drum overheads SDC's or Ribbons

[GoatKnuckles]

I just bought (with the reccomenedation of some fine folks from this board) a beautiful 1970 Ludwig blue green badge drum kit in Marine pearl and this will basically be my first time recording real drums in my home studio. I'm about to purchase some mics but I was wondering if anyone could give me some info into SDC's vs. Ribbons as overheads, mainly overall tonal differences, I have a cascade fathead and it is the best mic i've ever used for recording guitars but don't know how well a pair of these would work as overheads. The drum sound i'm going for is very thick and dead, alt country sort of tone. Thanks in advance.

[Artifex]

I think the SDC will be more versitle. I own a Fathead myself and it's great. I wouldn't mind having a pair, but you'll get a broader varitey of sounds out of some SDCs, especially if you get a pair that can switch capsules.

[evilaudio]

you'll get a brighter, more detailed response with SDC's, a more "standard" sound.

you'll get a softer, less harsh, mellow-er response with ribbons (I love ribbons as overheads, and I work with aggressive music, too). I find they're way more pleasent than condensers for me and my room. They also caputure more of the kit as a whole, depending on placement, obviously, but they do sound nice! Especially fatheads!! If you don't use it/them as OH's, try it out somewhere in the room with the drums, near or far, depends on what effect you're going for, they do do wonders for the overall drum sound! I usually go with stereo ribbons as OH and a mono "center" LDC, or stereo condensers with mono room ribbon mic, depending...

love the fatheads, I do!

[Corey Y]

I prefer ribbon mics for OHs. I don't think it's a matter of "better", just different. It's worth having and using both, depending on the needs of the project. People often talk about how ribbon mics are darker, but believe me, it's not as if they're not going to sound like cymbals. There's still plenty of high end, they're just a bit more mellow sounding. I like a lot of room sound, which works well with a figure 8 pattern mic. It also cuts down on phase issues when I'm using a LDC room mic. I have a stereo pair of Fathead IIs and Shiny Box 46MXCs and got good results with both.

[ulriggribbons]

I remember the first time I used ribbons as drum overheads. Totally sold me ( I remember saying, "Dun" No messing with the eq, just dun)

Ribbons tend to have a natural roll off in the high frequencies that does a nice thing on cymbals, IMO.

ju

[the finger genius]

I would say get at least one SDC omni, then you have the option of SDC, M/S with your fathead, or mono fathead.

I usually alternate between a spaced pair of SDCs and ribbons, but also lately I've been really happy recording in mono.

[NeglectedFred]

If your budget only allows for a pair of SDC's or a pair of Ribbins, I'd say get one of each.

I was never happy with my drum mixes until I started tracking with 1 mono overhead. It puts your snare in your face, as opposed to ringing in one side.

For stereo imaging I pan the rack toms a bit, and I use a pair of room mics, squash the hell out of them, and use a midside decoder.

I'd probably try one above the kit, and one off in the corner of the room, maybe just a stereo verb on the room or something. You'd still have both elements to toy with for more versatility.

[VelvetoneStudios]

Agreeing with most........SDC 's are more versatile than lower end ribbons and yield a more "Standard" sound. Ribbons really do smooth out any harshness in the cymbals, but tend to have a bit less detail and snare KRAK. I love ribbons on aggressive tracks, especially if the drummer's technique is less than ideal, but prefer SDC's for less agressive drummers, especially with Hot Rods or brushes. Overall, if you want studio versatility, try SDC's, but not the super cheap ones. The bottom price point for all around quality SDC's is probably the Shure SM81, but I've heard great recordings from cheap ass green JoeMeek SDC's.


BUT!!!!!As you already own one Fathead, get another one and see how you like it. A stereo pair will always be handy, and for the $$$ those are some pretty decent ribbons!!

[calaverasgrandes]

thing is, most all ribbons are figure eight. So they pick up shit bouncing off the walls and cielings as well as whatever they are aimed at. This is a good thing a lot of the time. For your purposes (dead sounding alt country) you might not want all them reflections.
SDC are really good for getting all the detail of the cymbals and kit. I like using LDC myself becuase they arent usually as brittle sounding as SDC.

[rwc]

it depends.

cheap ass ribbon vs km84s, I'd say, SDC.

royer 121 or coles 4038 vs mxl 603, and I'd say ribbon.

Overall, I'm really not crazy about SDCs as overheads anymore.

[darjama]

thing is, most all ribbons are figure eight. So they pick up shit bouncing off the walls and cielings as well as whatever they are aimed at. This is a good thing a lot of the time. For your purposes (dead sounding alt country) you might not want all them reflections.
SDC are really good for getting all the detail of the cymbals and kit. I like using LDC myself becuase they arent usually as brittle sounding as SDC.

the one time I used ribbons as overheads the low reflective ceiling wrought havoc on my cymbals, it ended up very phasey sounding. Long story short is make sure they work for you and your room, don't take our word on it.

As a blumlein pair as for room mics. my ribbons blend nicely with a mono overhead.

[T-rex]

The drum sound i'm going for is very thick and dead, alt country sort of tone. Thanks in advance.

Based on this, I would say ribbons will get you closer to that sound without having to eq off the high end of an SDC. I generally use SDC's but if I am going for this type of sound I will ususally throw the ribbons up first.

If you don't have any condensors, you really should grab one to compare and give you some tonal options. I would try the fathead as a mono OH and see what you think first.

[seaneldon]

In smaller rooms especially, I've found that "overheads" are an uphill battle from the start. If you've absolutely gotta put microphones over the drums and you're in a small space, a small diaphragm condenser would arguably be the best tool for the job. One microphone can do it more often than you think, as our friend Fred describes, though when I'm using one mic over the drums I typically prefer it to be an omni. If I'm using two, I want more directionality so I can better "aim" my stereo image.

More often than not...in a small room (or any room, actually) I like putting a pair of ribbon mics about 3 feet in front of the kit set up just barely above the upper rim of the kick drum. One for the left, one for the right. Play with the phantom center/axis of the two mics to land the kick drum in the middle and run with it. I've found this mic placement to make cymbals sound rich rather than harsh, and it picks up the resonance of every drum very well. For this reason, you'll have to be more anal retentive about the tuning of the drums. With "overheads" the mics will hear mostly "bap" from the top skins. With "underheads" the mics will hear left and right of the drum kit and tuning issues will be more apparent. I've got some examples of this technique that I can share if anyone would like!

[rwc]

I really want a pair of 4038s someday. There's nothing like 'em.

Like km84s, something I've tried once, and ever since lusted to have.. over a year later..

[T-rex]

I love that placement but you are totally right about the tuning. Any ringing at all gets picked up in a heartbeat, but that is a great sound.