SM57's as overheads

[wing]

someday i'd like to afford some SDC's like the stapes omnis to put above my drums as overheads (anyone have a used pair they'd like to sell? )... but for now, i was thinking hey! i love 57's! they're one of my favorite mics, and i've found them to sound great on drums overall. so i'm going to try them as overheads-- sure, they won't be a matched pair, but oh well... i started this thread cause i was curious of the results others have gotten with this, and what you think about it.

i'm serious, if i could have only one mic, it probably would come down to the 57... nothing has ever sounded good to me on so many things, and worked so hard.

[jdsowa]

Ew. They're awful as overheads. Of course it all depends on what sound you want, but I think that the purpose of overheads is to snap a good overall picture of the entire kit. An SM57, being a cardiod dynamic, has a freq. response too limited and focused to get a nice balanced picture. Blu, I heard your mp3 from a month ago and your drums sound very nice. I think 57s as overheads would be heading in the wrong direction. Of course you should try em just to know what it sounds like and why.

-Jesse

[norton]

it depends on what you're going for. i've heard them sound really cool as room/overhead mics on a kit, esp. if your're shooting for grit and lo-fi.

[Kyle]

Hi Blu

I just wanted to make a point about your post. I would hate for you to get hung up the idea of needing matched pairs of microphones on a source to get a representation of your subject. Use any two microphones. The same kind of mic or not. I have used two different mics as overheads.

I often find that I use different EQ on the right side of the kit and the left side. Of course this depends on how well the cymbals work together, the drummer...too many variables to name.

Matched pairs are great. But so are really nice tracking rooms and guys like you and I don't have either one of those.

Someday!

Kyle

[aurelialuz]

i've totally made a single 57 OH work. sure, it's not real hi-fi, but if you fly it up enough, it works fine. punk rock man.

and kyle's got some good advice there.

alex

[Mark]

I've read good things written about the M201 in the Overhead Mic role.

Somewhere

[redd17]

I read that Daniel Lanois used SM 57s as overheads on at least one song on Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball. I also read that the drum kit on Hall And Oates "Sara Smile" was miced entirely with SM 57s. Of course, most Tape Oppers are probably not trying to emulate Hall And Oates.

[CDB Studios]

Ew. They're awful as overheads. Of course it all depends on what sound you want, but I think that the purpose of overheads is to snap a good overall picture of the entire kit. An SM57, being a cardiod dynamic, has a freq. response too limited and focused to get a nice balanced picture. Blu, I heard your mp3 from a month ago and your drums sound very nice. I think 57s as overheads would be heading in the wrong direction. Of course you should try em just to know what it sounds like and why.

-Jesse

Maybe for you, they're "ew", and I might of agreed with you 30 days ago. BUT, after having turned a recording of a "practice" of one song into a track on our future release, All I can say is it works. It gives you a different sound then what you mostly hear. Sometimes people forget its about source. You can put up a C24 as the overhead and if the person that's laying the part down has never played drums in their life and compare that to putting up a sm57 as a overhead with a seasoned professional, we all know which track will be used.

Use a 57, a 58, hell a radio shack version of a shure prolong. Just record man, use your ears and record.

sorry about the rant and didn't mean to pick on you Jesse, you're probable right. Don't listen to me

-Zach

[trashy]

What were you using on those mp3s you posted earlier? The drums sounded great on those. Whatever you were doing there, stick with it.

I've used a 57 as a mono oh. Makes you sound like the Troggs. Be sure to record in your garage, or else you'll lose some of that special feeling - a 57 in a well conditioned and treated space is no good. There must be plenty of reflections and as much bleed from the bass amp as possible. I'm only half-joking.

If you can't afford some nice ohs, why not build some DIY TapeOp Omnis? I love mine!

[joel hamilton]

I have used a single 57 as an overhead, with some other mic equidistant from the kick out in front. Why bother with stereo under these conditions. throw some condenser in front of the kick 4' away, and a 57 4' over the kick. I have gotten really cool sounding drums this way, with an inside kick mic, a snare mic, and toms mic'd up you should get something cool out of it. see how the 57 as a mono OH feels with a little compression, like 1.5:1 pulling back 4-5 db on the snare. I bet it opens up nicely. If you need more, EQ the crap out of it and compress it more and I bet, if you use your ears people will start going "wow that sounds awesome, how did you do that? was it a ribbon? I love the darker cymbal sound...." you know what I mean.

I love trying the "wrong" mic for everything. It is easy to make every session an experiment, if you put up one weird mic each time, nobody will notice that you are using them as a guinea pig....

[takeout]

If memory serves, a great many of Larry Mullins' recent U2 drum tracks were an SM57 overhead or front of kit at head level, and a kick mic the name of which escapes me right now.

Period.

[trashy]

I have used a single 57 as an overhead, with some other mic equidistant from the kick out in front.

Don't you have phase problems with this set-up? I would think that the last thing you'd want is the mics to be equidistant. Not to say that you're not getting a great drum sound - the last thing the art of recording is is intuitive!

takeout- if that's true about Larry, then that's the coolest thing I've heard in a long time. I'm a big fan of that guy, even if his band can be totally cheesy sometimes. (Before all y'alls u2 fans launch in, know that I've been a big fan forever. Fess up, they are cheesy.)

[ottokbre]

not to stray from the subject, but U2 have most def become extremly cheesy. it's sad too, considering the Million Dollar Sountrack was a Million times better than what they called an album after that! Ground Beneath Her Feet is the best thing they had released in about 6 or 7 years.

Blu, why not get a Berhinger ECM8000 and call it good? or buy an 012 that no one is using? thats both like a sub-50 buck solution. I guess I just don't like anything but close-mic sounds from a 57. hmmm....

[Kyle]

Oh Blue

You could spend very little money on the MXL 603. This is a cool mono overhead mic. I run mine into the pre's on my soundcraft and get very "hi-fi" results.

just a thought.

[Rick Hunter]

I used you use 57's all the time and I guess I got used to it, cause it never bothered me. But then our drummer bought some of those silver MXL's I don't remember the number...the ones that the adds in tape op say they are the "flat out winner". Anyway they were so much better and I think they are cheap too.