2 Mics on a Bass Drum...
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Posted on Oct 23, 2005 03:09 am
Blindfold
Member Since: Dec 04, 2003
I was reading thru some of the tips on micing drums and came across the idea of placing a mic on the front skin where the beater actually hits. I have never actually tried this but it sure sounds interesting. This sounds like it would create a lot of phase problems though. For instance, since you're probably flipping the phase on the miked back skin (because its pointed upwards whereas the rest of the mics are pointed down) you wouldn't want to flip the phase on this front mic.
Then I start thinking about when you use 2 mics on a snare. From what I've learnt the best way is to have the 2 snare mics pointing so they would appear to meet at the same point.
How would you do this on a kick? If you point the front skin mic upwards to meet the back skin wouldn't the front be out of phase with the rest of the mics that are pointed downwards? I'm guessing it would make sense to point the front mic downwards right at the back skin mic?
Haha, sorry if this doesn't make sense... phase issues always get to me.
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Oct 23, 2005 04:26 am Done it :D. I mic the kick's beater all the time with an SM 57 and also for the kick, a D112 just out side the resonant heads sound hole. Then I EQ all the lows out of the beater mic to reduce some phasing problems with the D112. I found I usually don't flip the phase, it sounds better without.
Bass frequencies are pretty omnidirectional, so I'm not sure trying to aim the mic's at the same angle will make much of a difference. But, the high frequency content of the beater will be very direct, and will have smaller wavelengths than the lows. This is where the cancelation would occur I imagine. By having the low frequency mic further back, maybe even outside the resonant head of the bass drum to catch even longer wavelenghts, you could prevent serious phasing issues as each mic will be resonsible for a different band of frequencies.
I flip the phase most of the time when dual micing the snare. Don't look at it as a rule IMO, just see which phase relationship sounds best.
Good question though. Got me thinking. Thanks!
