Five Things Every Studio Needs

Ok, recordists: drummers are a unique breed. Most of the time, they arrive to record and all is well. But sometimes you'll deal with a drummer coming in to record, and their drum tracks will sound dead and hollow. Instead of wasting hours of time EQing and compressing, the easiest way to get a good drum sound is to retune the drums. A lot of outside factors can cause an acoustic instrument like drums to de-tune; temperature and handling conditions can both have a huge impact. The bottom line is, if a drummer doesn't know to tune his/her kit before starting to record, they probably don't have a drum key on them. This is where you step in to save the day.

The Easy Solution: A Drum Key
Spend $5 at your local music store and keep a drum key in your studio. Whenever you come across a problem drum set, you'll be prepared to at least give it a fighting chance to sound good naturally, and potentially save a lot of time and frustration later in the recording process.