Tips & Techniques

Andrew Scheps

Drum recording techniques

Andrew Scheps talks with Russell Cottier about recording drums

Russell Cottier talks with recording engineer and mixing legend, Andrew Scheps. He has a wealth of experience working with artists at the highest level and it's fair to say that Andrew knows what he's doing, so naturally, we were keen to find out about some of his methods for recording drums.

Drums are the core of most records and the sound that you get massively shapes how the overall record will be received so it's no wonder that we, along with many other recording engineers, are obsessed with getting a great drum sound!

Before going any further, we need to add in to the mix that getting a great drum sound is not just about the microphone selection, the position of the mic's, the mic-pre's etc. It comes down to the drummer! The same kit played by three different drummers will yield three different sounds! That's before you tune the drums differently. Getting the drums tuned and set up right in the first place is priority so we are working on the assumption that you have a great drummer, with some great drums, in a great room....

With all of the above taken in to account, Andrew talks in this short video about his drum recording and mic placement techniques. Rather than read some 'blurb', please watch the video that we shot with him at Monnow Valley Studios in the Summer 2016.

To watch the full interview with Andrew Scheps please follow this link

Read the whole in-depth interview in Resolution magazine - October 2016 issue.

To take a look at the higher resolution photo gallery click here

Special thanks to Russell Cottier for asking the questions and to everyone at Monnow Valley Studios for making us so welcome and for helping in setting this up - and for giving up their studio time! Many thanks to Andrew Scheps for taking the time too!