Recording

Tracking Drums

Steve Albini

Duration:2h28 Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese

Description

Join us at Studios La Fabrique for a comprehensive tutorial on drum recording techniques! Hosted by the legendary rock engineer Steve Albini, this video series dives into great detail on tracking a drum kit in fully analog fashion with a Neve 88R console and Studer A800 MKIII tape machine. Albini takes you through his microphone preferences and positioning for bass drum, snare, toms, overheads, stereo drum kit, and room ambience. He gives concise reasoning for the types of microphone used and their placement, while suggesting suitable alternatives. Furthermore, he reveals his clever processing techniques to reduce bleed, enhance natural reverb, control dynamics, optimise phase relationships, and more. He demonstrates the use of his techniques by recording a live drummer, and draws diagrams on a white board to clearly impart his extensive knowledge!

Show more

25 min

Part 1

Bass drum – resonant & beater side, attack & sustain, mic preferences, phase, signal ducking
16 min

Part 2

Snare – top & bottom side, condenser vs. dynamic mics, separation, positioning, expansion
16 min

Part 3

Toms – perspective, mic pairs, level blending, summing, polarity, mic preferences
12 min

Part 4

Overheads & Stereo Room – cymbal capture, high end detail, peak limiting, Blumlein
13 min

Part 5

Ambient Pair – distance, bandwidth, elevation, Haas effect, boundary principle, delay
05 min

Part 6

Internal phase relationships, absolute & microphone polarity, amplifier stages
21 min

Part 7

Signal flow to console & tape, VU & peak metering, processing, calibration, recording
08 min

Part 8

Compressor circuitry, parameters, preferred settings, limiting, dual mono vs. stereo
12 min

Part 9

Room ambience, studio design, reflections, acoustic treatment, symmetry, material
04 min

Part 10

Demonstration of simplified recording setup using only three microphones
11 min

Part 11

Diagrams of ambient mic positioning with regards to boundary principle & Haas effect
Trailer

Comments

(26)

August 6, 2025 at 12:12 PM

If you have the beater mic (the lavalier) and the figure 8 mic inside, but you reverse the polarity of either mic, surely the resonant head portion of the figure 8 is then lost?
Jesse Quin May 28, 2025 at 9:58 PM

What a legend. I love it when he just pulls a 421 out of nowhere. Such a detailed and useful class.
Chase kochis October 18, 2025 at 4:56 AM

ik did he just have it in his pocket the entire video?? I dont understand, so funny
Teemu Toropainen April 26, 2025 at 6:27 PM

He was a great teacher for sure but I'll never understand why mix from the drummers perspective as the vast majority of the listening audience are not drummers. Why do it just to please the drummer in the band.
Soren Persing April 27, 2025 at 3:14 AM

This comment has been deleted.

Soren Persing April 27, 2025 at 3:30 AM

Because that's not why he does it. In one of his seminars 20 years ago which you can find on Youtube -- he describes the drums as sort of like a piano. The vast majority of the listening audience ALSO aren't piano players, but no one ever complains about piano player listener / audience perspective. Instead, most recordings that feature stereo piano just take the listeners perspective, often L-R. It simply sounds strange and artificial to hear a glissando on a piano going from R-L if the pitches are backwards. The entire "drummer perspective" vs "listener perspective" argument is so contentious and not based in a lot of acoustic reality. No audience *ever* REALLY hears drums going from R-L OR L-R.Vance Powell said -- they hear the drums in FRONT and in the CENTER of them, of them, with light stereo spray in their ears. (If it's a jazz room recording, maybe they hear the whole kit off to one side or another.) To capture how an "audience" hears drums, pan it center, or use a stereo mic in front of the drum kit. The drummer DOES hear his kit going from L-R or R-L (depending if he's a lefty or righty) but EVEN THEN -- a drummer is experiencing such a forceful sound in their chest, and its so loud, the sensation is STILL largely mono. So if you really want "realism" -- put an M/S pair or a binaural head either in front of the kit, where steve had it, or over the drummers shoulder. It is absolutely the most realistic sound. If you like the song feeling super dry and hearing all the toms with their own separate space in the stereo field, like steely dan, fine. But the whole idea that "drummer perspective is not how most people hear it" is bollocks. Neither the drummer NOR the audience hears the drums as "R-L Steely Dan extreme panning". It just got popularized over such a long amount of time people started to standardize on it and not question it further. Note, Steve also is NOT saying he NEVER mixes other ways -- he's saying he STARTS from the drummers perspective, and if the band wants something different, he'll do it. But this brings me to the third and most important answer about "Why do it just to please the drummer in the band". Because you, as an engineer, are being paid by the drummer, the musicians, and the others to record THEM -- in a way that THEY are satisfied with. And it makes perfect sense to have (AS A STARTING POINT) the overheads panned left to right. It establishes a good baseline, and will not feel alien to them. It's just respectful. You would do this for any band member. Most people who listen to an electric guitar are hearing it at some distance. Why not just record all guitars super far away -- because thats the way the rest of the world hears it? After all, nobody listens to a guitar amp with their ear stuck up right on the speaker cone. But thats most peoples favorite mic position on a guitar cab. There's nothing wrong with stylization. But he's just saying, "I start from the most natural place for the musician, and work out from that." Its a balance. Thats why. And also: it's just common sense. Maybe you mix from the drummers perspective to start with also just becausebecause the drummer is the one who is paying you to record him/her playing their instrument. And the same goes for every other player. Start on a familiar foot with your clients. Don't make them conform to you. Try to capture what THEY hear first. Then, you can stylize it easier after that if you want to go for something a bit more surreal and less lifelike. Nothing wrong with that.
Guillaume Plancke May 21, 2024 at 5:40 PM

