Eric Hastings - 1 mic drums

Session Drummer

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3 Reviews (2 Verified)
Eric Hastings - 1 mic drums on SoundBetter

Spend your time MAKING MUSIC - not mixing a million different drum tracks. My speciality is getting a warm, balanced drum track that you can drop into your mix with little to no additional sweetening (EQ, compression, phase correcting, etc.) needed. Keep it simple!

I first came across a minimal micing technique when I did a session with famed producer/engineer/drummer Andy Kravitz, who has worked with the likes of Billy Joel, Gloria Estefan, etc. He had me play and slowly walked/stalked around my kit, sticking his head in different places and listening from various vantage points. After a few minutes he stuck just 2 mics on the whole kit. I was skeptical, but once I heard the results I couldn’t believe my ears. It was the best I’d ever heard my drums and playing captured up to that point. Of course it probably didn’t hurt that he was tracking to 2 inch analog tape and had some amazing preamps and mics to capture the sound, but I definitely took notice that you didn’t have to capture everything individually. He really took the approach that he was recording 1 instrument, not a collection of 8-10 individual instruments.

I've found the best success both sonically and musically is using minimal microphones on the drums. Usually this means just a stereo ribbon mic (AEA R88) running through top flight preamps and compressors (DW Fearn) into top of the line convertors (Merging ANUBIS). While I have all the usual mics/pres you'd expect from a studio drummer, and can record and deliver multiple tracks, I believe the best sounds come from using a minimalist approach to recording the full drum kit.

Click the 'Contact' above to get in touch. Looking forward to hearing from you.

3 Reviews

Endorse Eric Hastings - 1 mic drums
  1. Review by Dick Derry
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    Working with Eric was great. He did exactly what I asked, but also added a few nice touches of his own that worked well for the tune. I love his feel on the kit, and the sound he's able to get with just one mic is amazing.

  2. Review by Marcelo Quinonez
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    Eric was a great client. Clear communication, great material, amazing file prep, and super fast with revision notes. Ideal!

  3. Review by Marcelo Quinonez
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    Eric is an amazing drummer and delivers extremely well produced drum tracks every time I hire him. I would highly recommend working with Eric as he is open to feedback, very communicative, and extremely capable of producing amazingly performed and recorded drum tracks! 5 stars for sure!

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Brian Drye & Eric Hastings

I was the Drummer, Engineer and Producer in this production

Terms Of Service

I will deliver drumming projects within five (5) business days unless we discuss otherwise. Two revisions free of charge.

GenresSounds Like
  • Jim Keltner
  • Joe Henry
  • Dan Auerbach
Gear Highlights
  • AEA R88 stereo ribbon mic
  • C12s
  • m160
  • Beta52
  • ATM25s
  • SM7
  • 57s & 58s
  • DW Fearn VT-2 preamp
  • DW Fearn VT-7 compressor
  • Hazelrigg Industries VLC-1 preamp/EQ (2)
  • Tascam DA-3000
  • Merging ANUBIS (2)
More Photos