ribbon mics on snare?

deadeno · Post by **deadeno** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 7:51 am

hey everyone-

I'm just wondering about close-mic'ing snare drums with ribbon mics.
I have a Beyer m160 and have been using it on the drumkit, but mostly as an overhead, or out in front of the kit, but never as a close mic.
In the Beyer manual, they recommend the m160 for snare, but I just wanted to make sure the ribbon could handle being right up on the drum.

Normally I go with the sm57 on the snare, but mine is busted, so I'm looking for other options...

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks!

ubertar · Post by **ubertar** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 7:55 am

I'd point it at the shell.

AGCurry · Post by **AGCurry** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:02 am

Yes, ribbon mics can tolerate a high SPL. Do it.

??????? · Post by **???????** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:38 am

don't mic the vent hole with it. Anything else on snare should be cool as long as the drummer doesn't whack it. SPLs arent usually the issue with ribbon mics. It's blasts of air that do it. So if you put yr hand there and don't feel the slightest rush of air then it SHOULD be fine.

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:23 pm

I've wanted to try using my ribbon mic's figure 8 pattern as a "crotch mic," ie, placed between the kick and snare pointed at the drummer's crotch... with the directionality figure-8 pattern, one end pointed at the kick, the other at the snare underside. Tweak the placement, and squash teh heck out of it... I think it'd probably sound really good....

klangtone · Post by **klangtone** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:02 am

jwl wrote:I've wanted to try using my ribbon mic's figure 8 pattern as a "crotch mic," ie, placed between the kick and snare pointed at the drummer's crotch... with the directionality figure-8 pattern, one end pointed at the kick, the other at the snare underside. Tweak the placement, and squash teh heck out of it... I think it'd probably sound really good....

I did something like this once in search of a new and interesting snare sound, but I ended up getting a new and interesting kick drum sound!

But I've had success with ribbon mic's on snare in more traditional locations. I also like them a lot on toms and as overheads.

deadeno, what do you mean your sm57 is broken? I didn't think that was possible.

Roy

Professor · Post by **Professor** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:07 am

Ribbon mics on snare....

you mean kinda like this?

That's a TapeOp ribbon on the snare and on both toms. You can see that the hi-tom still has the chunk of Auralex taped on like a little hat, and the snare mic had a similar treatment that was removed for the photo. They serve a dual purpose of soaking up some of the highs from the nearby cymbals & hats, and also that protects the mics from stray drumsticks.
The best thing is that the fig-8 pattern provides perfect rejection at 90? so that floor tom mic was remarkably free from ride cymbal. (Well, there was a little, but very, very, little considering the proximity.)

-Jeremy

deadeno · Post by **deadeno** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:38 am

thanks for the responses...
very helpful.
I'm going to go ahead and try it with this set up-

snare- beyer m160
kick- AKG D112
OHs- Rode NT5's

Roy- I don't know what happened to my 57. One day we just stopped getting a signal from it. It was surprising, for sure...mystifying, even.

thanks again!

Recycled_Brains · Post by **Recycled_Brains** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:56 am

deadeno wrote:
Roy- I don't know what happened to my 57. One day we just stopped getting a signal from it. It was surprising, for sure...mystifying, even.

THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!

Paul Fury 161 · Post by **Paul Fury 161** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:56 am

I'd be careful - blew my M160 using it on snare drum, mic the shell, not the batter head or the vent hole.

Sounded awesome right up unitl it died ;-(

Let us know how you get on!

PX

punkrockdude · Post by **punkrockdude** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:36 am

Professor wrote:Ribbon mics on snare....

you mean kinda like this?

That's a TapeOp ribbon on the snare and on both toms. You can see that the hi-tom still has the chunk of Auralex taped on like a little hat, and the snare mic had a similar treatment that was removed for the photo. They serve a dual purpose of soaking up some of the highs from the nearby cymbals & hats, and also that protects the mics from stray drumsticks.
The best thing is that the fig-8 pattern provides perfect rejection at 90? so that floor tom mic was remarkably free from ride cymbal. (Well, there was a little, but very, very, little considering the proximity.)

-Jeremy

Hi Professor.
Do you have any samples unmixed you could or want to share from that session? I would love to hear how the snare and the rest sounds with those ribbon mics. Regards

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:17 pm

yeah m160 sounds cool on the shell. back it up a bit, like 6" or so.

matyas · Post by **matyas** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 4:52 pm

Yay! The Prof is back! I've been missing his posts.

thebunker · Post by **thebunker** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:03 pm

i'd love to hear some of that ribbon set up too professor!

audio[LAB] · Post by **audio[LAB]** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:54 pm

Professor wrote:Ribbon mics on snare....

you mean kinda like this?

That's a TapeOp ribbon on the snare and on both toms. You can see that the hi-tom still has the chunk of Auralex taped on like a little hat, and the snare mic had a similar treatment that was removed for the photo. They serve a dual purpose of soaking up some of the highs from the nearby cymbals & hats, and also that protects the mics from stray drumsticks.
The best thing is that the fig-8 pattern provides perfect rejection at 90? so that floor tom mic was remarkably free from ride cymbal. (Well, there was a little, but very, very, little considering the proximity.)

-Jeremy

I don't want to sound ignorant here, but i'm sorta new to tape op and I keep hearing about these Tape Op ribbon mics.. ? .... i tried searching it and I couldn't find too much info on em. can anyone point me in the right direction?

Message Board