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Recording Metal with Eyal Levi: A Bootcamp

Lesson 12 of 74

Depths and Sizes

 

Recording Metal with Eyal Levi: A Bootcamp

Lesson 12 of 74

Depths and Sizes

 

Lesson Info

Depths and Sizes

Our depth, which applies to all drums, we can get into that a little bit. Basically, the deeper the drum, the lower the fundamental pitch is going to be. However, the deeper the drum, the less sustain you're going to have out of the drum itself. And that's counter intuitive It is counter intuitive and we've noticed that the trend in bass drums at one point was to go super deep with the bass drums. That was to get a super low fundamental and also cut down the amount of resonance, so you didn't have to muffle it as much. The trend has since gone and settled in kinda an 18 inch depth on the bass drum in that area because they've found that you can get a little bit, you know, enough resonance and enough low end punch from the depth. With the toms, the same rule applies. If we're going to go shallower, we're gonna get a lot more sustain. The reason being is because there's less air between the two heads. When you hit the top head, it sends air to the bottom head, and then the bottom hea...

d reacts and sends air back to the top head. You have this sympathetic vibration. The shallower the capsule or the cylinder that it's working with, the quicker that's happening, and the longer it's going to sustain, or keep moving inside of the drum. When you increase the depth, it takes longer for the air to get to the bottom and the energy loses, loses over time, so as it's traveling longer distances, it's not gonna make as many repetitions between the two heads, so your sustain is going to be a lot shorter for a deeper drum. I think it's just important to note, because I think a lot of people think it's the exact opposite. Right People think deeper drum lasts forever, thunder. Right. It's literally the opposite. All of our rack toms, our 12 inch toms, are all the same depth. Our floor toms are, we have two that are the same depth, which are 14 inch depth, and the last one is a traditional 16 by 16. Even when the 16 by 16 is tuned to the same pitches, it's going to sound like it has a little bit lower fundamental, just because it's a little bit deeper on the drum itself. And we'll show you guys later. We'll do side-by-side AB comparison of the two, so you can hear exactly what we're talking about. Right. As far as cymbals go, we have several different to choose from. They're all from the Byzance line from MEINL, which is their more traditional and dark sounding cymbals, which actually end up recording really well, because they're not amplified in the high end. Yeah. We can rely on more microphone selection to get the characteristics from the cymbals that we want, as opposed to the cymbals dictating where they're gonna live all the time, which is great. It makes it a lot easier to work them in with high gain guitars, too, which also, anyone who works with high gain guitars know that they are a frequency hog. They swallow everything. Those upper-mids and high range, you really need to get those balanced with the cymbals right in order for a mix to work out and not get muddy. You actually get a lot more width that way, once you get those high-mids worked out. Cymbals like these make it a lot easier to deal with later. I think that pretty much covers the basics of what we're working with now. Now we're going to go and figure out how we're gonna pick what we're gonna pick.

Class Description


Recording Metal with Eyal Levi: A Bootcamp will give you access to one of metal’s most in-demand producers and educators. You’ll also get to watch the talented and seasoned performers of Monuments show you how to record flawless takes and how to prepare to enter the studio.

Recording Metal with Eyal Levi: A Bootcamp is the definitive guide to recording and producing metal. From soup to nuts, start to finish, A to Z, you will learn everything you need to know about recording and producing a metal song.

Eyal Levi will take you inside the studio with Monuments as they record a song from scratch at Clear Lake Recording in Los Angeles. In this bootcamp, you will learn how to:

  • Prepare for a session in preproduction by choosing tempos and organizing the session
  • Record flawless drums from selection and reheading/tuning to mic choice and placement to editing
  • Record rhythm guitars
  • Record clean and lead guitars
  • Record bass guitar
  • Record, edit and tune lead vocals, harmonies, and screams
  • Mix and master from session setup to final bounce

Lessons

  1. Intro to Bootcamp
  2. Purpose of Pre-Production
  3. Technical Side of Preproduction
  4. Pre-Production: Setting Up the Tempo Map
  5. Pre-Production: Importing Stems
  6. Pre-Production: Click Track
  7. Creating Tracking Templates
  8. Intro and the Tone Pie
  9. Drums - Lay of the Land
  10. Bearing Edges
  11. Wood Types
  12. Depths and Sizes
  13. Hoops
  14. Sticks and Beaters
  15. Drum Heads
  16. Drum Tuning
  17. Drum Mic Placement Intro
  18. Basic Drum Mic Setup
  19. Cymbal Mic Setup
  20. Touch Up Tuning
  21. Microphone Choice and Placement
  22. Drum Tracking Intro
  23. Getting Tones and Final Placement
  24. Primary Tracking
  25. Punching In and Comping Takes
  26. Guitar Setup and Rhythm Tone Tracking
  27. Amplifiers - Lay of the Land
  28. Amplifiers & Cab Shoot Out
  29. Guitar Cab Mic Choice and Placement
  30. Guitar Tracking and Signal Chain
  31. Finalizing Amplifier Tone
  32. Guitar Mic Shootout Round Robin
  33. Intro to Rhythm Tracking
  34. Setting Up Guitars
  35. Working with a Guitarist
  36. Final Guitar Tone and Recap
  37. Guitar Tracking with John
  38. Guitar Tracking with Ollie
  39. Final Tracking
  40. Tracking Quads
  41. Intro to Bass Tone
  42. Bass Tone Setup
  43. Bass Tone Mic Placement
  44. Bass Tracking
  45. Intro to Clean and Lead Tones
  46. Clean Guitar Tones
  47. Lead Tones
  48. Vocal Setup for Tracking
  49. Vocal Mic Selection and Setup
  50. Vocal Mic Shootout
  51. Lead Vocal Tracking
  52. Writing Harmonies
  53. Harmony Vocal Tracking
  54. Vocal Warm Ups
  55. Scream Vocal Tracking
  56. Vocal Tuning and Editing Introduction
  57. Vocal Tuning and Editing
  58. Routing and Bussing
  59. Color Coding, Labeling and Arranging Channels
  60. Setting Up Parallel Compression
  61. Setting Up Drum Triggers
  62. Gain Staging and Trim
  63. Drum Mixing - Subtractive EQ
  64. Drum Mixing - Snare
  65. Drum Mixing - Kick
  66. Drum Mixing - Toms
  67. Drum Mixing - Cymbals and Rooms
  68. Drum Mixing Recap
  69. Mixing Bass Guitar
  70. Mixing Rhythm Guitars
  71. Basic Vocal Mix
  72. Mixing Clean and Lead Guitars
  73. Mixing - Automation
  74. Mastering - Interview with Joel Wanasek

Reviews

Ron
 

I'm on lesson 19! Already worth every dollar!!! Priceless insight! I have already incorporated some of the ideas (preproduction common sense stuff that I never thought of, but damn). VERY HAPPY with this course! ALWAYS LEARNING and looking forward to the next 50 (or whatever) lessons!!! Excellent course! GREAT PRODUCER/ENGINEER, GREAT DRUM TECH, and GREAT BAND!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

ceeleeme
 

I'm just part way though and I'm blown away by the quality approach Eyal takes to getting the best out of the sessions. I love how well everything is explained and Eyals calm manner is just awesome it really makes you want to listen to the gems of wisdom he offers.

Will
 

Wow is all I can say. This bootcamp goes in so much depth from tuning drums, setting up guitars, to recording and mixing. I have learned so much by participating in this bootcamp. It has taught me some new recording techniques and signal routing for my mixes. I just want to thank Eyal, Monuments, and Creative Live for taking the time to do this. It has been amazing and I will keep going back to these videos.