proc amp should be used with both a waveform monitor and vectorscope to insure that the changes you are making are what you think you are making. Think how TV set operates. By adjusting color, contrast and the other controls, you can change the appearance of the picture. But you are not changing the source of that picture – whether it is from a camera, videotape or broadcast. You are only changing the display of that signal.

The proc amp lets you change the actual signal rather than just the display. So if the proc amp were used in an edit session between the source VCR and the record VCR, you would change what happens to the tape in the record VCR. Want less color saturation on your master edit tape? Just turn down the proc amp’s chroma gain control.

The proc amp can be an invaluable tool for correcting the color and luminance elements of a video signal. However, it must be used in conjunction with a waveform monitor and vectorscope for predictable results.

Until you see the video signals actually displayed in this manner, this may seem too complicated. But the first time you venture into a properly equipped editing studio, an engineer or editor will demonstrate what the signal looks like on this test equipment. When you see it in action, you’ll have an immediate understanding of what it means. And especially how you can improve the colors, contrast and exposure of your edited tape. You’ll instantly see when a shot is overexposed and how much you can correct it. There’s a lot more to the video signal, but this basic introduction should help you make better videos.

If, however, you are not changing the video signal because you are working with a basic editing system without any additional equipment, then except for degradations caused by generation loss, the colors and luminance of your edited tape should be the same as your source tape. The controls at your disposal are in white balancing (and black balancing) your camera and in recording color bars.

Apple Unveils New Logic Studio with Major Upgrades to Logic Pro and MainStage

Today unveiled the next version of Logic Studio® with major upgrades to Logic® Pro and MainStage® and more than 200 new features that simplify complex tasks. Logic Pro 9 features new Amp Designer and Pedalboard plug-ins that provide realistic virtual guitar amps and stompbox effects to create amazing custom guitar rigs. A new set of Flex Time tools allow Logic users to manipulate the timing and tempo of audio quickly and easily. MainStage 2, Apple’s live performance application, includes the new Playback and Loopback plug-ins to provide backing tracks and creative, real-time loop recording for performing on stage. Logic Studio also includes the new Soundtrack® Pro 3, with new multitrack audio tools for video production, and Compressor 3.5 for encoding in a variety of formats.

“The new Logic Studio is ideal for professional musicians, live performers and GarageBand enthusiasts who want to take their music to the next level,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Guitar players are going to love Amp Designer and Pedalboard and the new Flex Time tools allow you to quickly improve your recordings and create tighter performances.”

The new Amp Designer and Pedalboard plug-ins give guitar players incredible new recording and sound design capabilities. Amp Designer recreates 25 legendary vintage and modern amp heads in beautiful detail with matching controls and 25 paired speaker cabinets that emulate the sound and feel of a guitar running through a real tube amplifier. Guitar players can create their own custom rig by mixing and matching amps, cabinets, reverbs and EQs, and can choose from three different microphone types that can be positioned in 3D space to capture the ideal guitar tone. Pedalboard adds an assortment of 30 guitar stompbox pedals that can be arranged in any order to produce a wide variety of lush, creative effects including overdrive, distortion, fuzz, delay, chorus, flange, phaser, tremolo, treble boost, wah and more.

Flex Time is a new collection of tools that allow musicians to quickly manipulate the timing and tempo of recorded audio, including vocals and instruments, to create tighter performances. Using the Flex Tool, individual beats in a waveform can be moved effortlessly with a mouse click, without the need for tedious slicing and editing. Audio Quantize can instantly fix or adjust the timing of an entire performance by aligning notes and beats to a musical grid with a single menu selection. Varispeed provides the ability to slow down and then speed up an entire multi-track production to help record challenging parts. Flex Time also enables recorded tracks to be moved between different Logic projects and matched together, even if they were performed at different tempos. All Flex Time edits are performed non destructively and in real time, even when using the highest quality settings.

