What is Drum Recording Boot Camp?

Producer, mixer, engineer and recording artist Ronan Chris Murphy’s Drum Recording Boot Camp offers more than 11 hours of intensive lessons, and features detailed techniques for success in recording and mixing drums in a host of situations and environments, on a variety of different budgets.

“Since we launched Recording Boot Camp more than 17 years ago, people have been asking me to share these techniques online, but I waited until we could do it in a way that offered the same value as an in-person experience,” says Murphy. “Interestingly enough, our new online courses allow us to delve even deeper in some cases into topics and techniques because we are not limited by time, and users can work at their own pace.”

The content of Drum Recording Boot Camp is based on the drum-recording portion of Recording Boot Camp’s week-long in-person workshops. Lessons range from recording an amateur drummer on an inexpensive drum set all the way up to recording professional session drummers on a high end DW kit. The mix training portion of Drum Recording Boot Camp demonstrates how it is possible to get amazing drum sounds using only stock EQ plugins, and then moves forward with more advanced techniques with more boutique options. Mixing lessons feature examples from sessions with noted drummers Terry Bozzio and Victor Bisetti (Los Lobos).

While there are new online recording training courses coming onto the market, Murphy and his Recording Boot Camp Series offer a realistic perspective from working professionals and engineers. Murphy himself learned his craft in the trenches working on hundreds of albums with great musicians, recording and mixing drummers, including Terry Bozzio (Frank Zappa, Missing Persons), Bill Bruford (King Crimson, Yes), Gregg Bissonette (David Lee Roth, Santana), Benny Greb (Moving Parts), Pat Mastelotto (Mr. Mister, King Crimson, XTC) and Bill Rieflin (REM, Ministry). Murphy also is a pioneer of new forms of education, being one of the world’s first audio bloggers and creating the “Recording Boot Camp” concept of the intensive one week recording workshop format.

“A lot of people let limitations of gear and recording situations keep them from getting great drum sounds. This is crazy, because you can get killer drum recordings with a few affordable, good mics and stock plugins if you know what you are doing. This is what I try to get across in Drum Recording Boot Camp.” -Ronan Chris Murphy