Dave Kirby - Drums
Dave Kirby – Drums

A fantastic night recording drums with honestly, one of the most professional guys I have ever worked with. Calling any budding studio people needing GOOD session players – get Dave Kirby on drums!!!!

We started at 6:30pm. I had 2 assistants this time, though Antonia was running a little late, so the kit was essentially set up by another AIM Audio student – Phil Bombala. I had never worked with him before, and he was cool.

Dave and I started off by walking around the room banging a floor tom trying to find the sweet spot in the room that gave me the most bass. We ended up finding a great spot right at the door to the studio – facing the door itself. This meant that we were actually pretty tight with our microphone set up because we didn’t have a whole lot of room at the front. But we managed OK.

It was great trying new things, and there were a couple of different things we did today.

Drum recording involves plenty of microphones and the set-up usually takes a long time. But with 2 assistants we got things happening pretty quickly. Kick was Beyer M88, Snare SM57, Toms MD421, HiHat KM184, Overheads were a pair of AKG 414 placed behind the kit. Room mics were 2 x U87 – one in the studio itself (but not in front of the kit – we had no room), and one in the other recording space.

Normally for kick, I put the mic right inside the drum, though I did not specifically tell Phil or Antonia this. I was in the control room getting sounds and the kick sounded great – nice and fat and full, but with plenty of punch. But when I came into the studio again, I was surprised to see that the mic was placed right at hole in the skin – a long way from the beater. I was amazed that it still sounded so good.

Had a few problems with the snare though. For some reason it did not sound like a 57. Antonia changed leads, but it did not help. In the end it was the fact that I had not pushed a patch lead in far enough!!!

The SSL Studio at AIM.
The SSL Studio at AIM.

The SSL G is a great studio to record drums. I loved it, and in no time at all I got a very happening sound. It was the first time I seriously used the SSL room at AIM and I was suitably impressed. I like recording drums really loud, and the monitoring in the Icon room has recently been changed to a smallish pair of ATCs. I was worried about them being blown up by thumping kick drums. So i made the switch to the SSL, and I am glad I did.

Then it was up to Dave to do his magic. Man, he plays so tastefully. We did 5 takes each of Someone Else For A Day and Getting Out. I also just got Dave to play time for a few minutes throwing in fills that I potentially will be able to edit it in as required.

The session went smoothly. I had a few people drop by whilst we were recording as well. Staff drinks were on, so a few lively people came by to see what was going on. It all lent to a great atmosphere and a most enjoyable session.