Hire us to create professional drum tracks for your project.
We are happy to take detailed instructions and follow them exactly, or to impart our own creativity to your music to make the drum parts you need for your music project.
There are a few ways we can work with you to provide drum parts.
- send a demo of your song and receive the matching drum tracks or stems
- visit the studio to demonstrate your songs
- record drums with your band live at the studio
Give us song references for what you want the drums to sound like, or what groove you want us to replicate. Give us as much or as little instruction as you want.
We offer two types of drum tracks, real drums recorded at our studio, and programmed drums made with drum samples.
Real Drums
We perform the drum part for your music project using professional drums and microphones in an acoustically treated studio. We have drums and spaces to achieve any sound, and we can perform your drum tracks with the feel you want, from conservative to serious attitude. The drum track recording will be custom-made for your needs. And if you don't know what you need, we will provide tracks that are typical for your genre.
We can provide either completely unmixed individual raw tracks for your own mix engineer to import into thier mix session, or mixed stems ready for use with your other tracks, or both.
Programmed Drums
We program the drum part using high-quality samples. We apply our real-life drumming experience to create a realistic drum part. Programmed drums can be indistiguishable from real drum recordings.
There are several benefits of programmed drums which all come down to cost savings. A few benefits of programmed drums are: they require less mixing, they give the mix engineer more control over each drum and cymbal, they allow easy editing at a later date, the song tempo can be changed without affecting the drum tones, they don't require the intensive setup and recording process of real drums, drum samples can be swapped at anytime if a different drum tone is desired.
What You Get
We will provide an individual audio file for each microphone, and a stereo mix. The stereo mix can be raw or fully mixed to suit your project. The drum tracks will be custom-made for your needs. And if you don't know what you need, we will provide tracks that are typical for your genre.
Typical Drum Tracks
- kick in
- kick out
- snare top
- snare bottom
- tom 1
- tom 2
- tom 3
- overhead L
- overhead R
- room 1
- room 2
Glyn Johns Method
For a retro drum tone, the Glyn Johns method is a pared down approach, using the minimal number of microphones.
- kick
- overhead L
- overhead R
Drum Set Optional Add-on Tracks
- hi-hat
- ride
- snare variation
- additional toms
- additional room mics
- heart mic
Percussion
- timpani
- marimba
- xylophone
- orchestra chimes
- orchestra bells
- cymbals & gongs
- congas
- timbales
- shaker
- tambourine
- ask about others
We love recording drums and percussion, and are well-suited for drum set recording. Recording Drums at Recording Recording
Should You Record to A Click Track
It depends on your project's needs and your musical vision. I will suggest using a click track for two reasons.
First, it makes the recording and production process much easier (saves you money). It is much easier to edit and add to songs that use a click because the tempo is known and consistent. For example, if pieces from multiple takes are needed, they will all have the same tempo.
Second, modern music listeners are accustomed to perfectly timed music. So when music fluctuates in tempo it can be jarring or sound unprofessional.
If you have a song that changes tempo or time signature, we can create a tempo map to align perfectly with those changes so everyone can play perfectly in sync. See our advice on How Tempo Maps and Scratch Tracks Enhance Your Drum Recording
What Happens After Recording
After recording, we either give you the raw recorded files, or we perform the additional services needed to complete your project.
- Editing: removing errors, noises, and dead space
- Timing Corrections: fixing timing problems
- Alignment: fixing alignment of drums and/or other instruments
- Mixing: transforming the raw recording into a polished, finished product
- Mastering: preparing final levels for release
- Sharing: formatting and releasing your files to you, your distributor, etc.
Are All These Steps Necessary
Sharing is the only necessary service. If you're unsure which services you need, we'll advise you in advance of your recording session. We'll even help you plan your project before you arrive so you can get the most out of your time at the studio.