Snare Drum Snap!

[Professor]

Well great, then it becomes much easier to use the spot mic to accentuate different parts of the snare sound in the overall mix. Consider though, the fact that if you're using any cardioid microphone, the polar pattern is going to shift along the frequency range and become more omni in the lower frequencies and more tightly directional in the upper frequencies. This is in addition to the shift of tone across the drumhead and around the drum shell. So if you want a brighter 'ping' out of the drum you will need to be at the edge, yes, but you'll also want to point almost straight down at the drum because at 30? off-axis you'll be dropping your high frequencies quicker, and with an SM-57 you don't have much up there to begin with. At 45? and shallower angles, you'll be losing even more and at lower frequencies - sure the 1kHz figure maybe -3dB like a good cardioid pattern, but the 4kHz measurement may be down as far as -8dB or lower (just guessing there, but still...) and worse at 12kHz and above. Actually I suppose I could just link to the spec sheet which does show that there is a 6dB boost at 6kHz on-axis but the mic is down -5dB at 4kHz when it's 60? off-axis. That's a pretty substantial swing.
Now it may be that your desired effect from the close mic is to add a lower 'thump' to the sound and you're aiming for around 300Hz, but then you'll want to position both further into the drum head and more off-axis to take advantage of the HF loss.
Ultimately and like any other instrument, you'll get the fullest sound of the drum from further away where all of the different elements of the sound have a chance to come together. For a recent recording of a snare drum part for a film score, I got a really nice, complete sound using a TLM-103 positioned about 36" above the drum which was at 'concert height' (waist high for a standing player). That was a little closer to the drum than a typical overhead for a drumset, but it worked well to capture the sound of the snare drum alone, and especially with the drum higher off the floor.

I tell you, back in February I went to a presentation on microphone technique given by Jurgen Wahl, Applications Engineer for Sennheiser/Neumann, held by the AES Pacific Northwest chapter. Jurgen had this fantastic demonstration recording which he built into a powerpoint demo. For video it showed an "ideal" polar plot for cardioid, omni or fig-8, along with a line like a clock hand that started at 12 o'clock or 0? and rotated all the way around the plot over the course of about 5 or 10 seconds. For the audio, Jurgen prepared sample recordings of various microphones which he placed on a single-revolution turntable he'd built, inside an anechoic chamber, infront of a speaker playing pink noise. The resulting recording was roughly synchronized to the video so they displayed one complete 360? revolution together in a few seconds. The result was a dynamic, audio representation of the polar pattern at all frequencies for various mics. It sounded a lot like sweeping a peak/notch filter across a pink noise signal, but it was the sound of the polar response of the microphone. He demonstrated various microphones from various manufacturers, not to pick on the particular mics, but to encourage the engineers to better understand their tools. Afterall, if you're expecting to null in the cardioid pattern to keep the sound of the bass amp out of your vocal mic, then you're fighting a losing battle because that cardioid mic is practically omni at those frequencies. It was one of the most illustrative and beneficial single demonstrations I've ever seen. That little slap to the head alone was worth the 5-hour drive to Seattle for the presention, and I was lucky enough to get more than just that from the event.

-Jeremy

[Lee Knight]

Fantastic post Jeremy. Thanks for that.

[LeedyGuy]

lemme get your opinion on this:

i have a small room (ceiling might not even BE 6 ft)that i havent spent a lot of time dampening and i REALLY should spend that time and money, but since im NOT, i use a Studio Projects B3 (its an ldc) in omni right by the shell of my pearl Birch Recording Custom snare.

this way, in omni i feel like i get some stick attack and i also get that snare-y sound there too.

i ALSO find that making minor adjustments to the tightness or loosness of the snares makes a BIG difference. sometimes it doesnt sound like a sound i would use on a gig but it comes out GREAT recorded.

the problem i get sometimes is that i get a little too much hi hat in the share mic or too much cyms or something, but i raise the hi hat a little or move a cymbal or the mic a little bit and make sure that the loudest thing the mic gets is the snare

anyone else tried this?

[Lee Knight]

An omni between the snare shell and the hat is bitchin'. You've got to balance yourself at the kit a lot more, but it kills when it kills...

[Professor]

I'd say get a remote hihat stand and stick the hats on your right over by the ride cymbal. Except for the occasional tune where you're playing a two-handed 16th note pattern on the hats, and in those cases you could switch the mic over to cardioid which would give a fatter sound on the snare from the proximity, and reduce the hihat clutter if only by a little bit.
True though that while this might be a sound that you like, it will take a sensitve drummer to balance the hats vs. snare well.

And for such a low ceiling, you might really want to look into a bit of diffusion and absorbtion across the ceiling and the top two feet or so of the side walls. Auralex makes a really low profile diffusor called the Metro-fusor that is a styrofoam panel cut 2' x 2' x 2" with a 'skyline' style diffusion pattern, that also happens to be pretty cheap. Sticking that on the ceiling above the kit won't take up lots of space but will help your overhead quite a bit, and surrounding the stuff with some foam would probably work wonders.

-Jeremy

[dynomike]

I skimmed the thread but since I have no problem getting drum sounds myself I'll just add a few of my suggestions for "more crack", all involving just the snare close mic. Hope this isn't too redundant.

1. Wood snare.
2. hit harder.
3. Rim shots (makes a brass snare crack like nuts)
4. Pull the mic back a bit
5. Angle the mic so it points more at the edge (in general, more hi-freq stuff at the edges, more crack, as opposed to pointed to the middle where the fundamental thud is)
6. Add a bottom snare mic, but this probably won't help a lot.
7. Slowish attack compressor - waves rcl works well for a plugin.

