This excerpt taken from Electronic Musician and Disc Makers’ new Personal Studio Series publication, The Complete Recording Guide.
Imagine that you have finished tracking your latest project, and the time has come to mix. You’ve got the vocals sounding clear and lively, the guitar and bass tones are just right, but no amount of processing makes the drums sound like you want them to. Although the drummer’s performance was fine, you might be wishing you had captured it differently. Wouldn’t it be great if you could change the drum sounds without rerecording the track?
Drum replacement, a technique that Roger Nichols pioneered in the studio with Steely Dan in the late ‘70s, has long helped engineers and producers fix problem drum tracks in pro studios. Drum replacement is invaluable when your original choice of drums and miking techniques leaves you with sounds that don’t quite fit the mix.
The idea of drum replacement is to double, or sometimes replace, a subpar drum track using a second track of high-quality samples. In this introduction, I’ll show you how to replace kick and snare tracks manually, semiautomatically with MIDI, and with an automatic replacer plug-in. Although the kick and snare are not the only replaceable drums in the kit, their sounds are often most prominent in mixes: replacing these drums is often enough to bring the rest of the drum mix in line.
Like any fix-it-in-the-mix technique, drum replacement is more time-consuming than recording the instruments right the first time, and some problems are just too big for it. Nonetheless, the following tools and techniques are worth learning to use, particularly if the physical limitations of your personal studio make drums tough to record well.
Replacement done right
A natural sound is the hallmark of successful drum replacement. No one who listens to your song should be able to tell you’ve replaced the drums. That means you must retain a part’s groove and the dynamics of the drummer’s performance. The simpler the drum part is dynamically and rhythmically, the easier drum replacement is to perform. However, even somewhat intricate parts may be replaced using the right tools and a little patience.
Your replacement track must blend seamlessly with the other tracks in your drum mix: each drum sample must sound like it was part of the drummer’s original kit. The best way to do this is to combine the original and replacement drum audio in the final mix. This reinforcement approach preserves some of the leakage that is characteristic of live drum recording and often helps replacement tracks sound natural.
For the purpose of drum replacement, all drum sounds have two basic elements. First, there is the attack transient produced by the drummer’s stick or bass drum beater striking the head. Second, a resonant tone with sustain and decay characteristics follows the transient. The volume peak can coincide with the transient or it can be part of the tone, depending on the type of drum, hit, and recording method.
The first step in drum replacement is choosing the right replacement sounds. These may come from your own sessions or a drum sample library. Whatever the source, your replacement kick and snare should complement the tracks you want to replace, particularly if you adopt the reinforcement approach. Solo the kick or snare track, listen to it along with the rest of the drum mix, and then listen to it in the context of the main mix.
Focus on what you got right when tracking the drums, Do individual hits come through sharply? If so, select a replacement sample that enhances the drum tone and doesn’t have too much of a transient. Does your kick or snare sound good when you solo it but fail to cut through the main mix? In this case, the best replacement sample will have a sharp attack but will decay rapidly. If neither the attack nor the decay of your drum track sounds good to you, select a replacement sample that has it all, but try to use some of your original track to keep things sounding natural.
Disc Makers and Electronic Musician have teamed up to produce The Complete Recording Guide, a Personal Studio Series publication packed with tips and articles designed for anyone involved in audio recording. Whether you’re a musician, engineer, or producer, you’ll benefit from the in-depth information about digital workstations, preparing a master, post production, and more.
Features include:
• Building a Personal Studio on Any Budget
• Recording Excellent Guitar Tone Without Miking a Cabinet
• 12 Common Mixing Mistakes to Avoid
• Do-It-Yourself Mastering
• Successfully Marketing your Music Online
This excerpt taken from Electronic Musician and Disc Makers’ new Personal Studio Series publication, The Complete Recording Guide.
