YOUR PIX: Drum Microphone Placement

[weatherbox]

two sound clips from some songs in the blog. configurations as listed on the page, unmixed (though a touch of the Massey limiter to bring it up to level.)

We Can Build You
http://www.mediafire.com/?nmyyyxwmt0d

Brief Physics
http://www.mediafire.com/?gyjfvwzkz4j

[heylow]

There are some more recent ones here:
http://davidtomaloff.myphotoalbum.com/v ... me=album05

There's a blog detailing the info in some of the photos here:
http://www.davidtomaloff.com/reclog.html

It's a bunch of different kits and setups for one album.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Ha! I'm so far behind on updating this stuff....I suck. I DID just put up the rest of the drum notes and photos that I currently have, though.

I mean...why chronical anything if you don't chronical the percussive stylings of the Garges Gut Mic, right?


[dt]

[Fakiekid]

how do u find that 421 on snare bottom chris? any sound clips available?

[cgarges]

I mean...why chronical anything if you don't chronical the percussive stylings of the Garges Gut Mic, right?

And just for the record, I'm puffing it out for the sake of the photo.

how do u find that 421 on snare bottom chris? any sound clips available?

Ask heylow. He payed me for the recordings, so the sounds are his.

I wouldn't have used the 421 if I didn't like how it sounds. It's on it's own track, too, so if he doesn't like how it sounds, it's perfectly erasable or at least mutable in the mix.

Seriously, here's my take on bottom snare mics:

Snare wires create a buzzy, bright, thickness. They don't accentuate the attack. They'll make a drum louder and brighter, but they don't actually increase the attack sound. (I mean acoustically, not in a purely electronic recording scenario.) To me, that attack sound comes from the stick making contact with the head. In fact, in the situation where a bottom mic is used in conjunction with a top mic, making the bottom mic equal in volume to the top mic will actually decrease the attack sound because the peaky high frequencies caused by the sound of the stick hitting and starting to excite the top head are masked by the fizzy, buzzy, high frequency noise of the snare wires.

So, when I use a bottom mic on the snare, I don't use it to get brightness or attack. I use it for two primary reasons (Well, one primary reason: that I like the way it sounds, but two secondary reasons would be): One, to get depth out of the sound of the drum. For some reason, many times snare drums miked top and bottom sound much larger and more real to my ears, much like top and bottom-miked toms or using two mics on a speaker. Two, snare wires against the bottom head don't have nearly the dynamic range that the top head does, so when a drummer is really killing it, the snares aren't THAT much louder than when he's playing at a quieter volume level. So, for that reason, I'll use the bottom mic to balance the sound of the drum out a little more and again, it just sounds more like a real snare drum to me.

So, in the case of using the bottom mic to get depth and not extra brightness out of the drum, I like big, meaty-sounding, kind of dumb mics. The Sennheiser 421 is perfect for this. I also like the Beyer M201 and Audix D4 for this and recently, I tried a Sennheiser e609, which also worked well. I generally don't prefer a brighter mic underneath because it gives me too much "snapiness" and makes the high frequency sound fuzzy and tinny. If I really need detail or sensitivity from a bottom snare mic, the Shure KSM141 is a good choice.

Now granted, having too much of the bottom mic (in terms of volume) can lead to the same "attack masking" kind of thing I mentioned earlier. So, silly as it sounds, I usually only like a little bit of the bottom mic there, but to me, it can add a lot. I mean, it can be really cool to get the mushy, buzzy, Jack Joseph Puig snare drum sound sometimes, but it's not something I usually gravitate towards on every session.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Recycled_Brains]

A bunch are posted through the pages of this thing: http://bastillesound.blogspot.com/

sounds are a good idea. I'll see what I can find for these.

hey, how are you liking the TM-2? i got one in Dec. and am loving it enough that i'll be getting a second one in the next week or so. it's the first LDC i've bought that made me say "sweet, that's the sound i've been after."

-ryan

[weatherbox]

A bunch are posted through the pages of this thing: http://bastillesound.blogspot.com/

sounds are a good idea. I'll see what I can find for these.

hey, how are you liking the TM-2? i got one in Dec. and am loving it enough that i'll be getting a second one in the next week or so. it's the first LDC i've bought that made me say "sweet, that's the sound i've been after."

-ryan

I really like it a lot as an instrument mic, and sometimes on vocals. I'd love to have a second one for stereo room micing or overheads. It's my go-to for FOK/near room and upright bass. I haven't done a lot of acoustic guitar in the months that I've had it but seems pretty good there too. It seems like I run into distortion with it way more though than any other mic I've owned. I'm getting near to re-tubing and if needed sending it in to have it gone-over as it's been sort of unpredictable in its functionality the past couple months. When it's all on though, I really like it a lot. The high-cut switch is cool.

[trodden]

I've been camera-less for awhile, found these in my photobucket though..

[trodden]

So, in the case of using the bottom mic to get depth and not extra brightness out of the drum, I like big, meaty-sounding, kind of dumb mics. The Sennheiser 421 is perfect for this. I also like the Beyer M201 and Audix D4 for this and recently, I tried a Sennheiser e609, which also worked well. I generally don't prefer a brighter mic underneath because it gives me too much "snapiness" and makes the high frequency sound fuzzy and tinny. If I really need detail or sensitivity from a bottom snare mic, the Shure KSM141 is a good choice.

totally... why i use the stedman n90 pretty much for under the snare mic all the time..

[Recycled_Brains]

It seems like I run into distortion with it way more though than any other mic I've owned.

That's interesting. i haven't really had much trouble with that. i wonder if a bad tube is the culprit. it's hot output has the tendency to kill the headroom on my Hamptone pretty easily, but once i switch the pad in, all is well.

sorry for getting off-topic...


-ryan

[Fakiekid]

chris I love it when people talk sense!

[drumsound]

Here's a fairly typical set up for me. This was actually done for photos, so there might be placement tweaking if I was on a session.


Here's one from the BTF sessions last fall. The U87 was moved over by the hats because we were cutting a double speed ovedub.


And here's a BD overdub.

[Platinum Samples]

We have plenty of pictures of Andy Johns' and Joe Barresi's drum setups on our site:

https://www.platinumsamples.com

Rail

[Fakiekid]

i'd love to hear those platinum samples just for curiosity, andy johns ORTF's and the glamourflage pork pie looks really good!

[Fakiekid]

oh wait, so i can!

fantastic!

[SkullChris]

Wow, Andy Johns is quite the snappy dresser. -(hris