My good golly gosh! This week, we talk about recording the drums for Seven Shades. It was a horrendous affair that took four sessions in total, so let’s get on it.
Seven Shades drums: rig run down
- Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone
- IK Multimedia iRig Pre audio interface
- Beyerdynamic DT-240 Pro headphones
- MXL V67G microphone
- Pig Hog 10ft XLR cable
- Kolb Real Drum app
- Audio Evolution Mobile for Android DAW app
- BandLab free, online, in-browser DAW, and companion app
And that’s it. Obviously, a pretty simple setup, for what was a complex affair.
Recording
Session one
Firstly, I did as previous drums sessions, and went to Astoria SoundWorks to record drums myself.
As usual, I followed these steps…
- Set up my hardware in the usual way – in this case, it was the mic, iRig, headphones, and XLR cable
- Then, I did the necessary admin, so created a new track in BandLab
- Finally, I recorded the scratch track!
Previously, I booked an hour for only $10; then confirmed the sound in my head, and recorded it, within the hour.
But, on this occasion, it just wasn’t happening. Surprisingly for me, I just couldn’t for the life of me translate the drums in my head to the recording. Of course this was infuriating…
I finished the session without a decent take of any one little bit of the song. Therefore, it was a waste of time and money… which is what we’re trying to avoid in light audio recording.
Second session
After my own effort was such a disaster, I went back to Steve. Steve, you may remember, was the drummer I found through BandLab’s Creator Connect function, when I was recording the last project.
Steve gave it a shot. By his own admission, it wasn’t normally what he played. And unfortunately, when I listened back, I wasn’t feeling it either.
Immediately after, I had my break for marriage and honeymoon. So, it was on hold for a while.
Third session
Next, I decided to have another go at recording it myself.
But before that, I tapped out what I wanted to do play using the Real Drum app. I wanted to make sure the sound in my head actually fit the project and the tempo and click I recorded the scratch to. Perhaps those weren’t right for what I was trying to do?
So, I did that, and it looked and sounded like this…
So, off I went again to Astoria SoundWorks. And I repeated what I did in the first session.
And, I finished up thinking, “Yeah – none of the takes were perfect, but I can cobble together a drums track!”
However, listening back at home, it turned out the gain on the iRig had been too low, and the volume on my phone had been too high.
To clarify, when I was getting the level, the iRig would only seem to be too low, or too high. To make sure I avoid the risk of clipping, I opted for too low.
At the same time, drums are not a quiet instrument. So, I gave the volume on my phone plenty so I could hear it with the drums.
The mic picked up the click and scratch tracks, and the level on the drums was so low, the click and scratch tracks were just as loud as the drums.
So, unfortunately, this meant the drums I recorded were unusable.
I suspect leakage from my new headphones in the culprit…
Fourth session
Finally, armed with more lessons learned, I knew I had to make this the final effort, or I’d never get the next post about recording written!
Instead of fannying about with cameras to video what I was doing, I just went straight in and focused on the drums for Seven Shades.
This allowed me to give a little more time to my levels and double check what I recorded.
I kept three takes. And out of all that, all that was usable was…
- One two bar section of the intro/chorus
- One two bar section of the verse
- One pre-chorus section
- One bar of the cymbal-laden fill at the end of the first chorus
- One fill – recorded separately to the rest of the drums, used at before the final choruses, and at the very end of the track
Obviously, this meant a LOT of editing. It was a mess and a ballache, and at one stage it looked like this:
Seven Shades drums: conclusion
To conclude, recording drums for Seven Shades was a nightmare. But, lessons were learned, particularly in terms of the leakage from my new headphones.
However, eventually, I did get a passable drums track, and here it is!
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