Lessons Learned – Recording Taiko

If you first learned how to record 5-10 years ago (or more), you were probably taught to record “as loud as possible without clipping.”  Back then, in the 16-bit world of recording, this was true.  In the 24-bit world of recording, this is no longer true.  As a result, my world was turned upside down.  What was I to do?

According to multiple articles, I’m supposed to record at a volume that’s “just loud enough and nowhere near clipping.”  Typically, that’s somewhere between -20db and -12db.  I read it on the internet so it must be true.  But rather than take my word for it, try listening to the drum covers for yourself.

Another challenge I faced in my particular situation was the recording environment.  My studio is by no means ideal for recording.  There’s an immense amount of noise and slapback.  I therefore tried two solutions.

First, I tried experimenting with several different mic placements and settings.  Second, I tried using different mixing techniques to get a sense of space without capturing too much noise.  Hopefully you can hear an improvement through the process.

Lessons Learned – Mixing

One of the first mixing challenges was the kick drum.  Certain genres of music have a very specific kick drum sound.  For example, the kick drum we’re used to hearing in hip-hop is very different from the kick drum in metal.  Molding the kick drum to match the genre of music was quite a fun challenge.

Another challenge was capturing a feeling of space.  As I mentioned before, my studio is by no means an ideal recording environment.  If I tried to capture the space in the recordings, you’re going to hear a lot of… trust me, you don’t want to hear it.

Since I couldn’t record the space of my studio, I needed to add it later on in the mix.  Hopefully you can hear the various iterations I tried throughout the 7 drum covers.  It’s not the perfect solution, but I was able to find somewhat of a workaround.

If You’re Interested

If you’re one of the 10 other people in the world that’s interested in learning how to record taiko drums, please contact me.  Let’s talk more about how to get the best recordings we can.