MainStage 2 lets musicians use all the instruments and effects from Logic Studio to turn their Mac® into the ultimate live performance rig. The new Playback plug-in provides musicians with a backing band, allowing them to perform with pre-recorded audio, like drums, sound effects and other accompaniments that can be triggered to play while they are performing live. The new Loopback plug-in allows musicians to record, layer and jam along with their own performance so a single musician can lay down a rhythm and then play a lead over it.

Soundtrack Pro 3 adds powerful new audio editing tools including Voice Level Match which extracts volume information from the vocal content of one clip and applies it to another without altering any other audio content, so editors can easily correct mismatched voice levels. An enhanced File Editor includes new tools to make sophisticated edits and fine tune volume adjustments by targeting specific frequencies such as the rustle of a paper or the bump of a desk without affecting dialogue. The new Advanced Time Stretch feature stretches and compresses audio with incredible precision using three Apple-designed algorithms or other algorithms available as third party plug-ins. Soundtrack Pro and Compressor are also available as part of the new Final Cut Studio®, allowing Final Cut® and Logic users to collaborate and share files.

Pricing & Availability
Logic Studio is now available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) and existing users of Logic Studio and Logic Pro can upgrade for a suggested retail price of $199 (US). Full system requirements and more information on Logic Studio can be found at www.apple.com/logicstudio. Logic Express, a streamlined and even more affordable version of Logic for GarageBand® users who want more power and control, will ship in August for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) and will be available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Final Cut Pro

Apple has updated its Final Cut Studio suite of professional creative applications with more than 100 new features, as well as new versions of its Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Color and Compressor applications.

Final Cut Pro 7 now supports most any workflow from any camera, and has an Easy Export feature that that is supposed to offer one step output to a wide range of formats as well as the capability to simultaneously work on a project as encoding is done in the background. Sequences can now be exported to YouTube, as well as Apple products such as Mobile Me, iPhone, iPod, and Apple TV, as well as DVD and now Blu-ray. It also has iChat Theater support so editors can collaborate with others on the project, sharing the same Final Cut Timeline and/or source clips; ProRes Proxy editing that offers offline and low bandwidth mobile editing support; ProRes LT for general purpose editing; and ProRes 444, which enables editing and visual effects creation at the highest qualities. Other features include a new clip speed tool that enables you to change the speed of a clip, alpha transitions for creating effects with moving mattes, and full, native support for Panasonic’s AVC-Intra cameras.

Motion 4 has been updated with support for 3D shadows, reflections and depth of field, the addition of point and spot lights for realistic shadow creation and reflective surfacing, and the capability to highlight a single object or utilizing multiple objects to create a racking focus effect.

Soundtrack Pro 3 features a voice level match tool that extracts vocal volume information from one clip and applies it to another without the need to change other audio content. According to Apple, this gives editors the capability to fine tune volume adjustments by targeting certain frequencies without affecting dialog. A new Time Stretch feature can stretch and compress audio using Apple designed algorithms or third party algorithms.

Color 1.5 is now compatible with a larger number of Final Cut Pro sequences and effects; offers support for 4K cameras such as the RED One, and can output directly to ProRes for HD or DPX. It now offers enhanced support for AVC-Intra, XDCAM 422 and ProRes 4444 formats.
Compressor 3.5 offers autodetect capabilities of QuickTime settings and enables you to create an Easy Export template or a mini “droplet” enabling you to automate Compressor actions so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time you have a Compressor job. Also new is a sharing option that enables you to publish your videos to YouTube and Mobile Me, and export to Ipod, iPhone, non-Apple phones, and Apple TV, or burn to DVD or Blu Ray disc.

Final Cut Server has also been updated with new features such as offline editing with ProRes Proxy, media organization capabilities, and support for still sequences for viewing and managing image sequences. It now features unlimited client licenses and is priced at $999 ($299 for existing users).

Final Cut Studio is priced at $999. Upgrades are priced at $299. For more information, visit www.apple.com