Description
DRUMS RECORDING, EDITING AND MIXING
Author: Alessandro Fois
Contributions outside the text: Salvatore Corazza
Preface: Agostino Marangolo (Pino Daniele's "historical" drummer)
Format 21 x 29 cm (A4) – Page 294
Preface by Agostino Marangolo
Many professional recording studios have gradually ceased operations due to the recording industry crisis and the advent of low-cost digital recording. Consequently, the number of drummers, even professional ones, who record at home in their own more or less professionally equipped home studios has increased.
With the publication of this book Alessandro Fois seizes a propitious moment to support the nascent phonic competence of musicians, a subject which until now has been the prerogative of professional sound engineers only.
Personally, I found this "Manual" of his very interesting, especially in the chapter dedicated to recording where Alessandro, with great scrupulousness and without presumption, accompanies the reader through the various possibilities of positioning the microphones, managing the phases, and so on.
The book clarifies many obscure technical points that we drum professionals often fail to fully understand, sometimes forcing us to turn to a more competent sound engineer.
Alessandro, on the other hand, resolves any doubts through an effective exposition, leaving nothing out, leading us first to various topics of basic culture of the instrument (which also includes tuning criteria) and then to a large section of the book dedicated to the sonic management of the drum kit, through the various phases of recording, editing and mixing.
The book is written with great clarity and focuses on every detail of the subject, so both amateurs and professionals have a lot to learn, to properly set up their home studio and to acquire or improve their know-how.
Therefore, I highly recommend it to novice sound engineers and advanced home studio operators, as well as to drummers, even professional ones, who intend to try their hand directly at recording and processing the sound of their instrument.
Over the course of my career, I have recorded more than 350 albums in the best studios, from Milan to Capri, using the most skilled Italian and foreign sound engineers. In the pages of this book, I have found the same sound concepts, explained with expertise but also with relative simplicity, and I am convinced that it will be helpful to people who are not fully familiar with the criteria and tricks of the trade.
Agostino Marangolo
INDEX
Introduction 6
Preface by Agostino Marangolo 6
Author's Biography 8
Biography of Salvatore Corazza 10
Author's Notes 12
Acknowledgements 13
Index 14
Part A * General Culture on Drums 23
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BATTERY 25
Multicultural Roots 26
Percussion in ancient times 26
Use of percussion for military purposes 27
The Nineteenth Century 28
The modern battery 29
The invention of the bass drum pedal 29
Advent of the Hi-Hat 31
Modern Drums and Jazz 32
The modern set 32
The 1940s and be-bop 33
The Rock Era 34
The double pedal and customizations 36
Electronics 36
DRUM SET 39
Elements of the Acoustic Drum Set 40
Bass drum 40
Snare Drum 41
Tom Tom 43
Floor Tom 44
Hi-Hat 45
Crash Cymbal 45
Ride Cymbal 46
The 46 Chopsticks
Stool 49
The mechanics 49
How sound is produced 50
The vibration of the skin makes the entire drum sound. 50
Tuning changes the sound 50
Different tuning notes 51
The relationship between diameter, depth and sound 52
Various types of sets 53
Rock & pop 53
Jazz 53
Fusion 54
Heavy Metal 54
Country 55
Electronic and/or Hybrid 55
Construction features 56
Wood 56
Building 57
Finishing 60
Circles 61
TUNING AND SETTING UP THE DRUMS 65
The correct setup 66
How to tune drums 66
The TomTom 66
Sound Check 70
Let's tune the other drums 70
Bass drum 71
