Where would you use my new API's?

[Ryan Silva]

Just finished up a year long buying spree with a API 3124+. Do to my inexperience with these Pre-amps and the fact that my next session comes two days after I will receive the unit; I was looking for some opinions.

Room = 30?x 18? x 14?(ceiling vaulted)

Music style ? hard to say, I saw them play awhile back and the drummer plays like John Densmore (Doors) lots of ride cymbal, and latin beats. The guitars are very country twangy, surf, blues. I guess I would call them Indie-Rock (if I had to).

So where do your API?s shine?

This is my best guess on how I will do things:

Thanks

• Input Channel- Mic Position- Microphone -Pre-Amp
  1. OH(L) AKG 414buls (cardiod) API 312
  2. OH(R) AKG 414buls (cardiod) API 312
  3. Kick In AKG D112 API 312
  4. Kick Out Red Type A(R7) Toft ATB
  5. Snare Top Shure KSM141 (cardiod) API 312
  6. Snare Bottom Shure KSM141 (cardiod) Toft ATB
  7. Tom 1 Shure SM57 Toft ATB
  8. Tom 2 Shure SM57 Toft ATB
  9. Tom 3 Shure SM57 Toft ATB
  10. Floor Tom 1 Shure SM58 Toft ATB
  11. Floor Tom 2 EV RE-20 Toft ATB
  12. Ride Cymbal TS-1 (cardiod) Toft ATB
  13. High Hat TS-1 (cardiod) Toft ATB
  14. Room Ceiling GT66 Toft ATB
  15. Room Hallway EH-Ribbon Toft ATB
  16. Toft ATB

Big Question: API on inside or outside of kick?

[losthighway]

If it were me I would put the API on anything that needs a meaty thwack! (snare, kick, toms). I also think if I had two kick mics going I would put the API on the in the kick mic, since that usually has more presence in my mixes with the outside mic just providing low reinforcement (depends on the kick I suppose).

I also think that if I just bought 2.5 grand worth of mic pres I would do myself a favor and spend a couple hundred dollars on something better than an SM58 for the floor tom.

[jonathan]

Or you could just use 4 mics on the entire kit.

[ott0bot]

Or you could just use 4 mics on the entire kit.

Yeah....to me thats nuts to have so many drum tracks that you'll probably end up sub mixing or running through a drum buss down the line. I'd lose the secondary tom mics and cymbal mics. A little bleed can sound great too.

Disreguaring that statement....with your as is set up I'd use the API on the snare top, kick in, kick out, and the floor tom. The last session I sat in we used a lunch box with 4 512's on these exact drums and it sounded pretty great.

EDIT: Actually now that I remember they were OSA api clones...but still.

[Ryan Silva]

Thanks guys, just to clarifiy some things:

The extra Floor Tom mic is for an extra floor tom. Aparently this extra floor tom, and the highest tom will only be used on one song, and I have a broken 421 at the moment so thats what hes getting. I may talk him into overdubing it, and mic it properly, but we will see.

Thanks Again

Keep em' commin

[Mudcloth]

Congrats on the purchase.
I've been using a 3124+ for the past month recording a friend's record. It sounds great on just about everything we've used it on so far. No surprise there.

One thing I would suggest is make sure you have some inline pads handy for the kick and snare. The 3124+ clips big time even with the input all the way down.

[T-rex]

yeah, i used to pad my A12 (API Clone) on the output pretty hard so I could drive the pre but not kill my recorder. That Naient guys sells them cheap or you can make some.

[solo-bration]

The 3124+ clips big time even with the input all the way down.

really? even with the 3124's built in 20db pads?

[Mudcloth]

The 3124+ clips big time even with the input all the way down.

really? even with the 3124's built in 20db pads?

Yes, and with dynamic mics, not just condensers. When I first used it I thought I was doing something wrong. I thought, "How can this $2400 mic pre clip the kick and snare with the pad engaged and the input all the way down?". But it does. It also sounds incredibly bad ass on everything so there's that.

