What is the REAL glyn johns setup?

[???????]

more dent'n?

A *little* less finding me all over the internet?

[themagicmanmdt]

I was told by a guy who worked with Glyn Johns (Dad, coincendentally) that Glyn used this 4 mic setup:

Two overheads, usually pencil mics, in a matched pair, cardioid, with one at a measured distance over the snare, high enough to catch the crash cymbals (usually 5'-7'), and the other at that same measured distance to the side of the floor tom, at the same level as the top of the snare. This way, the snare image is directly center when you pan in stereo.

Kick mic, placed rather close from the front head, about 1' off.

Room mic, positioned to the particular room, at least 10' in the front of the kit.


I've used this setup to fantastic success - the bigger the room, the better it sounds! Blending in the room mic adds the reverb and reflection you want, which adds incredible dimension to the drum image. I've usually wettened up the kick with some reverb, though, but I enjoy the tone I get by micing closer than 1' from the kick.

Best. Way. To. Mic. Drums. Ever.

[dirk_v]

No spot mic on the snare?

[nipsy]

I was under the impression that only three mics were used....





Jay

[floid]

Two overheads, usually pencil mics, in a matched pair, cardioid, with one at a measured distance over the snare, high enough to catch the crash cymbals (usually 5'-7'), and the other at that same measured distance to the side of the floor tom, at the same level as the top of the snare.
/snip/
Room mic, positioned to the particular room, at least 10' in the front of the kit.

Okay, hmm, my latest formula's been LDC cardioid on the tom, pencil omni OH...any preferences on the room mic? but then, i'm seeing, whoa, 5-7 feet from the snare? i dunno, just seems like you'd get lots of cymbals, not so much on the toms (or maybe, yeah, lots of toms in the tom, lots of overhead in the overhead, that could make sense)...and my crazy logic's also wondering why not put the room mic at that same distance...unless the kick starts getting freaky or something...I do like the part about getting the tom mic level w/ the snare, makes sense somehow...
now all i gotta do is find a HUGE room...yeah, i think i'ma get drunk with the theater owner this weekend.

[themagicmanmdt]

I'm sure that Glyn probably tailored his technique to every band. I know that this setup was used for some tracking at Criteria studios in Miami in the 70's when he was there.

Believe it or not, it sounds like the drums will sound very distant and the cymbals will be amazingly overpowering with the setup, but tied in with good compressor settings, everything is balanced (that is, as long as the drummer is playing a balanced kit). I could imagine that if the snare wasn't as loud as the cymbals/toms, that one can do any sort of substitution.

The room mic can be done without, however. Putting it at equal distance would definitely tighten up the sound, instead of as far away as I have it. I like that heavy reverb, Spector-esque drum sound, so I don't shy of backing up the room mic.

I posted two songs using this technique in the 'listen to my stuff' section, and although I didn't spread them out fully L + R, about 10:30 and 1:30 is plenty of spread. The Lawn uses mainly the overheads + kick, where House Song saturates the drums with that room mic. (which, i need to spread out the drums a tad.)

I didn't use a ribbon as the room mic, but I want to. It'll add that realism to the sound, but with condensers as the overheads, it keeps the drums from sounding different than everything else recorded. Too many ribbons give things a 'live record' sound, and one shouldn't go ribbon crazy