United Recording Drum Setup - Warren Huart: Produce Like A Pro 

I find myself coming back to this video often before tracking drums... It's kind of like a reference book that you keep on a shelf, but keep on a playlist on RU-vid instead... Thank you for making these videos!

I think, this is one of the most important videos about mixing out there so far, because it actually shows what is done before you start mixing at all. Often the starting material we home studio owners have, is so different from what Warren's (and other "big guys") got, that the tipps and tricks just won't work properly. What I do is, I try to emulate what's shown here in a DAW session I call "Tracking". Think of the tracks you've got (directly recorded with your audio interface) as the musicians just then playing. Then use EQs, Compressors and if you want Saturation Plugins to get the tracks sound good (you probably have to do a lot more tweaking to master the challenge of the room, the mics and the musicians you've got ;). Then print every single track, open a new session and start mixing. I think you will find that not only most mixing videos, like the great ones Warren does, are much easier to follow, but also that mixing itself gets a lot easier. What do you think?

3xU67 30.000$, 2xM49 24000$, U47FET 3000$ this would be just 57000$ total:-):-):-) just for mikes:-)

DAmn good video... I got alot of new ideas for making hiphop tracks

What a room! And I recognize a lot of your techniques from my own experience. Incredible sounds as usual, Warren! I am also a stickler for in-phase overheads during tracking, but I was wondering if you line the phase up for your tracks in post. I've tried such things as sliding the shell mics in phase with the overheads, kicking the room tracks out further for pre-delay, all in the DAW edit window. Thanks for some of the best studio information on the Internet!

Thank you for this! A wonderful video because you show everything from mic placement to signal path processing. Then actually hearing each element separately is golden! This is the kind of stuff I am most interested in but which very few people outline in such detail.

Hi Warren as per usual great video! One thing that I've missed or is different than your drum stuff in the past, but I don't remember you using a lot of outboard EQ as your doing here. Is this just trying something different, limitation of the board or I could just be getting old! As always thanks for the time you put in to help pass on your knowledge.

In a true tube tape recording studio, only 3 tube mics were used on the drums. The warmth, brilliance, and presence as though the band is there or present when one listens to the recording. This has been tested and unanimously agreed upon.

I understand why you love recording at that studio, killer drum sound from the start all it need is little tweaks and like you said ... This is ROCK n ROLL. Again thanks for been so generous with your knowledge

Hey warren. One thing, on tracking, specifically on snare and kick do you eq before compression or after compression?

Mate! Fantastic video!!! This is going on repeat at least 3 or 4 times to take it all in. That drum sound was awesome, even with YT audio!

Well the way I record drums at home when I can't afford a studio is kind of embarrassing to be perfectly honest. I take a bunch of practice pads laid out across my desk (yes, the plasticy rubber practice pads that are completely not real drums), then I just record 7 channels in with mics that I already have like a few sm57s, sm58s, a couple vocal mics, and any other ones that I have laying around (that's one less than the maximum my interface allow). One snare pad, 4 tom pads, a kick pad down at my foot, a real hihat (that's the one thing I can't realistically replicate in the box and I also use this track to trigger some crashes in the box). After I track a satisfactory drum take I retrigger all the pads with steven slate's trigger and samples I like and think they will fit into the song. To replicate rooms I buss the whole drum kit (high passed and less kick) to a compressor then straight into a reverb, then I may compress the reverb signal and eq it. That's how I get my drums, no worry about the room sound at all (I record at home, no space for a kit plus my room sounds pretty awful). Most of the time I end up printing the retriggered tracks and adjusting phase, which is pretty tedious. Saving up for one of those midi drum kits but I really don't like the feel of them at all.

