applications for realistic pzms

[bannerj]

Last night I was working with the drummer to create some live loops. He had been trying to get something dialed up in Reason but got frustrated.

My first trick with my new R PZMs

He put a ton of 2 inch masking tape on both sides of his floor tom...taped a t-shirt to the top, then turned it on its side and used it as a kick. THen he did the same thing with his snare, but didn't touch his hi hat. The drums sounded like cardboard. I have this ottoman that is a wood frame and a cushion. I pulled the cushion off and placed the PZM on top. THen placed it 12 inches infront of the kick. THen I ran it through a dbx 160x and then again through the channel strip compressor in my Metric Halo 2882.

Then I put my 414 in omni in the other adjoining room...right in the corner...but didn't compress...just let it distort. The delay to the omni was really nice. We might have to nudge it up in the mix if it gets too messy with the original drums though.

I panned the PZM left and the omni right. The drummer freaked out. He said it was exactly what he was trying to get in reason.

Thanks for the ideas everybody.

[mfdu]

(re sgt peppers drum sound) mmmmm me likey. remind me of that one in a week, huh?

chris

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I use mine taped to the wall behind my upright piano and combined with a nice room mic.

[Kyle]

I love the PZM and usually tape it to the wall when recording drums.

I highly recommend removing the battery box and wiring an XLR in it's place. I use the power supply from the "TapeOp omni mic" that I built and it takes the PZM to a new level. The higher voltage exstends the freq response. I'm pretty sure it's the same mod listed above but if you have built the TapeOp omni, you've already done the hard part.