Mic technique for : 2 Rack Toms only one mic
- Ryan Silva
- tinnitus
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Mic technique for : 2 Rack Toms only one mic
To deal with equpment limitations. How would you mic two rack toms with one mic?
Usume that stereo overheads are being used x/y or a/b
Goal is to get a close tom sound.
Figure 8 inbetween?
Omni?
Cardiod side shot?
Thanks
Usume that stereo overheads are being used x/y or a/b
Goal is to get a close tom sound.
Figure 8 inbetween?
Omni?
Cardiod side shot?
Thanks
"Writing good songs is hard. recording is easy. "
MoreSpaceEcho
MoreSpaceEcho
Umm,
Off the top of my head I guess you might be able to do a few things. Depending on the sound you were going for, if you were getting a fair amount of attack from the overheads, you could put a cardiod on the resonant side of the toms directly between the two and backed off (or pushed in) depending on the amount of coverage you are getting from the polar pattern of the mic and/or the amount of resonance you are looking to pull from the drums.
Another way would be to flip that, putting the cardiod between the two toms but on the batter side this time. That would help bring out some of the attack characteristics if you weren't getting what you wanted from the overheads as well as using the proximity effect depending on the placement to squeeze some "boom" out of them.
The third possibly viable approach I could think of would really depend on how far the toms are spaced from one another. If you could arrange the pick up lobes of a figure 8 to pick up the resonance of the shell and possibly some attack and at the same time have the nulls in place of the overheads and kick you might come out with something very cool and useable. BUT, I imagine the toms would have to be spaced a little further apart than typically comfortably set up for most players.
An Omni about waist high and 3 or so feet out of in front of the kit will definitely get you some beefy tom sound, but you'll get a lot of the rest of the set too.
I guess it all depends on your project (I know it is a hypothetical).
Oh yeah. And I'm sure there are a ton of other ways. Those were just the best I could come up with.
-Darrill
Off the top of my head I guess you might be able to do a few things. Depending on the sound you were going for, if you were getting a fair amount of attack from the overheads, you could put a cardiod on the resonant side of the toms directly between the two and backed off (or pushed in) depending on the amount of coverage you are getting from the polar pattern of the mic and/or the amount of resonance you are looking to pull from the drums.
Another way would be to flip that, putting the cardiod between the two toms but on the batter side this time. That would help bring out some of the attack characteristics if you weren't getting what you wanted from the overheads as well as using the proximity effect depending on the placement to squeeze some "boom" out of them.
The third possibly viable approach I could think of would really depend on how far the toms are spaced from one another. If you could arrange the pick up lobes of a figure 8 to pick up the resonance of the shell and possibly some attack and at the same time have the nulls in place of the overheads and kick you might come out with something very cool and useable. BUT, I imagine the toms would have to be spaced a little further apart than typically comfortably set up for most players.
An Omni about waist high and 3 or so feet out of in front of the kit will definitely get you some beefy tom sound, but you'll get a lot of the rest of the set too.
I guess it all depends on your project (I know it is a hypothetical).
Oh yeah. And I'm sure there are a ton of other ways. Those were just the best I could come up with.
-Darrill
slowly panning across something kind of crappy...
- Recycled_Brains
- resurrected
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i have to do this at my live sound gig a lot of the time, and i always just use a cardioid directly between the toms @ around a 45 (or more/less depending on the angle of the toms themselves) degree angle so the mic is sort of pointing across where the toms are almost touching each other, and so that the spot on the mic where the capsule meets the body is even with the top rim of the toms. works pretty well provided that the drums are tuned well and the player is consistent. i know it's different with live stuff, but i'd give that a try as a starting point if i was in your shoes.
i would imagine some compression at mixdown would help evening them out.
-ryan
i would imagine some compression at mixdown would help evening them out.
-ryan
-
- george martin
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a cardioid is nice. a figure 8 right inbetween them, with each polarity pointing at the top head might be nice. try to aim the 'dead' spot of the fog 8 at the kick. you dont want kick in the tom mic!
give it a try!
if i had to try one first, the fig 8 might be nice.
give it a try!
if i had to try one first, the fig 8 might be nice.
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god bless +6 tape
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- thunderboy
- buyin' a studio
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A single cardioid, placed between the two drums so that the capsule is on the same plane as the batter heads, pointing UP.
It's counter-intuitive, but it has usually worked well for me (depending on tuning, cymbal placement, drummer's technique/ability/mojo).
Give it a try sometime. Works great for percussion as well - congas, bongos, timbales, etc.
jt
It's counter-intuitive, but it has usually worked well for me (depending on tuning, cymbal placement, drummer's technique/ability/mojo).
Give it a try sometime. Works great for percussion as well - congas, bongos, timbales, etc.
jt
"most toreadors worth a damn are circumcized."
- Discs of Tron
- Discs of Tron
The whole micing 2 drums with a figure 8 thing just hasen't worked for me when I've tried it. A 57 isn't bad just stuck in there between the drums. Listen to it in conjunction with the overheads and room mics, and never solo it. or if you have time to experiment try having the 57 (or whatever, i really like 57's on rack toms though) over one tom, but pointing at the other. Get the cymbal bleed to work for you (you might want to point it away from the hats)
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