Hello Warren, Very nice videos, im learning alot. I do got a question for you tho. I seem to get nice sounds into the DAW but when i get to mix, i seem to struggle a bit with getting the drums to sound as i want them. They sound alittle 2D and flat if u know what i mean? So to the question: What channels do you start with mixing when it comes to drums? Is there a special order you put in the different mics? Cheers

Fantastic video Warren! Thanks for allowing us to enter the 'inner sanctum' of the recording world. It's often so hard to see how the "pro's" go about things in the recording studio. What is your 'usual' measurement (in inches or cm) from the U67 overhead to the snare drum?

Another great video, thanks Waren! That studio is ridiculous.

This is wildly handy! You've asked for questions, so here's one regarding the overheads: Each microphone is equidistant from the center of the snare, but how do you measure the proportional distance from the cymbals, snare, and overheads between each other? Sorry, I'm having a hard time even articulating the question. I'll try to word it a different way. Essentially each microphone is 46.5" from the center of the snare, but how do you decide how high or low to place the overheads wherever they lie on that 46.5" imaginary spherical-circumference?

With the third (mono) overhead, is it also pointed at the snare and the same distance as the others?

Warren is such a cool guy, the way he comments vocal bleed into the mono room mic "...but who cares, it's r n'r" and with that evil grin. That's epic. :)

Love this Studio.. Great video Warren

Hey Warren. when you played just the room mics that are near the ground, Man they sound good.

Just came across this. I had the pleasure of working for Allen Sides when he owned the Studio and remember Albhy Galuten producing the first Jellyfish record in studio 3 with JJP engineering. That room has such an awesome vibe, not to mention Studio 2 was great as well when Los Lobos recorded there. Really miss those days and would love to do a project there sometime.

Iv used Superior Drummer 2 for year now. I think i am almost ready to get back into real drums I just needed alot of time to learn what great drums sound like.

Nice vid. Getting a killer sound before it goes to the DAW is great when you've got the outboard and the desk, but for those of us working at the shallow end of the pool, and only ITB, I'd like your thoughts... I tend to try and get the best I can with the mics I've got, no room mic (because the room is fairly naff!) and then print that straight to the DAW and do all the EQ and compression afterwards... Would you advocate recording through your plugins in that situation? Or just do it all to the dry signal once it's recorded?

Hi Warren, which is the best compressor to buy for kick drum? DBX 160A, DBX 160X, DBX 160XT? Thx!

love your videos, I learn a lot, I use Sennheiser md441 top and bottom for snare and its superb!!! md421 on ride and sm7b on hit hat ,toms and floor toms only md421 and for kick in audix D6 or e602 or D112 and out Beta52 and and u47fet , overs Neumann KM184 and for rooms U87, greetings from Iquique CHile.

I just love these videos man I love em. I mean even if I don't have all those amazing mics. the idea and way you do things really make me think of how to improve my method.

Hey Warren, really dig your channel, I like how you stay engaged with your fans. Quick question: I'm putting together a studio on a budget and looking for a decent mic that works well for vocals in the $200-400 range. What do you think about the Rode NT1A? Or what other microphones would you recommend checking out? Thanks again!

Warren, you are great! Love these videos. Such a great reference to compare what the big boyz do at the big time studios with what we are doing at our home studios. Hearing samples of how each of these tracks sound soloed and how you have things set up to do it is just so great. Thanks!

Excellent stuff Warren. I take it you were using the 3:1 rule for over heads, what heights were the OH's at on the drums. Also, for the rooms and keeping phase, how did you approach those to keep it all together. Typically I've done a pair of FET over heads and a mono tube room. Looking to get my tones better and keep my phase tighter so I spend less time with Auto Align and more time in the mix. Thank you sir!

Great vid, Warren! I've got a question: how do you get that squashed room mic sound without an overwhelming cymbal noise? Sadly, the drummers I track are bashers and beat the hell out of the cymbals. When I go to mix and squash the rooms, it sounds good. But when they start going nuts on a crash-ride, it's just a white noise wash. Thanks again!

