Okay guys, we're recoridng our EP and have hit a stumbling block.

[Child Of Norther]

EVERYTHING is being done in my home studio (Vox, keys, bass, guitars, mixing, mastering) EXCEPT The drums.


Now, we went to a studio, got our drum tracks recorded into cubase (I'm using nuendo, so the projects are interchangable).

The problem is, the guy who recorded the drums used the single worse micing technique i have ever come across/mixed in my life. THe drumkit sucked and there was only one crash cymbal.
The hihat bleed is fucking terrible and comes out of EVERY mic due to shitty micing technique. My noisegates won't do anything and the hihats sound mono and panned centre.
I know bleed is natural, but this is basically 7 mics with all the same audio, basically.


Now, there question is this:

When recording a CD and mixing it, do you guys prefer to take the "what sounds best" route. or the "dignity intact" route?

The drummer made some mistakes and some parts were missed out (fills, rolls) etc.


My choices are:

A)

Delete ALL the bleed manually, and deal with some shitty playing...

B)

Scan the audio file and extract a midi track with timing/velocity for each drum and sample with DKFH superior (Benifit of easily editing out mistakes) The downside is i'm gonna be majorly editing the drummer's performance and totally replacing kit sounds.

C)

Delete all the drum tracks and borrow my neighbour's electronic kit, Use DKFH superior and have top quality sounding drum tracks played in by my drummer where we can get good takes and have no issues with shitty bleed and poor micing.

Downside is we paid money for the original tracks and this would essentially mean that money was wasted.



I am the one mixing the CD as well as all guitar playing so it's essentially my reputation on the line as a producer as well as i'm working with other bands in the near future (not as a player). So i'm basically wanting to just get the best sound possible.


What do you guys rekon? Anyone else had this before?

[UFORocks]

EVERYTHING is being done in my home studio (Vox, keys, bass, guitars, mixing, mastering) EXCEPT The drums.


Now, we went to a studio, got our drum tracks recorded into cubase (I'm using nuendo, so the projects are interchangable).

The problem is, the guy who recorded the drums used the single worse micing technique i have ever come across/mixed in my life. THe drumkit sucked and there was only one crash cymbal.
The hihat bleed is fucking terrible and comes out of EVERY mic due to shitty micing technique. My noisegates won't do anything and the hihats sound mono and panned centre.
I know bleed is natural, but this is basically 7 mics with all the same audio, basically.


Now, there question is this:

When recording a CD and mixing it, do you guys prefer to take the "what sounds best" route. or the "dignity intact" route?

The drummer made some mistakes and some parts were missed out (fills, rolls) etc.


My choices are:

A)

Delete ALL the bleed manually, and deal with some shitty playing...

B)

Scan the audio file and extract a midi track with timing/velocity for each drum and sample with DKFH superior (Benifit of easily editing out mistakes) The downside is i'm gonna be majorly editing the drummer's performance and totally replacing kit sounds.

C)

Delete all the drum tracks and borrow my neighbour's electronic kit, Use DKFH superior and have top quality sounding drum tracks played in by my drummer where we can get good takes and have no issues with shitty bleed and poor micing.

Downside is we paid money for the original tracks and this would essentially mean that money was wasted.



I am the one mixing the CD as well as all guitar playing so it's essentially my reputation on the line as a producer as well as i'm working with other bands in the near future (not as a player). So i'm basically wanting to just get the best sound possible.


What do you guys rekon? Anyone else had this before?

Personally I would sacrafice a little technical perfection for feel, sometimes perfect playing can sound a little sterile. But that doesnt mean you should settle for sloppy work. Sounds to me like you're saying what you paid for was just sloppy, and in that case I would re-record it properly. Sucks that you're out the cash, but unfortunately shit happens.

Later,

Steve

PS: How much $$ are you out by the way? If I may ask.

[Endrik]

always use "what sounds best" method, trust your ears.

Recording drums is very hard.
Drums can sound bad because of any of the following reasons:
1)Shity drummer
2)shity drums
3)shity drummer
4)shity drum-heads
5)shity drummer
6)shity tuning......tuning is so IMPORTANT
7)shity drummer
8)shity mics, pre amps, recording equimpent etc.
9)shity engineer
10)shity drummer

one weak link and you are screwed

oh did I mention shity drummer

it's the most common reason why drums sound bad, shity drummers don't have any dynamics, they don't know how to hit, good sound comes from good strong wrist hit and the following rebound/bounce.

If you don't have a shity drummer, then you are not so screwd.

The dude probably used wrong mics if you can hear the same thing from each one. I'm just wondering, did he used condencor mics for everything???
Then there's phase cancellation. It's a very pain in the ass subject. Missmatching phases can ruin everything. But sometimes it's good, like if you want a badass snare sound then phase cancellation is a must.
Mic placement and settings are very important because of this.

What music it is anyway. If it is metal and your drummer is decent, then let him record new tracks with triggered/electronic kit. Or you can just program your drum tracks.

But you can always trigger the previously recorded drum track and use samples. And edit the shit out of 'em.
It's what metallica does. Pro Tools is Lars's best friend. He edits all the shit he made with PT. Older days, they just used razor-blade to cut and paste his shit from 2" tape.

[Sinistas]

You want the cd to sound as good as possible. Go with DFKH.

[Child Of Norther]

What music it is anyway. If it is metal and your drummer is decent, then let him record new tracks with triggered/electronic kit. Or you can just program your drum tracks.

It is metal, yeah.

The drummer is fairly decent though it's amazing how sloppiness shines through when you record.

I rekon i'm just gonna get the E-drums in. Editing midi is WAY better. Plus the fact that the kit was recorded with a single crash and the actual kit sounded shite to begin with...

[lerxstcat]

If you're borrowing the E-drums, either learn how to set them yourself or get the guy loaning them to you to set them, sonically that is. You don't want your drummer, if he's unfamiliar with them, sitting and scratching his head trying to figure out the sounds. That could be a time-consuming and stressful experience.

[Child Of Norther]

I'm intending on monitoring via inbuilt kit (in the brain) but only sending midi output to the PC to drumkit from hell superior.


Latency free. Easy spound setup then i can just rearrange drum maps in my sequencer to fit.

[Emthrax]

Listen to your ears.

[jeff300]

Definitely go with option C. Forget about the wasted money. What you want on your album is the best you can possibly do. You will be kicking yourself forever if you put out something you know you could have easily fixed.

[Child Of Norther]

Aye, we're going with option C.

Itäd annoy me too much otherwise!


Cheers for impartial advice guys!