Description
DRUM RECORDING, EDITING AND MIXING
Author: Alessandro Fois
Out-of-text contributions: Salvatore Corazza
Preface: Agostino Marangolo
Format 21 x 29 cm (A4) - 294 pages
Preface by Agostino Marangolo
Many professional recording studios have gradually ceased operations due to the recording crisis and the advent of low-cost digital, and as a result, more and more drummers, even professionals, are recording at home, in their own home studio set up in a more or less professional manner.
With the publication of this book, Alessandro Fois therefore seizes a propitious moment to support the emerging phonic competence of musicians, a subject hitherto the preserve 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 thoroughness and without presumption, takes the reader through the various possibilities of positioning microphones and managing phases, and so on.
The book clarifies many obscure points of a technical nature that we drum professionals often do not fully understand, sometimes forcing us to turn to a more competent sound engineer.
Instead, Alessandro resolves any doubts through effective exposition, leaving nothing out, leading us first to various topics of basic instrument culture (which also includes tuning criteria) and then to a large part of the book dedicated to the phonic management of drums, through the various stages of recording, editing and mixing.
The book is written with great clarity and goes into every detail of the subject, so for the amateur as well as the professional there is plenty to learn, to set up your home studio correctly and to acquire or improve your know-how.
I therefore highly recommend it to novice sound engineers and advanced home studio operators, as well as to drummers, even at a professional level, should they wish to try their hand at recording and sound processing their instrument.
In the course of my career, I have recorded more than 350 records in the best studios, from Milan to Capri, availing myself of the most talented Italian and foreign sound engineers. In the pages of this book, I have found the same phonic concepts, exposed with competence but also with relative simplicity, and I am convinced that it will be of help 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 Battery 23
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BATTERY 25
Multicultural roots 26
Percussion in ancient times 26
Use of percussion for military purposes 27
The 19th 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 Age of Rock 34
The double pedal and customisation 36
Electronics 36
THE DRUM SET 39
Elements of Acoustic Drumming 40
Bass drum 40
Snare drum 41
Tom Tom 43
Floor Tom 44
Hi-Hat 45
Crash Cymbal 45
Ride Cymbal 46
Chopsticks 46
Stool 49
Mechanics 49
How the sound is produced 50
The vibration of the skin makes the whole drum sound. 50
Tuning modifies 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 characteristics 56
Wood 56
Construction 57
Finishing 60
Rims 61
DRUM TUNING AND TUNING 65
Correct tuning 66
How to tune the drums 66
I tomtom 66
Sound verification 70
Tuning the other drums 70
Grancassa 71
Snare drum 71
Drumming 73
Snare drum damping 73
Tom tom damping 74
Bass drum damping 74
RHYTHM AND NOTATION 75
Rhythm and groove 76
Cadence 76
Accents, beats and movements 76
Subdivision of movements 77
The Overall Groove 79
Dynamics, punctuation, poise 80
Musical notation for the drummer 82
The drum kit 82
Part B * Phonic Treatment of Drums 87
ACUSTICS 89
Shooting room acoustics 90
First reflections 90
Standing waves and bass traps 92
Flutter echo 94
Drum position for microphone pick-up 95
Reverberation times 97
Mobile panels and screens 97
BATTERY RECORDING 99
The multi-microphone 100
When to use multi-microphone 100
Time lags and transients 100
Drumming Methods 101
Method A - Panoramic Shot Mono 101
Method B - Stereo Phased Panoramic Shot 102
Method C - Stereo Panoramic Shot ORTF 103
Method D - Stereo Spaced Panoramic Shot 104
Method E - Mixed Method with Close Mics 108
Method E1 - set variant of Mixed Method 112
Conclusion 112
Shooting with close mics 113
Grancassa 113
Snare drum 116
Toms and Timpani 119
Hi hat 120
Ride 121
Other dishes 122
Choice of shooting technique 123
Fascia 125
DAW 128 settings
Bit 129
Sampling frequency 131
Sound card 132
Input channels 132
Audio quality 135
Latency management 136
CPU elements 136
Latency during recording 137
Organisation of tracks on daw 138
Example of track organisation 139
Headphones and monitoring for the drummer 141
The drummer's headphone 141
Headphone and preamplifier impedance 143
Management of analogue and digital levels 146
Analogue input path 146
Analogue output path 155
Ghost 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 159 tramline
Click Balance 160
Helping the drummer 161
Le takes 161
Hook and Insert 163
Concluding remarks 164
BATTERY EDITING 165
Let's discover audio editing 166
Editing techniques 166
Selection and editing takes 167
Insert 173
Surgical assembly 174
Timing 175
Cut & Move 176
Time Stretching and Time Expanding 176
Cleaning 182
USE OF GATE 183
What is Gate 184
Considerations on the use of Gate 185
Gate 186 controls
The Battery Gate 190
The Gate in Double Microphone Drums 190
The Gate for toms 191
The gate for bass drum 195
The snare drum gate 197
The gate for dishes 199
The gate in purist music 201
BATTERY MIX 203
HPF and LPF Filter Phase Shift 204
Preventive equalisation 206
Preventive equalisation for drums 208
Grancassa 209
Double track 210
Bass drum sound 212
Preventive equalisation for bass drum 213
Mix equalisation for bass drum 217
Dynamic control 225
Pan-Pot 238
Reverberation 238
Snare drum 239
Double track 239
Preventive equalisation 242
Mix equalisation 246
Dynamic control 251
Pan-pot 258
Reverberation 258
Hi Hat 259
Preventive equalisation 260
Equalisation of Mix 260
TomTom and Timpano 262
Double track for each drum 262
Preventive equalisation 263
Mix 264 equalisation
Dynamic control 270
Pan-pot 274
Reverb 275
Over Heads 276
Environmental recovery 278
Stressed Dums 278
DRUM STEMS IN MASTERING 281
What is Stem Mastering 282
Addition, subtraction and substitution 283
Additive use 284
Subtractive use 284
Substitute use 284
How to export stems correctly 285
The ground rules 286
Verification of stems 287
Stems mastering with Bus 288
Appendix 289
Warnings on Monitoring 289
Conclusion 291
Contacts, Advice and Licences 291
Websites 292
Copyright 293
Biography of Agostino Marangolo
Agostino Marangolo was born into a family of musicians in Catania on 25 June 1953.