Hi I have a question, ¿it is possible damage a condencer mic if i use it for the kick drum? and if that is possible what kind of problem would have the mic?? Thanks for everything!!

Another great video! I took 2 pages of notes! Ok, so where did you come up with 46 and a "half" inches for the overhead mic distance?? :)

That 414 sounds absolutely killer with the compression. Nothing revs my engine like a mono room mic.

I didn't hear a lot of hi hat bleed in your snare mic. This seems to be a common problem when we're recording drums. Any suggestions to limit that bleed?

Wow! It would be great to have a chance to record in such a cool enviroment and with all that gear. In the meantime, do you have any good recommendations for budget drum mics, especially for room/overhead miking? Cheers and big thanks for all the great videos! I've really learned a lot since I subscribed to your channel.

why do you use 2 EQs (neve and api) on one track? what is the signal chain? neve eq - > preamp -> api eq? can you do the same technique in the box?

another one is an sm57 just laid on the floor in front of the it (maybe 6 feet) with a plastic dustbin up side down covering it. again, compress all buttons in / or to taste and blend or use as an effects mic. greetings from England by the way!

With 3 mics on the kick drum, how do you know as to what is "in phase" and acceptable or not? Do you just go with what sounds great and ignore the factor of the mics all being varying distances? or do you measure them separately whether that be from the beater or the sound hole?

What is the piece of equipment in the rack on the far right at 12:25? It's the one with the big purple circle in the center and is like 3 or 4 rack spaces large. Great videos! Thanks!

3D FAT sound Warren ! Great ! Reminds me of Queen drum sound. If you had to choose between SSL and Neve sound, what would you say ? :) Congrats and thanks for the great video !

I'm sorry that i sound stupid...what's the big deal with neve console?

Another awesome video, Warren. Do you do anything to check the phase between the three kick mics?

I like to put a mic in figure 8 between the kick n snare (drummers side) and compress it heavily all buttons in. If you get it in the right place you get a great balance of snare bottom and beater attack. it sounds cool blended in or as an effect in a bridge etc.

Great mate as always, ill be doing some sample drums and would be interested to see what you think, like your recent downloads, lets talk about soon, thanks for being so possitive and sharing your ideas for all, best Gaz

Thanks very much!! Glad you enjoyed it!! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren

Great sounding room. Makes all the difference in the world

a ribbon mic looking at the snare form behind the drummers shoulder parallel compressed in gives some nice meat to the snare.

That mono room alone could make for the entire drum sound. So aggressive and clear

This video is awesome!! I stopped it a thousand times along the way and took notes.. THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

Would love to see a whole recording session to get an idea of how things go on a recording day.

wow my favorite drum setup ive ever seen.. i called out taht subkick right when i was listening/watching it.. ive always wanted to use one and now i know how to use a mic top try and aim to recreate that thump in a clean and useful way... thank you for that man! cheers from sw Wa state usa

My dream is to get to that level of recording someday.

HI Warren, amazing videos! Have really learned a lot. Quick question, when you refer to the 1176's, you mention a fast release time and the knob is set on 7. They way I have always understood is that a fast release time would be a 1 or 3 setting on the knob. Am I reading the controls wrong?

Great Stuff my Friend.👍👍👍👍👍

Everyone always puts way way way too much emphasis on expensive mics and Expensive gear. If you can't get a great mix using a 57 or a 58 and a decent compressor then it's your ears and a lack of skill that's causing the mix to suck. It's not that you don't have access to a gazillion dollar mic and gear collection! ...........FACT.....

Great hard hitting modern british drum sound!

do you Ever you use Pencil mice as over heads?

