This post is part of a series called Your Recording Environment, where we look at how to create an environment for the best quality recording.
Space
This is going to be the first thing you consider when planning a recording; is the room big enough? At a push, you can get away with a fairly small room if you are careful, and more often than not the limiting factor is if the drum kit will fit in with enough space for microphones to be set up around it. However a room of this size is not very versatile, and can sound fairly nasty for loud instruments like drums.
In a slightly larger space, you have the option to record multiple instruments at once. This can help sessions run quicker and smoother. Musicians generally work best when they all play together, they can keep eye contact and communicate silently, which helps keep them nice and tight in time with each other. Recording multiple instruments still does need some forethought, as everyone playing together may mean they all play in time, but there will be a lot more spill from one instrument onto other instrument’s microphones which makes mixing difficult.
[image via Northeast Indiana]
