Tracking acoustic drums can be great… or not. There is a lot that goes into tracking acoustic drums. First let’s look at the room acoustics. Most likely the majority of your acoustic drum sound will come from the sound of the room. Even with close mic techniques, the room sound is an important part of the overall sound. Although the 70s popularized the idea that you need to have a BIG drum room, this is not really true. Great drum sounds can be captured in any size room. Really the important thing to keep in mind is, what genre and drum sound do you want to get. Having an idea of what sound you want to get first, will help you get the result you want. Pay attention to the frequencies of the room; is the room bright, does it sound boxy, is there a lot of low end? Usually you can tell these things by just having a conversation in the room while walking around and paying attention.

The other important aspect of room acoustics (probably most important) is to make sure you are not getting unwanted noise from outside coming in. You will most likely end up using overhead mics or room mics… that means any airplane noise, traffic noise, HVAC noise or other unwanted noise will be captured as part of the room sound. Make sure to pay close attention to this.

Now that you have the proper room acoustics, it is time to decide what instruments are needed. Most of the time this is simply determined by what drum set the band has. However, with acoustic kits, and the use of rentals, you can put together a kit with any components to get the sounds you want. Maybe you’re looking for a big TAMA kick drum sound with vintage Ludwig toms, or your choosing between a piccolo snare and a deep snare. It is easy to mix and match drum pieces with acoustic kits. Likewise, your percussionist can put together their kit in a way that is most comfortable for them… this is probably the biggest benefit of using acoustic drums.

Now time for microphones, preamps, and outboard gear… yes this is where it gets tricky. Choosing the correct microphones means you may need a lot of time and expensive equipment on your hands. Remember, anytime you have more than one microphone on a single source you will need to check phase. Also lining up your signal chain with complimentary  microphone, preamps, and outboard gear can take a while and become an expensive endeavor. However, when you get it right… the results are out of this world!

All in all, tracking acoustic drums is tricky, but can give you great results. Room acoustics, instrument choice, and good equipment selection will give you either great or disastrous results. If you have lots of time and lots of great equipment at your disposal, acoustic drums is the way to go… however, who has lots of time and equipment now-a-days…