Kick drum sounds magical! :)

I do work on my home studio, and I have not any room for such amount of mics and room for the sound to expand so much, of course, which is fundamental to obtain a certain kind of sound. Thus I mainly work with samples, except when I record something jazzy or latin(y) in which I do want listeners to feel the Life into the instruments. Brushes and percussions are always recorded in stereo. To do that, I do use 2 U67 vintage, which I setup as omni, in order to capture the small reflections from the room, that returns a kind of "liveness". Once made, I move the pair on another room, I playback the recorded track, and I do record the reverberations are forming in the other room ( my Living :) ) Then I put everything on phase, (keeping the small delay is forming), and I can dose the enviroment. Thus I can udjust the ratio: closed/far room And I'm pretty happy with the obtained results, just because my work conditions.

snarf! 1:05

any suggestions or advice on how to get great sounding drum kit in a small room? i've killed with absorbers of different types (owens corning, self made 8 pound rock wool panels) and even misshaped the room as best i could without losing too much space. obviously i wont be getting any 'John Bonham-esque' sounding drums, but are there tricks to getting a balanced, great sounding kit? thanks! love your videos

Nice drum sound. The drums in the last shot are shown almost up against the wall. Were they recorded there, or was the drum set out in the middle of the room when it was recorded? Did you do that to get some type of bass boost?

that room mic crushed gets the look!

I like taking s shure green bullet and putting right over the shell of the kick, kinda in the heart of the kit pointing down at the kick. It picks up the kick itself plus all the reflections from the rest of the kit bouncing of the shell of the kick. Sometimes ill slam that with an 1176. Blend it in. Trashy sounding. ..meaty.

I really liked this video. At first I was like "that snare sounds terrible" (and it does when you solo it) but then when you brought in the overheads I understood completely why you had chosen that sound. Thanks a lot!

My band and I are going to be recording an Ep soon and we are recording everything ourselves... We have been debating about possibly recording cymbals separate to the rest of the kit (we have heard about this method being used a fair bit). Has anyone had experience with this technique that could possibly either recommend or advise against this? Also I'm debating on building a sub kick, would it be worth making? Aside from this... Great video :) really enjoy watching your drum videos!

This is my reference,,,Sir Waren,,,,

Awesome. Thanks Warren.

Killllllller vid, man!

that crushed 414!!! so sexy

Hi Warren, what is the advantage gained by miking both the tops and bottoms of the toms, as opposed to only one or the other?

Very nice sounds Warren...The mix of mics on the kick work well! Often use a D-12 or an RE-20 in with a ribbon out when possible. Picked up a D-6 recently to try out, and a TLM-49 for the outside. Like U-87s on toms, 451 or KM-84 on the hat, re-201 on snare sometimes. Have you heard the CAD M-179 on toms? There's a shootout on Gearslutz that really impressed me. So cheap you can beat 'em with a stick :-)

.... But didn't you invent a great pianosound because the mic fell down? :-)

Hey Warren, what's your opinion on KM184s as overheads? What setup would a stereo pair of them sound ideal with in a medium sized room? (Recorderman, Glyn Johns, XY, etc)