[Ryan Silva]

The 3124+ clips big time even with the input all the way down.

really? even with the 3124's built in 20db pads?

Yes, and with dynamic mics, not just condensers. When I first used it I thought I was doing something wrong. I thought, "How can this $2400 mic pre clip the kick and snare with the pad engaged and the input all the way down?". But it does. It also sounds incredibly bad ass on everything so there's that.

Just curious, do you always get clipping, or just with loud drummers?

I think I will survive without however, because most of the time I am using microphones with built in pads: 414,KSM141. I wonder if my Red Type A(R7) will clip from a foot back off the front head.

Guess I?ll find out.

[firby]

I have an api3124+ and a trident console. So the setup is a lot the same. I use the apis on overheads kick and snare. I use the trident console for a mono room. That's all I mic my drums with. I just concentrate on getting very good sounds with that as well as getting very good sounds with the drumset, which is an vintage gretsch with 60's k zildgian and istanbul cymbals. I am a trained jazz drummer, so I can wait tables pretty good.

The things that the APIs are good at are:

1. Transients. They are fast fast fast.
2. They have a hardish kind of 'granite' sound.
3. They do the overdriven mid peak thing.

The overdriven mid peak thing is very cool, very modern. I use it alot of places, you can listen to where you thing it might go. The way to hear it IMO when you are starting with the APIs is to plug a bass synth into the front of DI on the API and just crank the gain into the red. There it is. That is largely the X factor of that pre.

Wherever you want THAT on is what you mike up if you are going to overdrive it. Just remember that the THAT sound is almost always going to be in the front of the mix, so don't paint yourself into a corner.

My Trident pres sound pretty great on a 57 on a snare. So you could get one channel back if you want it. You know I have never tried the APIs on the room mic. I like to eq that and smash it with a dynamite and I like the squish of the trident pre.

Once you use that pre for awhile you will start to hear it everywhere. I think that it is one of the everything flavors of the moment. On my setup with a 57 on snare and a beta 52 on kick, I never needed inline pads. It's close though. I would like some adjustable inline pads to crank the shinola out of them through the mic inputs which I believe are transformer balanced. I think it might yield a cooler sound than the DIs with the extra input transformers.

I return the line outputs from the API to line ins on my board then I record through the groups. There is no patchbay here yet. I attenuate the line ins on those channels by 10 dB and then still more sometimes via group and channel faders. I don't always crank the APIs into the red ... now. But I have crunched the sh*t out of them enough to be a culprit. You'll love em too.

[rwc]

On microphones.

I don't buy the idea of preamps being more "useful" or "colorful" on one thing than another. There are good preamps that capture the body, depth, and magic of the source, and preamps that are not good enough. The API fit in the former category, use them on whatever, and try to minimize the gear you have that fits in the latter category.

[joninc]

if i were you i would get a inline pad and experiment with cranking the pre and padding the output. i had a 512 and recently sold it as it really didn't do much for me - not bad - it was totally solid etc... - just not awesome (like some other pres i have).

but i suspect that they do shine more and add more harmonic content/euphonics when cranked up. otherwise you are always having to run it really low to avoid clipping out.

where to use it?

i don't know if i'd want a "mid forward/hard" sounding pre on overheads - maybe if i did metal or something with tons of aggression where you really want to emphasize the attack of things. though i haven't used the toft and if it's mushy sounding (some have described it that way) maybe the api will sound better.

i used it more on snare and toms - the one place i liked it most was acoustic guitar...

all that said - it's never gonna sound BAD anywhere - it's a quality preamp. so experiment and see what you like with what mics and for what style/sound.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

I am a trained jazz drummer, so I can wait tables pretty good.

[ubertar]

I would use them in a box. I would use them with a fox. I would use them on a train. I would use them on your brain. I would use them with a goat. I would use them on a boat...