Snare Drum 71
The dampening of the drums 73
Snare Drum Damping 73
Tom tom damping 74
Bass Drum Damping 74
RHYTHM AND NOTATION 75
Rhythm and Groove 76
The 76th cadence
Accents, lines and movements 76
Subdivision of movements 77
The Groove of the ensemble 79
Dynamics, punctuation, poise 80
Musical notation for the drummer 82
Drum sheet music 82
Part B * Drum Sound Treatment 87
ACOUSTICS 89
Acoustics of the recording room 90
First reflections 90
Standing Waves and Bass Traps 92
Flutter echo 94
Battery position for microphone pickup 95
Reverberation times 97
Mobile panels and screens 97
DRUMS RECORDING 99
Multi-microphone recording 100
When to use multi-mic recording 100
Time lags and transients 100
Drum Kit Shooting Methods 101
Method A – Mono Panoramic Shooting 101
Method B – Phased stereo panorama recording 102
Method C – ORTF 103 Stereo Panoramic Recording
Method D – Stereo spaced panoramic shot 104
Method E – Mixed method with Close Mics 108
Method E1 – an environmental variant of the Mixed Method 112
Conclusion 112
The shot with close mics 113
Bass Drum 113
Snare Drum 116
Toms and Timpani 119
Hi hat 120
Ride 121
Other dishes 122
Choosing the shooting technique 123
Timing 125
DAW Settings 128
Bit 129
Sampling rate 131
Sound card 132
Input channels 132
Audio quality 135
Latency Management 136
Items that burden the CPU 136
Latency during recording 137
Organizing tracks on DAW 138
Example of track organization 139
Headphones and monitoring for the drummer 141
The drummer's headphones 141
Headphone and preamp impedance 143
Analog and digital level management 146
Analog input path 146
Analog output path 155
Phantom Processors 155
Advantages and disadvantages of Ghost processing 156
Guide tracks, clicks and pre-production 157
Playing in ensemble or overdubbing 157
Click 158
Guide track 158
Pre-Production 158
Rhythmic balance of the guide track 159
Click Balance 160
Help the drummer 161
Le takes 161
Hook and Insert 163
Final evaluations 164
DRUMS EDITING 165
Let's discover audio editing 166
Editing Techniques 166
Selection and editing takes 167
Insert registration 173
Surgical assembly 174
Timing 175
Cut & Move 176
Time Stretching and Time Expanding 176
Cleaning 182
USING GATE 183
What is Gate 184
Considerations for using Gate 185
Gate 186 controls
The Gate for the 190 battery
The Gate in Double-Miked Drums 190
The Gate for Toms 191
The gate for the bass drum 195
The gate for the snare drum 197
The gate for dishes 199
The gate in purist music 201
THE BATTERY MIX 203
Phase shift of HPF and LPF 204 filters
Preventive equalization 206
Preventive EQ for 208 drums
Bass Drum 209
Double track 210
Bass drum sound 212
Pre-EQ for the bass drum 213
Mix EQ for the Kick Drum 217
Dynamic Control 225
Pan-Pot 238
Reverb 238
Snare Drum 239
Double track 239
Preventive equalization 242
Mix Equalization 246
Dynamic Control 251
Pan-pot 258
Reverb 258
Hi Hat 259
Preventive equalization 260
Mix 260 Equalization
TomTom and Timpano 262
Double track for each drum 262
Preventive equalization 263
Mix Equalization 264
Dynamic Control 270
Pan-pot 274
Reverb 275
Overheads 276
Environmental Recovery 278
Stressed Dums 278
DRUMS STEMS IN MASTERING 281
What is Stem Mastering 282
Addition, Subtraction, and Substitution 283
Additive use 284
Subtractive Use 284
Replacement Use 284
How to properly export stems 285
The basic rules 286
Checking the stems 287
Stems mastering with Bus 288
Appendix 289
Monitoring Warnings 289
Conclusion 291
Contacts, Consultations and Licenses 291
Websites 292
Copyright 293
Biography of Agostino Marangolo
Agostino Marangolo was born into a family of musicians in Catania on June 25, 1953.
In 1969 he formed his first musical group, “Flea on the Honey” and later played with “Etna”.
In 1974 he joined “Goblin”, with Claudio Simonetti and Massimo Morante, where he remained until 1980.