Hi Warren! I working really lot to developing my drum recording knowledge. My big dilemma is which route I choose. First is how I use my UA Apollo Twin with eight Yamaha 01V96 digital console preamp connected on ADAT and using Unison 610B preamp on overheads or rooms and some UAD plugins (Pultec's, 1176's) on tracking, but this is only ten channels with lot of compromises. The other way is using my friend's Soundcraft SI Impact, which is a club category digital console with 32x32 USB card but works only in 48kHz sample rate, and I can to use even sixteen or more channels, which is more than enough. Recently i tested a lot of microphones on drums with different positions and I get useful experiences about drum miking. My favourite kick drum microphone is Shure Beta52A, but I also like AKG D112, and a question for me how I use D112 for kick in and use Beta52 before reso head like fet47 position, or only use ms Shure, now my favourite position is when this mic is in the kick and the back end positioned the same way like reso head. On Snare my absolute favourite is SM57, recently in about 15 degree than snare head, this makes the best top-end. On snare bottom sometimes I use SM57 or my favourite live guitar mic, Sennheiser e609, this is really nice. But I heard about an intresting and amazing thing: use PZM mic under the snare: this makes nicer sound like close snare bottom microphone and give some kick drum attack. On hi hats my absolute favourite is my vintage brass colured AKG C535EB condenser stage vocal microphone. This have a really nice top end and a little bit silky washed sound which I think come from the transformer and given by age. On toms i recently use Audix stage microphones, D2 and D4, this have a really nice tom sound and have a good bleed supression, but sometimes I get some Sennheiser MD421 or another D112 for floor tom, D112 on floor is really punchy. On overheads I use my pair of Neumann KM184's, I think this microphone is like a beautiful woman in a little black dress: solidly elegant. Recently I bought a pair of Gefell UM70S and I was done these M7 capsules reskinned by Thiersch, I would like to using in the future that on this situations how I need a bit punchy and more fat drum sound, and when I needs beautiful cymbals like jazz i prefer KM's. On room i use sometimes Rode NT5 pairs in A/B or/and ORTF configuration, but in the future I would like to use the another pair which not working on overheads. I have one cheap Royer R121 clone ribbon microphone, this is interesting for mono overhead for making special drum sound. Thanks: Ferdinánd :)

Una belleza de lugar... Una belleza de equipamiento y muy bien aprovechado... Espectacular!!

Everyone watching checked their phones at 6:04 , including me haha. Amazing video and great room. Thanks!

Awesome video..!! I've leaned so much from you, can't thank you enough... 🙌🙏. Please more drum videos....!! Thanks, happy new year. Cheers from Tampa, fl.

Cool set up on the drums😄

Hi Warren. I love my huge kit. It's 11 drums, 10 cymbals and a hi-hat.. What mics , how many could I use, and where to place them. Reason I'm asking is because a friend I had in the past sold some of my mics with stands to someone else without my consent... anyway... I'm kinda struggling to purchase more mics. Only mics available is a Beta 52A, an MXL 990, and 3 e609.

Great video Warren. Digging the insight. Am I alone in really digging the sound of cheap Samson c02 pencils on overheads??? I think that they are great for a hundred buck pair. Anyone else had luck with these?

Just starting out, hope to record drums with only ONE mic soon, haha. Still very interesting to watch this, Warren.

I’m using a D112 MKII on kick, sm58 on snare top (gonna experiment with that and a akg D330BT as well on the top), Sennheiser e 604 on toms, sm57 6 feet in front of the kit using the snare to measure trying to capture the entire kit, and 1 rode m5 on top of the kit. I’ve been watching a bunch of your vids and other peoples videos so I’m just experimenting. Recording drums in my living room where there is a little bit of reverb instead of my bedroom where it’s pretty dead.

awesome video as always :)

Warren, Thanks for sharing your expertise. I'm curious though, did you have a drummer out there playing the sounds? If so, how do you check the entire signal chain to the mixing board (including the mic's)? If it was pre-rercorded, how do you know how to eq the signal? Is it from the same drum kit? Thanks again, John.

Awesome video!!!!

awesome video warren! do you have any videos strictly on Eq? So i can have a better understanding of the relation between the frequencies, the boosts, cuts, high pass filter etc and why you've made the choices you did for this particular session. Or how to adjust the frequencies for future sessions? thanks in advance.

I record in my home studio. Very limited on mics. D6 on kick, home made sub kick, shot gun shell condensers for overheads, audix i5 and sm57 on snare, sm57's on rack toms, beta 52 on floor tom, sm7B on hihat sometimes.

Good Morning, a little question, what´s the brand and model of the Overhead Mic stand, thanks a lot..

