Drum Signal Chain Hierarchy – Part 1: The Source Matters Most

Often, I will get a question from younger players and engineers about the most important part of the drum signal chain. While everyone certainly has their valid opinions, this is my blog and today, we’ll be talking about mine. I feel there is a hierarchy of the recording signal chain from most to least important: the source, the mics, the pres, and the converters (assuming digital recording here). Today, we focus on the source.

Before I had a lot of recording experience, I always felt that the gear was what made the difference. I was sure that if I had THIS pre or THIS compressor that I was assured of sonic gold. Not true. I have found this out the hard way. I have heard my drums recorded well with little in the way of drool-worthy equipment. I have also seen and heard really poor recordings cut at major studios with huge consoles and racks loaded with gear.

Obviously, gear DOES play a role and knowing how to use it effectively is paramount. But, even the best gear can’t make an an old beater garage-sale drum set sound like a well-maintained, well-tuned drum kit with new heads. Likewise, while lower end gear won’t sound as nice as the high end stuff, it won’t ruin a great sounding kit with a great player at the helm. So, the first priority in a great drum recording is a great sounding set of drums. If you find yourself in a session with competent professionals and the producer and engineer don’t like the snare sound they’re getting, they will likely ask you to change snares before they tweak gear mercilessly in search of the target sound. Gear can add fatness to a snare sound, but cannot make a piccolo snare sound fat.

If the first priority of having a good recording source is a good sounding set of drums, the second is definitely the player. A good player knows how to balance himself or herself at the drums. Even the best gear cannot remove hi hat from the room and overhead mics if the player hits the hats too hard when he or she plays. The best gear cannot create the crack of a rimshot backbeat if the player has a light touch on the snare. If the player can’t pull the tone out of the toms, no amount of eq will put the tone back.

Essentially, you can’t record something you don’t have. You need a good source to record to have a great drum sound. Once you have a great sounding kit and a good, experienced player, you can move on to miking things well. More on that part of the drum signal chain next week.