Ep. 3: Capturing Drums with Eric Eagle

02/20/21 • 92 min

Welcome to the third episode of the Truth About Recording & Mixing, hosted by Crackle & Pop!'s Johnny Sangster. This week, we're diving deep into the recording drums, capturing audio on a tight budget and more with Seattle’s Eric Eagle.

Some of the topics discussed on this episode: 1:23 Listener feedback, phase versus polarity, kick drum mic'ing 9:30 Ensuring your system maintains proper polarity; Galaxy Audio Cricket - Polarity and Continuity tester10:56 Mixing in mono, redux 13:57: Special guest: Eric Eagle 14:49 Recording audio books 16:44 Skoor Sound, recording drums in a small room23:08 Universal Audio Ocean Way plug-in24:38 Pre-delaying room mics 25:25 Eric’s favorite drum mics: Microtec Geffel UM70, Coles 4038, etc. 28:45 Compressors and pre-amps on a budget: FMR Audio RNC/RNP, DIY kits (Hairball Audio 1176, Hairball Audio Lola, Chameleon Labs 7603)36:53 Chicken or the egg: Invest in a good mic or a good mic pre-amp?39:48 EQ'ing out an acoustic instrument’s normal sound for a better recording44:35 Drum tuning 1:10:53 Snareweight dampeners1:12:12 Paper towels, tea towels, pillow cases and other drum dampeners 1:16:17 Kick drum theories, Ahead Square Kick Drum beater 1:19:47 Ahead Square Kick Drum Beater 1:21:02 Kick drum heads

Submit your questions for Johnny by sending us a voice memo or email to [email protected].

This episode is sponsored by Izotope. Use the discount code FRET10 to save 10% off any of their products (link).

The Truth About Recording & Mixing is a bi-weekly podcast produced by the Fretboard Journal magazine, loosely based on our Truth About Vintage Amps Q&A podcast.

www.johnnysangster.com www.cracklepopstudio.com www.fretboardjournal.com

Submit your questions for Johnny by sending us a voice memo or email to [email protected].

This episode is sponsored by Izotope. Use the discount code FRET10 to save 10% off any of their products (link).

The Truth About Recording & Mixing is a bi-weekly podcast produced by the Fretboard Journal magazine, loosely based on our Truth About Vintage Amps Q&A podcast.

www.johnnysangster.com www.cracklepopstudio.com www.fretboardjournal.com

Previous Episode

Ep. 2: Level Talk with Rachel Field

Welcome to episode 2 of the Truth About Recording And Mixing hosted by Crackle & Pop!'s Johnny Sangster. This week's episode features mastering engineer Rachel Field for a discussion about mastering, vinyl in the current day, levels for streaming audio and the need for more women in audio.

1:00 - examples of phase discrepancies from a recent drum recording at Crackle & Pop!

6:25 - Listener topics - Zoom’s “original audio” feature

8:00 - Listener topic - beginner recordist & condenser mics

11:15 - Welcome Rachel Field / observations when listening to vinyl

15:20 - a little history on the loudness wars and what’s happening today with streaming.

21:40 - brickwall limiting and how that affects vinyl cutting

24:35 - Rachel’s mastering chain, box by box.

31:35 - which first, level or tone?

35:15 - using analog tape in the mastering chain

37:40 - recent projects in the mastering studio

39:50 - advice for the home recordists / mixers

45:20 - listener question about using spectrum analyzers

49:00 - listener question on navigating the mastering process and more on standards from streaming services. More info on what the various streaming platforms are doing to process files.

1:03:00 - why aren’t there more women engineers & producers? Resources for women in audio.

1:08:30 - more about Rachel’s path from student to engineer.

Submit your questions for Johnny by sending us a voice memo or email to [email protected].

The Truth About Recording & Mixing is a bi-weekly podcast produced by the Fretboard Journal magazine, loosely based on our Truth About Vintage Amps Q&A podcast.

www.johnnysangster.com www.cracklepopstudio.com www.fretboardjournal.com

Next Episode

Ep 4: On Building A Career with Ed Brooks

Welcome to the third episode of the Truth About Recording & Mixing, hosted by Crackle & Pop!'s Johnny Sangster. This week, we explore the career of Ed Brooks who has worked in most all facets of professional audio and now runs Resonant Mastering.

Some of the topics discussed on this episode: 1:40 Listener Comment on Omni Sound Project - resource for women engineers.2:45 Johnny demo on figure of 8 microphones13:00 Interview with Ed Brooks - starting with his path into audio.14:45 Working for Tapco & doing live sound18:45 Moving into tech work with Matt Sutton22:00 Kaye Smith / Lawson Sound & what studios where happening in town.24:20 recording & mixing REM 1992 Automatic For The People29:50 moving to freelance engineering and eventually to mastering.33:30 Mastering Botch - We are the Romans34:55 - What is mastering?41:10 - Listener question Why mix in a control room?52:25 - Listener question - what’s the difference between dynamics compression and bitrate / codec compression.60:00 - what’s more important sample rate or bit depth?62:40 - Let’s talk about acoustics! What is a room mode?67:00 - Things to do when designing a space77:20 - Ed’s pedal steel guitar solo record.

Submit your questions for Johnny by sending us a voice memo or email to [email protected].

This episode is sponsored by Izotope. Use the discount code FRET10 to save 10% off any of their products (link).

The Truth About Recording & Mixing is a bi-weekly podcast produced by the Fretboard Journal magazine, loosely based on our Truth About Vintage Amps Q&A podcast.

www.johnnysangster.com www.cracklepopstudio.com www.fretboardjournal.com