He formed his first band, 'Flea on the Honey' in 1969 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, with the Neapolitan band 'Napoli Centrale', some songs that would become part of their second album called 'Mattanza'.
He collaborated with Pino Daniele on 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 American drummer Steve Gadd.
He also took part in some of Neapolitan artist Pino Daniele's tours: '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, Bungaro. Agostino Marangolo is an Evans 'endorser'.
Biography of Salvatore Corazza
Drummer, Teacher and Producer
He made several authorial contributions to this book
PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES
In 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.
Tours 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, Spain, 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 orchestra for various TV shows:
"Viva Napoli", 3 editions with Maestro Peppe Vessicchio (with the participation of: 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 ANNI" (RAI) with Mario Biondi, Serena Autieri, Amii Stewart, Max Gazzè, "Natale in Vaticano 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 drumming school in the Roman capital
Percento Musica, one of the most accredited professional schools in Rome.
Organiser in 10 Italian cities of the Master Class with Gary Chaffee, one of the most important references in 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 festival Musica per i Borghi, for 10 years from 2003 to 2013 under the artistic direction of Maestro Vessicchio
Artistic cast:
Ornella Vanoni, Giorgia, Pino Daniele, Mario Biondi, Fiorella Mannoia, Tosca, Edoardo Bennato, Max Gazzè, Concato, Ron and many other names on the Italian scene.
Biography of Alessandro Fois
Alessandro Fois is a musician, composer, arranger and sound engineer from Cagliari.
In Ivrea (Turin), it manages 'Lycnos', an audio, video and web services studio of which the 'Glamour Recording Studio' (Recording and Music Production Studio) is a part.
It also performs various touring 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 C.E.T. - Centro Europeo di 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 room to express his natural talent for music, arranging and art direction.
He is also occasionally involved in the sound management of live concerts.
Musical activities:
As a composer, arranger and pianist, he has an album of original instrumental music to his credit, in 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 work 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 staging.
Author and arranger of music for various Italian artists, RAI television soundtracks, music for advertising.
Pianist and professional singer in the tourism field, he has played for several years in various European locations, with seasonal engagements in hotels of the highest level.
Professional pianist and singer in entertainment at high-profile public, private and corporate events.
He has been conductor of several choral ensembles and composer of music for choirs.
He was producer and artistic-musical director of several music and art shows.
Lectures:
He was a lecturer for 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 gave piano and music theory lessons for the music school run by ACLI in Cagliari and for other music schools, as well as private lessons.Bibliography:
Realised book works
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
SOON TO BE PUBLISHED
Classical, Acoustic and Electric Guitar: Recording and Mixing
Recording and Mixing the Grand Piano
Author's Notes
To the 1st Edition in September 2020
With this volume, I set out to provide concrete and simple help aimed at quickly obtaining professional-level results even during amateur or semi-professional production, such as in home studios.
It is primarily aimed at amateur and semi-professional sound engineers, but also at all drummers.
Lately there has been an increasing number of drummers who have equipped their rehearsal rooms with a multi-track recording system. Some of them offer a drumming-only recording service, even online. These, too, will benefit from the indications in this manual.
It covers all topics related to the treatment of drums in the sound environment, during recording, editing, mixing.
To complete the basic culture for the sound engineer, a first part of the book was developed to provide a quick overview of the drums from a historical and structural point of view.
The notes on tuning and instrument tuning procedures will be especially welcome for sound engineers working in a home studio with a resident drum kit, but also for those who do not own a drum kit it will be an interesting topic to develop, in order to be able to communicate better with the drummer during the set-up of a recording session.
The manual will be most useful for 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 expository simplifications aimed at making the subject matter accessible, but they may still enjoy reading these pages as a mental 'review' exercise.
Alessandro Fois
Alessandro Fois
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