In the same year he collaborated with “New Perigeo”, together with Giovanni Tommaso, Danilo Rea, Maurizio Giammarco and Carlo Pennisi.
In 1976 he recorded some songs with the Neapolitan band “Napoli Centrale” that would later become part of their second album called “Mattanza”.
He collaborated with Pino Daniele for the recordings of the following albums: “Pino Daniele” (1979), “Nero a metà” (1980), “Musicante” (1984) and “Schizzechea with love” (1988) where Agostino Marangolo was joined by the American drummer Steve Gadd.
He also took part in some tours of the Neapolitan artist Pino Daniele: “Sciò Live” (1984) and “Ricomincio da 30” (2008).
He has collaborated with Bruno Lauzi, Johnny Dorelli, Donatella Rettore, Angelo Branduardi, Antonello Venditti, Don Backy, Teresa De Sio, Eduardo De Crescenzo, Gigi D'Alessio, Anna Oxa, Riccardo Cocciante, Enzo Carella, Nino Buonocore, Riccardo Fogli, Edoardo Bennato, Niccolò Fabi, and Bungaro. Agostino Marangolo is an Evans endorser.
Biography of Salvatore Corazza
Drummer, Teacher and Producer
He provided various authorial contributions to this book
PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES
In the studio with:
Andrea Bocelli, Giorgia, Alex Baroni, Mike Francis, Paola Turci, Nini Rosso, Claudio Simonetti, Gegè Telesforo, Ben Sidran, Roberto Murolo, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Riccardo Fogli, Baraonna.
Tour around the world with:
“Il Volo World Tours” (for 4 years), Renato Zero, Andrea Bocelli, Ornella Vanoni, Fiorella Mannoia, Riccardo Cocciante, Mike Francis, Irene Grandi, Amii Stewart, Gegè Telesforo, Nini Rosso.
Orchestra conducted by Maestro Renato Serio for “Christmas in the Vatican”, for seven years with:
BB King, Manhattan Transfer, Randy Crawford, Mirelle Mathieu, Dionne Warwick, Miriam Makeba, Tom Jones, John Denver, Los Del Rio, Shola Hama, Nek, Spagna, Massimo Ranieri, Pooh, Gino Paoli, Amedeo Minghi, Patty Smith, Annie Lennox.
With the “Jubilee 2000” orchestra:
in Mondo Visione at Tor Vergata (Campus of the University of Rome) with 2,500,000 spectators.
In the orchestra for various television shows:
“Viva Napoli,” 3 editions with Maestro Peppe Vessicchio (featuring: Loredana Berté, Marcella, Mia Martini, Mango, Mariella Nava, Fausto Leali, Riccardo Fogli, Edoardo Bennato)
"Domenica In" and "Numero Uno" with Maestro Pippo Caruso
“Finally Friday” (Jonny Dorelli) with Maestro Augusto Martelli
“Carramba” with Maestro Tony De Vita
“La Corrida” with Maestro Pregadio
“Maurizio Costanzo Show” for 4 years with Maestro Demo Morselli
Orchestra “150 YEARS” (RAI) with Mario Biondi, Serena Autieri, Amii Stewart, Max Gazzè, “Christmas in the Vatican 2017”: Annie Lennox, Patty Smith, Alex Britti, Enrico Ruggeri.
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
He has taught and still teaches in various contexts:
Timba Schools, the historic Latin percussion school of the Roman capital
Percento Musica, one of Rome's most accredited professional schools.
Organizer of the Master Class in 10 Italian cities with Gary Chaffee, one of the most important references for drum teaching in the world (Berklee College of Music Boston) and with Peter Erskine (Weather Report).
PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES
He was the creator and producer of the Musica per i Borghi festival, for 10 years from 2003 to 2013 with the artistic direction of Maestro Vessicchio
Cast:
Ornella Vanoni, Giorgia, Pino Daniele, Mario Biondi, Fiorella Mannoia, Tosca, Edoardo Bennato, Max Gazzè, Concato, Ron and many other names from the Italian music scene.
