EQ Magazine - September 2008 - (Page 36)

DRUM HEADS TRACKING CRYPTOPSY’S RAPID-FIRE GROOVES by Roberto Martinelli Montreal-based Cryptopsy is largely responsible for the boom in technical death metal the world over. Cryptopsy started in 1992, and ever since, they’ve been upping the bar in terms of extreme musicianship. At the forefront of the Cryptopsy mystique is drummer Flo Mounier—the band’s only remaining founding member—whose style, skill, and ridiculous drum kit setups have earned him renown, as well as endorsements from Pearl and Roland. In June 2008, Cryptopsy released its sixth full-length album, The Unspoken King [Century Media]. We spoke to Mounier and engineer Chris Donaldson (who is also Cryptopsy’s guitarist) about the monomaniacal approach they took to getting the sounds they wanted. Flo, how much control did you have over the recording of the drums on The Unspoken King? Mounier: We recorded the drums in my home studio. It’s not a huge room, and the ceilings are pretty low, but I wanted to have the most comfortable situation possible. We recorded the drums in six days—even though we didn’t practice as much as for The Unspoken King as we did for the other albums. It was more improv this time, and the tracks flowed a little more. You didn’t miss recording your drums at a commercial studio with a big room? Mounier: No. Everything is sampled and replaced, so there’s no necessity for a great-sounding room. And anyway, our music is so fast and busy that any natural drum reverb wouldn’t be heard. Did you trigger the drum samples? Donaldson: Yes. After we recorded Flo’s performances, we took tons of samples of him hitting his drums at different intensities: left and right hand hits, hits with low- and high-hand placement, rim shots, ghost notes, and every other kind of hit we could think of. Later on, I chose what samples to use Cryptopsy’s Flo Mounier. based on what he played. the way through several times and I worked like a maniac to get the trigpick the best bits for comping? gers to sound real. This is where the Mounier: I’m pretty big on perfecediting comes in. You check the tion, so I didn’t play any songs all the tracks, and if there’s anything wrong, way through. We had a scratch guitar you fix it. track recorded to a metronome, and I You’d actually audition every indiwent through the parts on each song vidual drum hit and match each one about ten different times. It’s usually dynamically with the right sample? the easiest parts that give you the Why didn’t you just use an automatic most problems, and the harder parts program like Sound Replacer? that get done in one take Donaldson: If I’m writing a MIDI How many channels were needed track to Flo’s playing, then I know preto get the drum tracks down? cisely where he’s using his right hand Donaldson: One for the snare, to hit a rim shot, or his left hand to four tom tracks, six overheads, one perform a ghost note. A program that for a second snare, and one for a replaces hits automatically based on submix of his two kick drums—a the intensity of the note played won’t total of 13 channels. know what hand played what. If you What gear was used to record do it yourself, it’s more accurate. the drums? How long did this process take? Donaldson: I used Pro Tools LE 6.4, Donaldson: A month. and we rented an Apogee Rosetta 800 Why not just record the drums, 8-channel AD/DA converter into which not use sample replacement, and be I routed two API 7600 channel strips. done with it? The API compressor puts the snare Donaldson: Because everything is sound right in your face. I also used clearer, and there’s no signal leakage. two Vintech X73 preamps and a You get a huge drum sound. Vintech 473 preamp for the overheads. What ratio of sample to acoustic They’re so crystal clear. As for mics, I sound did you use? used a Shure SM57 on the snare, Donaldson: It was about 60 perNeumann KM184s for overheads—one cent sample replacement against 40 mic for every three cymbals—and percent original acoustic drum these beyerdynamic clip-on mics. My sound—except the bass drums, which gear was very minimalist. My main gear are 100 percent samples. was patience. Flo, did you play each song all 36 EQ SEPTEMBER 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - September 2008

EQ Magazine - September 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Punch In Freak Folk Todd Rundgren Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Sony Acid 6 Ableton Live 7 Portable Recorder Showdown Gadgets and Goodies Sounds Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - September 2008

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