Recording Drums at Home | Behind the Scenes with Lucid Liars

Jackwan here to talk about drums.

Recording drums at home is one of those things that sounds simple in theory. Set up a few microphones, hit record, simply play the song and now you have a huge, polished drum track ready for the next Lucid Liars release. Well, I’ve recently started recording and mixing the drums myself and I can see now why Rig was quite happy to hand over the reigns!

Honestly I enjoy it very much and it’s been awesome in many ways. We can chase up ideas as soon as they appear, try strange arrangements, throw parts around, and build songs in our own time without waiting for the next rehearsal or booking a studio slot.

It has also introduced me to a whole new world of very specific problems. Drums are loud, complicated, and brutally ‘honest’. Every detail gets picked up: the room, the hardware, the squeaky pedals, the mystery rattles, the occasional farmyard ambience. The drum room is on a farm, and Rikki still swears he once heard a cow shouting abuse in the background of a take. We decided it was charming.

Edit: For the eagle-eared, we think it was ‘Better Days’.

Then there’s mic placement, which is its own whole thing. Move a microphone a couple of inches and the whole kit suddenly changes. Too close and everything feels tight and unnatural. Too far away and you capture every reflection bouncing around the room. After a while you realise the room isn’t just where the drums are recorded. It’s part of the instrument.

Mixing is probably the most fun but I find I’m often chasing the holy grail of a good snare sound!

For all the technical headaches, recording at home has definitely made me a better musician. When you listen back to takes over and over again, you notice things you would probably miss in a rehearsal room or on stage. Timing matters more. Dynamics matter more. The small details start to stand out. Sometimes that can be a bit painful, but it’s also been genuinely useful. It’s helped me tighten up, listen harder, self-mix and think more carefully about how each part serves the song.

That’s where the Bros and Jos come into it.

Rig is and always has been a songwriting machine. Defining concepts, building the walls of sound, digging deep for the lyrics and coming up with innovative ideas which allows the rest of us to run free and add our own spin.

He’s Mr. Lucid Liars.

Jo coming into the band has been a massive lift for us. Vocally, she’s brought a whole new energy and dimension to what we’re doing, taking the songs to another level and opening up possibilities we didn’t have before. Whether it’s lead lines, harmonies, textures or just that extra bit of character in the room, her voice has already completely altered the Lucid Liars sound forever.

Then there’s Jackto, also known in certain circles as Big Sexy, who has really come into his own. His bass and trumpet parts have become a huge creative part of the arrangements, not just holding everything together but adding movement and personality. It’s a true joy as a drummer to have such a solid counterpart to play off. Not to mention his input on the drum parts themselves which is invaluable.

That mix of personalities is a huge part of why the home recording process has been so much fun and what keeps me interested and inspired. One idea leads to another. A rough drum take suggests a new bass line. A guitar part changes the feel of a chorus. A vocal melody suddenly makes a section make sense. History becomes legend, legend becomes myth and sometimes a trumpet appears. We try not to question it too much.

There are never enough cables. Computers continue to antagonise at the worst possible moments. Microphones seem to develop a taste for gaslighting.

The finished songs might never reveal the hours spent nudging microphones around, arguing with software updates, or trying to identify a suspicious rattle somewhere near the floor tom or a protest from a nearby cow but we’ll know it’s all in there somewhere.

Lucid Liars remembers.

Finally, here’s what’s been in my playlist lately.

Prosthetic by Haken

Everything I love about prog-metal. It’s brutal, energetic and eclectic, with odd-time moments that feel like they genuinely lift the song rather than being thrown in for the sake of it as prog is often guilty of. Haken strike that balance very well. Also possibly my favourite solo/instrumental section ever.

Pamela by Toto

It’ll be no surprise to other drummers that one of my heroes is Jeff Porcaro. Pamela feels like a seriously underrated Toto track, with massive production and a soaring chorus. One of the best things about Toto is that they’re full of world-class musicians, but the flex is always to play in service of the song.

Until next time.

Jackwan x