Biography of Alessandro Fois
Alessandro Fois is a musician, composer, arranger, and sound engineer from Cagliari.
In Ivrea (Turin) he manages “Lycnos”, an audio, video and web services studio which includes the “Glamour Recording Studio” (Recording and Music Production Studio)
He also carries out various itinerant musical activities.
Technical and musical studies:
He studied piano, music theory and experimental composition at the Cagliari Conservatory.
Student in Bologna at the Sound Recording Course promoted by Fonoprint and Sony Italia.
Student of Mogol (and other related teachers) at the CET – European Centre of Toscolano, for the following subjects: Composition, Musical Arrangement.
Phonic activities:
He has been running his own audio recording studio since 1995, working daily as a sound engineer and also finding space to express his natural talent for music, arranging and artistic direction.
He is also occasionally involved in the sound management of live concerts.
Musical activities:
As a composer, arranger and pianist, he has to his credit an album of original instrumental music, of the genre defined as “New Generation Jazz” and entitled “Dialogue”, performed as a soloist in a Piano-Trio formation.
A second album of original songs is currently being composed.
Co-author of an original theatrical musical in the form of a “musical”, written in Limba and called “Boghes de Domo”, for which he was also co-director, co-producer and one of the main performers during some of the subsequent productions.
Author and arranger of music for various Italian artists, Rai television soundtracks, and advertising music.
A professional pianist and singer in the tourism sector, he has played for many years in various European locations, with seasonal engagements in top-tier hotels.
Professional pianist and singer in entertainment, performing at high-profile public, private, and corporate events.
He was the director of some choral groups and a composer of music for choir.
He was the producer and artistic-musical director of several music and art shows.
Teaching:
He taught the subject “audio and sound recording” for vocational schools.
He has conducted various seminars and private courses in audio recording, mixing and mastering, as well as musical arrangement and orchestration.
He has taught piano and music theory for the music school run by ACLI in Cagliari and for other music schools, as well as private lessons. Bibliography:
Book works created
SERIES: AUDIO ENGINEERING – AUDIO MANUALS FOR THE SOUND ENGINEER
Digital Audio Recording Manual
Digital Audio Editing Manual
Digital Audio Mixing Manual
Digital Audio Mastering Manual
Home Studio for Digital Audio Recording
OTHER
Equalization in the audio mix
Compression in the audio mix
Voice Recording, Editing and Mixing
Drum recording, editing and mixing
Publish, Sell and Promote Your Music
COMING SOON
Classical, Acoustic, and Electric Guitar: Recording and Mixing
Grand Piano Recording and Mixing
Author's Notes
At the 1st Edition of September 2020
With this volume I aimed to provide concrete and simple help aimed at quickly obtaining professional-level results even during amateur or semi-professional productions, as happens in home studios.
It is aimed primarily at amateur and semi-professional sound engineers, but also at all drummers.
Lately, a growing number of drummers have equipped their rehearsal rooms with a multitrack recording system. Some of them offer drum-only recording services, even online. They too can benefit from the guidance in this manual.
It covers all the topics related to the treatment of the drums in the phonic field, during recording, editing, and mixing.
To complete the basic culture for the sound engineer, a first part of the book has been developed with the aim of providing a quick overview of the drum kit from a historical and structural point of view.
The notes on the instrument's setup and tuning procedures will be especially useful to sound engineers working in a home studio with a resident drum kit, but even for those who don't own a drum kit, it will be an interesting topic to develop, in order to better communicate with the drummer when setting up a recording session.
The manual will be most useful to those who have already acquired some practice in recording and mixing, while it will be more difficult for novices.
Some more experienced sound engineers may smile at some of the expository simplifications, aimed at making the material accessible, but perhaps they will still enjoy reading these pages as a mental "review" exercise.
Alessandro Fois
Italian 
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