The importance of vigilance when recording

Have you ever had one of those days where the band has finished recording, left and you sit down to start the mix and suddenly realise that the drums, guitar or another element sounds bad and unusable? I can tell you from experience that this has happened to me and no doubt all of us. I recall a band recording where the session was complete and the band had left.

I was packing up the microphones when someone brought to my attention that the snare mic had sagged on the stand and had spent the entire session recording the side of the snare. I asked why this wasn’t brought to my attention but at the end of the day, it was my fault. I checked the recording and my worst fears, the snare sounded terrible. This left we wondering what to do. Do I call the band back and look like an idiot? Do I try and work with the mix and compensate somehow?

Firstly, lets look at what happened and how do we avoid a repeat. When I setup the microphones I did a sound check. Throughout the recording session everything seemed good sound wise. The snare mic had sagged a little bit and was pointed at the side of the snare. The reason it was missed was due to the location. It is not easy to see the snare mic unless you are the drummer or standing right next to the snare. From a distance it is blocked from view. I spoke to the drummer later about who said he noticed it sagging but thought it was meant to be there (sighs). Through not choosing to solo the snare once the sound check was complete was the mistake. The reason the mix still sound good was the overheads were compensating.

It is certainly a lesson, check the mics throughout the session. Regardless, even if everything sounds good. Do the sound check and then go check the positioning of all the microphones at the end of each take. Yes I know it sound pedantic but it’s better than finding out the hard way like I did. Not to mention, no where near as embarrassing.

If you find yourself in this situation, can you compensate by using the overheads and other mics that may have the missing sound? Well, yes and no is the answer. You can successfully make up for it in some cases but it will depend on the miking method you used and whether the other mics have usable sound. If you choose to use the overheads for example to consolidate the snare sound or lack there of, you will have to ensure you address phase issues in the process.

In some cases where the chosen mic method doesn’t have usable sound you should consider snare sound replacement. Sound replacement is a method where you replace the actual sound of the snare with a sound sample that is time aligned. Surprisingly, this method is used a lot more often than you would think. There are numerous videos and how-to’s on YouTube as to using sound replacement such as:

https://youtu.be/g41AuA8xrto

https://youtu.be/WatymyKr-pI