Do you change the height of the overhead mics if the drummers cymbal set up height is either further away from the toms or vice versa? Basically will the height of the cymbals change in sound if you leave the height of you're ideal overhead height? Reason I'm asking this is one of my favourite drummers Simon Phillips has his cymbals height pretty high, probably the highest I've seen. Now Simon is a master in the studio, the sounds he gets are incredible but not many drummers have their cymbal height like he has. For example; RIngo Starr, John Bonham & Nick Mason. They all achieved iconic drums sounds! Thanks :)

Flipping the phase of the bottom mic on the snare is totally incorrect. You must flip the top mics phase. The sound wave coming into the bottom snare is naturally in absolute phase (sin). The top mic has the pressure of the sound going the opposite direction of the microphone, so that is naturally out of absolute phase. This also applies to any TOP mic of any drum you record. I know what you’re thinking..... “well my kick drum mic is always in phase and the mic is on the front of that.” And you’re absolutely right, but it’s not on TOP so the sound pressure comes directly at it. Just saying......

Hey warren, when recording drums, in a large room in a pro studio like that obviously you are capturing the room aswell because it was designed to have that sound, but if you were to record drums in a very small room, which had been sound deadened, could you achieve the same qualities a larger room offers by using artificial reverbs etc from things like plugins. its just something ive been wondering lately, mainly if you could ever achieve the same quality. thanks , tommy

Hi Warren, firstly I love your videos! Being a drummer for almost 40 years, had record and publishing deals, recorded albums in many wonderful studios you will know, toured the World with Heavy Stereo and The Jim Jones Revue, I have only relatively recently been building up a small mic set up of my own. I think you have worked with som emusicians I know over in LA. Anyway, I have a Lewitt Pro 240 (thanks to your channel I got one), 2 x Shure 57's and an AKG D112 which I run into my Focusrite 18i8 3rd Gen interface then that goes into Logic on my MacBook Pro. I am thinking using the two 57's as overheads (equidistantly positioned pointing at snare like you do with your expensive Neumanns), the D112 inside the kick and the Lewitt set up as a room mic (same positioning as your AKG c414). What do you think of this idea? Would you advise this approach or can you suggest an alternative? I play either my 1960's Ludwig Super classic (13", 16" & 22" kick) or my C+C Custom kit (24", 13" & 16") with Murat Diril ride, hi-hats and a crash so not huge drumkits.

There is one thing, I really have a hard time understanding. As a part time/ more like a hobby studio engineer but a life long pro live sound engineer I am used to keep the signal chain fairly simple to stay on top of it, whatever unexpected happens.So why is it useful, to layer several EQ's ? I can understand to use one , which has good notch filters to fight little frequency problems and another one for the musical EQ, but why do you use the desk EQ and also the API one. To me that feels like it is easy to loose the overview...but maybe, that's just me ;-)

Gee, there's only $100,000 worth of microphones alone in that set up. Easy to replicate.

You got me subscribed and signed up at your mailing list. Wonderful videos, tips and knowledge. Thanks for sharing! Cheers from Brazil!

Great video Warren! Love the low rooms, those Gefels. Are they cardioid, pointed at the floor?

Warren! Love your videos man! My 2 cents on drums, favorite kick mic at the moment: sennheiser e902 placement: halfway in pointed at the beaters. Be interested to hear your thoughts if you try it out.

Warren, after years of trying different mics and recording in a few studios with expensive German condensers for overheads, I actually love the Avantone CR-14 ribbons. They are a little more lively than a Coles but still has that smooth response. They are a fraction of the cost of Coles and in every room I've tried them, they are a perfect balance between the slightly rolled off ribbon sound with a bit more crispness in the response. I also, normally, situate the mics more in front of the kit looking towards the cymbals, a la Steve Albini. This eliminates drums getting too dominant. I tend not to use overheads as a "capture the whole kit" thing but to get cymbals, mostly. For me, that's what the room mics are for. HOWEVER, if the client wants that kind of overhead sound, I am obliged to offer that option. Thanks for the tutorial. It's nice to see a piece of history being used today!

For our inside of the Kick drum we use a contact mic just for the thump and to move some low end air .Then we blend it with a D12 and parallel compress.Also thats what we have to use .