recording

[palacki808]

John, I just wanted to thank you for what you had posted concerning recording techniques for a cocktail set. The engineer looked over what you posted and used most of it. Especially, the room mic added alot of depth when combined with the overheads in a fairly large room with a high ceiling (baffles are on the walls as well). There were no phasing problems at all.

The engineer was very interested as he had never recorded a cocktail set before. He didn't need to do much with the tuning once I changed the heads, seems for recording a coated pinstripe works excellent on the bottom.

Overall sound came out great. I am very happy with how the recording is going. My part is finished as of yesterday and your comments made things alot easier to get the sound I was looking for. Thanks again.

-Joe

[jmettam]

Great Joe!

I'm so glad it all worked out for you. I have to say that besides open minded drummers, the right kind of engineers (ones that likes a challenge) are the people that seem to get the most excited about Cocktail Drums! Their are cool and funky but are so rewarding when they work out right. I am glad that the comments posted by everyone were helpful. We're getting quit a club of experts here. Please let us know if you put any previes of yor tracks up on the web (or if you manage to get hold of some soloed cocktail drum tracks!)

Keeps us posted as the recording gets finished.

- John

[palacki808]

There should be clips on www.neonswing.com within the next month. The entire album was recorded with my cocktail set and it sounds great thanks to the comments and suggestions on this site coupled with the sound engineer's hard work and knowledge of drum tuning (he is quite an impressive drummer himself).

Thanks again to John and everyone who posted help on this subject.

-Joe

[mangorockfish]

Hey Joe,
Did you use a seperate snare or the main drum with the snare(s) on? I cannot get a good sound out of my main drum as a snare. Probably the head combination and the tuning and maybe the length of the snare wires.

[palacki808]

I use both the main drum and a separate snare depending on the song. Top head of the main drum (evans genera) is muffled at a medium tension. Bottom head (coated pinstripe) almost wrinkled its so loose. No baffle... yet.

I still have not taken all the buzz out of the drum, but I have found that you can significantly cut down the buzz by tuning. A little muffling on the top with gaff tape and a clean piece of material cut from a sock helps too. Although I used to like just a little buzz in the drum when I kick it, after hearing Dinkus's drum I may change my mind.

When I use a separate snare with the main drum tuned like a tom I end up leaving both heads fairly loose with the muffling off. Make sure if you do muffle your drum to use gaff tape, it doesn't leave that sticky stuff on your heads when you remove it.

-Joe

[mangorockfish]

Thanks for the tips. I've got to do some work on mine as I'm beginning to lose some of my initial affection for it. I put the DW heel riser part on my Sidekick pedal the other day and played one fast song with my band standing up and thought my leg would shut down before the end. Back to the seated position and I hate that as that is not the way a Cocktail Kit was meant to be played. It also looks COOL for the drummer to be standing.

[palacki808]

Seated or standing has been debated on this board before, but you're not the only person who plays sitting down. There's nothing wrong with playing a cocktail set sitting down. Peter Erskine plays a club jordan set sitting down and he's so good he's simply unreal. Its all in what makes you comfortable. What fun is it if you're not comfortable.

-Joe