whats the best?
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Posted on May 10, 2006 12:42 pm
meltdown5
Faze 2 Studios
Member Since: Aug 15, 2005
ok heres what i need, and heres what i got.
i need a good sounding drum recording. I really love the sound of drums in "pro" recordings, i love the separation of each drum/cymbol that i have yet to get with a 4 mic set-up. i want to be able to have basically a track for each drum and have as little bleed as possible. I want to be able to have the crash/ride not sound like... super loud as like i have had in a 4 mic set-up, very bright and peircing sounds is all i can get so far.
what i have is 8 mic inputs/preamps. my mic's are:
2 Rode NT1-A
2 Rode NT1000
1 Shure Beta 52 (kick drum mic)
1 Shure Sm57
2 Shure Sm58
The drum set consists of:
kick
snare
3 toms
hit hat
ride
crash
thats 8 drums and 8 mics.
But which mics to use on which drums? and i woudlnt have some for overheads. hmmmm
anyhelp would be sweet
-meltdown
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af_analogcrazy canuckMember
Since: Nov 25, 2004
May 10, 2006 02:00 pm Ok, I am gonna guess that you usually put your overheads to close to the kit, this is why your ride always sounds so peircing. How big is your room? How does it sound?
I would start out by placing the NT1000's as your overheads, but don't just throw em up and leave em, you really need to spend a lot of time getting a GREAT stereo overhead sound that represents the kit as a whole instrument, not just cymbals. This is about 80% of getting a GREAT drum recording in my opinion. Once you have a good stereo overhead sound, you simply add to that with your close mics.
I would put the kit in the very center of the room, and start with the NT1000's about a foot behind the drummers stool aiming down towards the kit from behind him. I would get them up as high as you can because this will balance out your overhead sound more and it will help with the peircing ride. If you have low ceilings you may have to put some Corning 703 on the ceiling above the overheads to get rid of the nasty comb filtering. I would space them out about 6 to 8 feet apart to start with, and make sure that they are both equal distance from your snare drum, this will help you a lot with phase issues, and it will center your snare drum in the stereo image.
Now once your happy with the way these 2 mics sound, I would grab that B52 and put it on the kick, put the 57 on the snare. Check for phase between these two close mics and your overheads and adjust the height of your overheads until they are in phase. If you feel you still need more toms in the mix, mic em up. I would use the 58's with the grills off for your two highest toms, you'd be surprised how good they will sound with that grill off...and some good placement. So, your left with 2 NT1-A's, well I'd use one for a room mic, somewhere far away from the kit facing AWAY from the kit low to the ground (you don't want cymbals in this mic if possible), maybe even in the next room if you have one (when you are mixing, flip the phase of this room mic back and forth to see which sounds better with the overheads & close mics). Use the other one for the low tom but make sure you use the null of the mic to your advantage cause you don't want much cymbal bleed in the tom mic or you'll be fighting it later.
Honestly, the overheads and the room mic will give you the "professional" polished sound you are looking for if placed right and if your room actually sounds good. They will give your close mics a LOT more depth and space and you're drums will sound huge. Once you mix in the close mics you will be smiling from ear to ear.
CHEERZ
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
May 10, 2006 02:05 pm well, using condensors is going to be hard to keep apart from each other, as you probably already know.
That's probably why you have a piercing sound from cymbals as well. LDC will give you very clear high end (usually).
I'd try: 2 nt1a as overheads, kill the low end either before, or after tracking. Probably after.
2 nt1000 as front of kick / kit. point kinda away from each other. not all the way though, each should be able to get some kick in it.
Then put the 57 over or under the snare, and the 2 58s on the toms.
Maybe the 52 right on the kick for that 'in your face' sound.
I'd then find the strong freq for each track, and zap anything else that's in there. Then more EQ, some panning, some compression, maybe some reverb, and BAM, turn it up a notch.
But seriously, I haven't done much with drums, just thinking out loud. Hope someone else kicks in some better ideas =).
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
May 10, 2006 02:05 pm Cool, i'm glad someone else chimed in =).
sticadokid*sticado: short and LOUD!*Member
Since: Feb 25, 2005
May 11, 2006 08:45 pm i place my mics like so:
first of all put the crash cymbals much higher than ur used to and put the condensors farely close to them but aim them over 90 degrees from each other at the farthest crash. this gives a huge stereo image on the crashes.
from the rim of the snare and toms, aim the mic at the center of the head. this makes the slap of the sticks clear so the drums are defined and since the mics are angled so far, it lets the highs zip on by the mic while the low end is picked up more... snare might wanna be aimed between the center of the head and the rim to get a bit more highs.
for the kick (as the toms), angle the mic pretty far but always aiming at the point where the beater smacks so that it is very defined.
the best way to get an awesome sound though is to have a gate set for everything except for the cymbals. if u have enough inputs on ur computer then setting gates on the computer will be much easier than manually for ur kit outboard. then boost some frequencies in certain spots for certain drums to add ur final touches.
ask more questions if u nedd anymore ideas
