YOUR PIX: Drum Microphone Placement

[capnreverb]

you have crazy futuristic plastic walls!

unfortunately they sound like shit and work as big frequency sponges. Its new insulation that was installed in my attic space a few weeks ago. i just ordered 55 sheets of plywood for me to cut and put up and hopefully get some "TONE" back into the space.

[johnnydove]

took a few pics from the session at the practice space (guitarist's garage) on saturday, actually didn't turn out that bad, i'll post a clip when i'm done mixing.

mics were:
kicks- triggered (dm5)
snare top- 57
snare bottom- 421
left hat- 57
1st tom- d2
2nd tom- d2
1st floor tom- d4
2nd floor tom- i5
right hat- 57
ride- sm7
OH- royer mod 603s

[Nick Sevilla]

these are from my band's session this summer.....

http://www.doctorandphilip.com/recording.html

Sorry... broken link...

It may be an old thread, but it ain't dead yet...

[MoreSpaceEcho]

dude his post was from three and a half years ago. c'mon.

[Nick Sevilla]

http://www.nicksevilla.com/images/yesslideshow.html

There some from that album in there. I have the notes buried somewhere in my garage, in case someone wants the mic list...

I also recorded Vinnie C. a few times, and usually used the following, although I don't have much in the way of pictures (he's particular about this)

Kick - Beta 52
Snare SM57 top
Snare Shure SM81 bottom
Snare sidestick sound Shure SM57 pointing from the kick towards the snare, where the stick hits the metal.
HiHat Shure SM81 or an AT 4051
All Toms - Sennheiser MD421 mkii
Overheads - AKG 451 EB or Es, whatever is available.
Mono room - either a Neumann U47 thru an LA2a or a similar LDC tube mic.
"Special mic" I might put a boundary mic somewhere in the room, or another weird mic in a spot where the drums and room do strange phasey things, in case I need a weird sound.

Cheers

[lunabeach]

Here's some shots from Saturday's session on which I played drums. The artist is a very Suzanne Vega-esque piano player/singer. The band (keys, guitar, bass, drums) went for everything live, vocals included. Some stuff will be recut, some overdubs will be added, but for the most part, what was played then is the basis for the record. The band had never played together with this singer, who usually plays duo gigs with the guitarist, so arrangements were worked out on the spot. Two songs were tracked with a click. We got into four tunes on Saturday.

Drum sounds switched a lot from tune to tune, but the mics and signal path basically stayed the same with a few exceptions. The snare drums and cymbals switched pretty much from song-to-song.


Here's the basic kit layout. You can get an idea of the positioning of the overheads, which were Beyer M160s. Those went through a couple of Sytek preamps and the mics were equidistant from the center of the snare drum. I hadn't gotten to use a pair of 160s as overheads in a few years and I LOVED it for this stuff. There's a Sennheiser MD421 over the kick drum and kind of pointed inward towards the snare drum. This mic moved around a bit from song to song and may get used during the mix or not. It provides a good mono representation of the kit from close-in, which can provide a good source for things in the "funny noises" department. It went through a Daking 52270 preamp with a touch of EQ added. For one song, this mic also went through an Altec 1612A compressor. For another, it was intended to be routed through a SansAmp, but a patching mistake led to a more interesting setup which did not include this mic.



Here you can better see the distance between the front head of the kick drum and the mic. The mic itself is a Lawson L47FET with the 10dB pad engaged. It was routed to a Brent Averill Neve 1272 preamp, then a Purple Audio MC76, and then on to an API 550B for a little low mid cut and a couple of dB up at 30Hz. I totally expected to need another mic inside the drum or on the batter side to focus the attack, but the single mic outside the drum suited all the tunes just fine. Sometimes the surprise is nice.



Here you can see the snare drum miking arrangement and the cork beater on the bass drum pedal (for this one tune). Blue Mouse on top through a Daking 52270 preamp and again, a bit of EQ added. On the bottom, a Shure KSM141 with the 25dB pad and low cut engaged. The bottom mic went to an API 312 preamp.



Here you can better see the positioning of the top snare mic. You can also get an idea of the working distance I generally like for Oktava MC012s on toms. Both toms had 012s on them with 10dB pads and hypercardioid capsules and both went through additional Averill 1272s.



I also put up an ambient mic. I usually prefer the sound of stereo ambient drum kit miking, but this material lends itself to a more intimate sound. The ambient mic is there as another mixdown option and also provided a talkback for the musicians in the studio. The mic is an Audio Technica 4050 in omni routed to an API 312 preamp and into a Distressor. It's about 6 feet from the drum kit. I'm not usually into compressing room mics to tape, but I set it up as necessary for the talkback and liked it.



Here's a view from behind the kit, just for another perspective.

Hope this is entertaining.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

That looks like a awesome setup...is this available to listen anywhere on the internet?

[cgarges]

That looks like a awesome setup...is this available to listen anywhere on the internet?

I don't think so. The artist on that session was going to take the stuff back to Asheville with her to finish but I'm 99% sure she never did. It's too bad because the basics came out nice.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Fakiekid]

Been a long while! Thought I'd dig this up.

[pskjr]

Figured I'd bring this back to life...

[evilaudio]

Hey johnnydove, why do you have 2 triggers on the same kick drum?