Mike

[cactus]

lil' recipe of my liking:
* tune the snare (if it sounds like a wet towel, start turning lugs)
* avoid tube preamps
* use a snare bottom mic (D112 is my fave, then 57)
* don't compress more than about 6dBGR, 4:1 or less

if only using 1 snare top mic,
*57 parallel with batter head, almost resting on head (should appear like it's resting on the head/rim). get the entire diaphragm body over the head.
*then dip @ 300Hz shelving. (you're UNCOVERING crack, not adding it)

if 2 snare tops (i like a 57 for bass, and 604 for crack),
*57 pointing down at head (almost perpendicular) 1/4" off
*604 on rim, flush with shell, pointing across the snare (should not be over the head. should remain flush with rim), almost touching the rim.

that's how i like to do it.

[logancircle]

Yes, a good mono overhead is a great place to start. When you're sketching a song you can just put up 1 mic for the drums so you can hear how your ideas might sound if you did track a full kit. That's perfect, because in that situation you have to move that mic to a place that gets a good bit of everything, and then when you're ready to track drums you can just add in some close mics to compliment that.

[joeysimms]

Yes, a good mono overhead is a great place to start. When you're sketching a song you can just put up 1 mic for the drums so you can hear how your ideas might sound if you did track a full kit. That's perfect, because in that situation you have to move that mic to a place that gets a good bit of everything, and then when you're ready to track drums you can just add in some close mics to compliment that.

Exactly.

[trashy]

I just want to chime in with something that's been mentioned once or twice, but not really highlighted:

mic the shell.


please, for the love of all things holy, mic the shell.

[logancircle]

Miking the shell seems counter-intuitive (if the drum heads and snares are what's making the snare sound, then why aim a mic anywhere else?) but it works. Anyone know the science (in brief)?

[Lee Knight]

The sound of the acoustic guitar doesn't come out of the hole per se. It radiates from the face. Acoustic pianos have a "soundboard" too. Same principle really.

When you're sitting in a club hearing a guy bash his snare, you're not just hearing the heads, or the snares. The shell itself is a major component of the snare.

[joel hamilton]

Jeremy

Awesome points to consider. I've never really thought of recording/mixing drums as a top down or bottom up affair, but it makes perfect sense. As far as actually recording the set is concerned, I'm doing pretty much as you advise. Mono overhead, mic on bass drum, mic on snare, plus mic on floor tom, for an additional dash of sonic fun. I'm not into the close-mic every drum thing. Been there, done that, and didn't like it. Too clinical...

If close mic'ing the drums is "clinical" then call me um... a ... "clinic."

I like tio get the drums happening to the point where I could use ONLY the close mics, and it would sound like a well recorded, dry, close mic'd kit.
I also get the OH to sound like the kit, and the room mics. Well recorded is well recorded.

OH should sound like the drums, but so should the room mics. there is no bigger bummer for me when mixing a project i didnt track than when there is some clumsy "I went for this totally cool flavor of the month no close mics approach." Sweet. Why not print the close mics? Dont use them if you dont want to, but print them.

A well recorded drum should be able to sound "sectional" in the sense that it is a collection of instrments acting as a whole, OR it can sound like a bunch of separate instruments being struck in proportion to each other. BOTH can sound amazing, both HAVE sounded amazing on many records, and beyond that...

Flexibility during mix is paramount in my opinion. this doesnt mean the old "i printed 579 choices of mic on the banjo so you could decide later" crap. this means a bunch of very well recorded tracks that allow for changes in overall aesthetic direction during mix. In my experience, this approach can REALLY sound like the band, rather than a fixed aesthetic decision being made on the way in that limits the mix to a certain overall fingerprint kind of no matter what.

I have had to deal with all kinds of tracking over the years, from stuff tracked by all kinds of people (bisi, albini, bryce goggin, the guys in the band, someones uncle, a "pal"), and the good ones always had all the raw material for the record to blosoom during the mix, along with some great character imparted in the right places by their mic selection and placement, gain structure...blahblah.

How to get more "snap" out of the snare? Record a LOT. Do what you need to do. Try everything everyone said in this thread, and ten more you come up with!

Have fun, an make it great. Compress it, tune it, hit it, throw it,... whatever. MAKE IT crack!

(I just smoked some).

[workshed]

Just a little perspective from someone who knows next to nothing here... I recently recorded drums my first time and ended up realizing (while mixing) that the snare wasn't popping out in the mix nearly as much as it should. After trying a variety of options to get it to crack more, I ended up just applying a guitar overdrive plugin, isolated to the upper-mid frequencies, applied after compression a room reverb. Made the snare come out a lot more without affecting the overall tone too much. Granted, this was a loud and noisy punk/hardcore band, but it helped a lot. Of course, if you are still tracking, you have the option of fixing it proper-like before you have to fix it in the mix.

[Brian]

First, believe it or not, I'm with Joel on this.
Make sure the kit is tuned appropriately. 57 on top about 4 inches away from the head pointed to the center, I use a shockmount, then, a good condensor underneath cheap but good reverse phase from the top and add up both without EQ at first. "Crack", is cheap and addictive and located between 750 and 1.6khz, thud is 250 and below, paper is 125, get rid of what you don't want. It doesn't have to match the top but additively work and check it in mono while yer at it.