Hey ! I'm the drummer playing in this video. Just wanna say that it was an incredible experience, with one of the most kind and interesting dude I ever met. RIP Steeve.
Andre Hines March 14, 2024 at 5:06 AM

It's so frustrating that all of the recording videos don't show any of the meters and their levels. How hard are they hitting the inputs? driving preamp Levels? Driving Line Out Levels?
Gyom Amphoux January 27, 2024 at 4:21 PM

So good! Super detailed. One of the best drum miking and recording video on this site!!
sofia velarde December 29, 2023 at 4:53 PM

Best if the best, thanks Steve!
John Pedigo August 24, 2023 at 8:26 PM

Does this guy like to party or what? LOVE these videos. The most technical and insightful I've seen on this site and several things I've put into use immediately. Thanks Steve!
ramin partovi August 14, 2023 at 11:57 PM

Masterclass indeed
Jason Kronick August 12, 2023 at 3:55 PM

Thank you steve! love the detail
Wayan Raabe August 16, 2022 at 10:37 PM

My head is smoldering like a chimney. Sooooo good!!! Thanks a lot! And btw: what's the track in the trailer?
Joaquin Aldas Valls July 4, 2022 at 2:24 AM

Te la menge. Who puts 11 Parts? Steve.
Andrés Martínez Herranz December 21, 2020 at 9:55 PM

Yes! More Steve Albini videos please!
Orlando Regidor October 31, 2020 at 5:45 PM

Extraordinario. Un abanico de grandes ideas y procedimientos que abren la imaginación. Gracias MwtM por tan valioso material.
Rodrigo Figueiredo August 31, 2020 at 1:23 PM

I’m a big fan of Steve Albini sound!

About Steve Albini

Steve Albini was a well-known engineer, mixer, and studio owner who lived and worked at Electric Audio studio in Chicago, Illinois. Steve Albini was also the guitarist and main singer of the grunge band Shellac. Albini continued to work almost entirely in the analogue domain, being known for recording "live in the studio" as much as possible. He also placed particular emphasis on the selection and use of microphones in achieving a desired sound, and to best capture the ambience. In 2004, Albini...

No resources available

25 min

Part 1

Bass drum – resonant & beater side, attack & sustain, mic preferences, phase, signal ducking
16 min

Part 2

Snare – top & bottom side, condenser vs. dynamic mics, separation, positioning, expansion
16 min

Part 3

Toms – perspective, mic pairs, level blending, summing, polarity, mic preferences
12 min

Part 4

Overheads & Stereo Room – cymbal capture, high end detail, peak limiting, Blumlein
13 min

Part 5

Ambient Pair – distance, bandwidth, elevation, Haas effect, boundary principle, delay
05 min

Part 6

Internal phase relationships, absolute & microphone polarity, amplifier stages
21 min

Part 7

Signal flow to console & tape, VU & peak metering, processing, calibration, recording
08 min

Part 8

Compressor circuitry, parameters, preferred settings, limiting, dual mono vs. stereo
12 min

Part 9

Room ambience, studio design, reflections, acoustic treatment, symmetry, material
04 min

Part 10

Demonstration of simplified recording setup using only three microphones
11 min

Part 11

Diagrams of ambient mic positioning with regards to boundary principle & Haas effect
Trailer