Everything you need to know to start recording and mixing live drums

Comprehensive step-by-step tutorials, all in one place

Are you a seasoned drummer, ready to make the move to session drumming but unsure how to build your recording rig? Looking to record your drums for social media, but not sure how to mix them to get great sounds? Are you a music producer, used to working with pre-mixed drum loops, encountering live raw drum tracks for the first time? 

You've come to the right place.

In RECORDING & MIXING LIVE DRUMS, Session Drummer/Engineer Dylan Wissing (Alicia Keys, John Legend, Drake) and Producer/Mix Engineer Cooper Anderson (Kanye West, Wu Tang Clan, FUN.) walk you through every step of the drum recording and mixing process, starting with placing one microphone in front of the kit and ending with a final polished twelve-mic mix. 

  • Dylan Wissing shows positioning of a Solomon LoFReQ microphone on a Ludwig bass drum
  • Editing live drum tracks in Ableton
  • Positioning two TELEFUNKEN TF11 microphones as room mics

Wondering how to build a pro drum recording setup? We can help.

Part One, Recording the Drums, builds your tracking rig from the ground up. Dylan demonstrates miking techniques and strategies for one, two, four and twelve-mic setups, and offers strategies to "buy once, buy right" so you can affordably build a professional recording setup without breaking the bank.

Topics covered include microphone placement, setup and tips, plus studio acoustics, phase alignment, prepping raw tracks for export, and much more. At every step along the way, Dylan presents audio examples so you can hear exactly what he's doing and the reasoning behind it.

  • Cooper Anderson - Producer, Mix Engineer
  • Mixing drums using Logic Compressor
  • Demonstrating positioning of TELEFUNKEN TF11 microphones in the Glyn John position

How do you mix drums so they sound professional (and you can get paid)?

In Part Two, Mixing the Drums, Cooper demonstrates the fundamental audio techniques and concepts that you need to create great drum mixes on your own, then applies those same techniques to four different mic configurations. Cooper explains every step he makes so you can experience the process and understand the decisions made in a professional drum mixing session.

With a focus on stock plugins, the types found in any professional DAW, and suggestions for a few third-party plugins that will really elevate your drum mixes, the course teaches how to use the tools you already have at your disposal, rather than buying endless new software and audio gear.

RECORDING & MIXING LIVE DRUMS | for Session Musicians & Producers

    1. Introduction to Drum Recording

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    2. Initial Gear for Your Studio

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    3. Setting Up Your Interface and DAW

    1. One Microphone: FRONT OF KIT to KIT CENTER

    2. One Microphone: MONO OH and SHOULDER MIC

    3. Performance 1 - One Microphone

    1. Tracking with Two Microphones

    2. Performance - Two Microphones

    1. The 4-Input Interface

    2. Adding Microphones - LDC Stereo Pair

    3. Mic Position: SPACED PAIR

    4. Mic Position: GLYN JOHNS

    5. Mic Position: SNARE TOP

    6. Performance 3: Four Microphones

    1. Discussing Studio Acoustics

    2. Expanding to 12 Mics: Drum Mic Prepack

    3. Adding Microphone Preamplifiers

    4. Important Note About Gear

    5. Discussing Mic Collection - SDC vs LDC

    6. Mic Position: KICK IN and KICK OUT

    7. Mic Position: SNARE TOP and SNARE BOTTOM 1

    8. Mic Position: HI HAT

    9. Tom Mics and Drum Set Maintenance

    10. Mic Position: ROOM MICS

    11. Adding Gobos

    12. Performance 4: 12 Microphones

    13. Final Wrapup

    1. Introduction to Drum Mixing

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    2. Equipment for Mixing Drums

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    3. DAWs & Plugins

    4. Recording Terminology

    5. Recording Resolution

    6. Levels

    7. Panning & Mid-Side

    8. EQ

    9. EQ Examples with Sonnox Claro

    10. Basics of Compressors

    11. Parallel Compression

    12. Sidechain Compression

    13. "Glue" or Bus Compressors

    14. Other Compressor Types

    15. Limiters

    16. Final Thoughts on Compressors

    17. Saturation, Tape Simulation & Bit Crushing

    18. Noise Gates & Transient Shapers

    19. Drum Bus Plugin

    20. Other Suggested Plugins

    21. Automation

    22. Final Mix vs. Stems

    23. Mastering

About this course

  • $97.00
  • 90 lessons
  • 5.5 hours of video content

No need for an expensive console and acoustically-designed room - we don't use those, either

This is a practical, all-in-one course, walking you through every step of the process. We assume you're on a working musician's budget, tracking drums in spaces that perhaps were never designed to be recording studios. 

No prior recording or mixing experience is required, although there's a LOT in here for veteran musicians and engineers as well. The goal is to get the best drum recordings you can, in any size studio with one to twelve microphones, at a price that won't destroy your budget.

  • Dylan Wissing - Session Drummer, Audio Engineer
  • Cooper Anderson - Producer, Mix Engineer

We've been doing this for a long time. Let us help save you time and money!

We've been creating, recording and mixing music at a top level for decades, working for artists such as Alicia Keys, John Legend, Drake, FUN., Kanye West, Jay-Z, Eminem, Future, Wu Tang Clan and many more. Our drum loops and samples are heard in releases from Native Instruments and Cymatics. We've been featured in the New York Times and Modern Drummer Magazine. 

We know what works, and what doesn't - we can show you a path.

RECORDING & MIXING LIVE DRUMS | for Session Musicians & Producers

Ready to build your rig and start tracking drums? Let's get to work!

Buy Now $97