What is the REAL glyn johns setup?

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What is the REAL glyn johns setup?

Post by ??????? » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:16 pm

A fair amount of googling has lead me to a few discrepancies regarding this micing technique.

Placement of the overheads is pretty much generally agreed upon. What does not seem to be agreed upon is the placement of the "third" mic, or the one pointed at the bass drum.

Some say it should be inside the drum, some say a few inches from the front head, some say it should be a large diaphragm condensor 3-4 feet in front of the kit!

Some setups have an extra mic on the snare as well, and one of the setups I saw with the 'third mic' out front also said you need a kick drum spot mic.

If the third mic should indeed be a condensor and should indeed be way out 'front of the bass drum, should it be equidistant from the other two mics with respect to the snare drum or with respect to the bass drum? Beater or reso head? to preserve the best phase relationships...?

Tomorrow I'll do some experimenting. But I am curious about Glyn's "right" way...

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Post by I'm Painting Again » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:21 pm

my friend Matt works with Ethan and this is how he has been doing it recently
i recorded the new one,drums were done the same way on the last record.

3 mics

Coles over the snare,about three feet above the centre of it.

coles by the floor tom,looking at the centre of the snare,same distance from the centre of the snare as the one over the top.

AKG D112 on the bass drum....about a foor back from it,dead centre....

top and side mics into UA 610 pre's then direct to tape.bass drum into a Neve mic pre,then direct to tape......

top and bass drum mic in the centre tom mic panned hard left............the end.


oh yeah,Ethan got this technique from his dad.he is also a fucking amazing drummer,with a great sounding kit,in a great sounding room.....that's really what the bulk of the sound is........

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Post by ??????? » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:28 pm

yet another interpretation! :D

Sounds good.

I have no Coles at my disposal (unfortunately) cos i'm just getting my home rig together, but I do have two dorsey modded MK-012s and a beyer M-88. I think that's what I'm gonna have to use :oops:

I DO have an awesome kit and cymbals though, and i can play the drums a lil. Hope that will make up for it!

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Post by Slider » Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:24 pm

As stated above, except I believe U67's were Glyn's norm for the stereo set. I have also heard that the kick mic was usually a D12 or 47 outside the kick drum.
This setup rules on a good drummer. I've been using it (when it's called for) since 91 when it was shown to me by one of Glyn's former assistants.

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Post by ??????? » Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:50 pm

okay. Here's what I've got so far. Suggestions?

Image

the two SDCs are exactly 30" from the center of the snare head. My pythagorean theorem chops are a little rusty, but best I can tell the kick mic is also between 30 and 31" away from the snare.

The snare spot mic (e609) and kick mic are both between 17-19" from the batter side of the bass drum, and the side-OH is about 21" from that area. Obviously the top OH isn't even close.

Suggestions?

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Post by drumsound » Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:42 pm

You might want to swing the floor tom side mic around so its catching more of the drum-set.

Oh, you gonna need some mic cables... :wink:

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Post by NewAndImprov » Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:43 pm

brad347 wrote:okay. Here's what I've got so far. Suggestions?
Ya might wanna try plugging them mics in with cords n'all. I hear they sound better that way :-)

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Post by curtiswyant » Fri Oct 20, 2006 5:31 am

Don't worry about matching the distances exactly...just get it close then adjust to taste.

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Post by ??????? » Fri Oct 20, 2006 6:39 am

drumsound wrote:You might want to swing the floor tom side mic around so its catching more of the drum-set.

Oh, you gonna need some mic cables... :wink:
re: the floor tom side mic... so that "pointing toward the hi hat" thing is just a guideline? Could you give a little more detail as to what you mean by that?

Yes, I know I need cables :wink:

I was just putting mics up last night and hadn't run cables yet. For sake of quickness to snap this pic to get yr help! :D

Thanks!!

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Post by jrsgodfrey » Fri Oct 20, 2006 7:11 am

I did this, more or less, for my recent EP.

I used LDCs, and got better results when the top mic was floated in from the back, looking down at not just the snare, but the rack (and the kick batter head). I also found that the floor tom side mic was best postioned just peeking over the floor tom and pointing just to the right of the hat, using the floor tom to block the kick batter head.

I ended up hard panning them. The trick was getting the kick to center in the image, and at the mixing and mastering, there was a slight left lean we didn't catch tracking. Didn't bother correcting it.

I thought this was the best sound I'd ever gotten. The toms sound so natural, and the cymbals full but nor overwhelming or sizzly.

The kick spot mic was a Beta 52 just off the back head. The snare was a 441 pointed straight down. Didn't use it much, but it came in handy as a trigger in the denser mixes.

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Post by ??????? » Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:06 am

Here's what I've got so far. I moved the e609 so it's pointing toward the center of the snare, about 5" from the center of the snare and above. I moved the m88 about 6" in front of the kick, dead center. I moved the center OH 'overhead' more, so to speak, and pointed it more straight down aimed at the crack between the snare and rack tom, and toward the bass drum batter head. I moved the "floortom OH" up a lil and pointed it in toward the kit ever so slightly.

For my first try, not bad... please excuse the guitar player's drumming chops :D and the fact that i'm playing jazz-type stuff on a kit tuned down low (always sounds ridiculous).

PLEASE give me suggestions. The only eq I did was a gentle high-pass below about 80hz on the top overhead and below about 40hz on the floor tom one... made almost no difference to my ears. No other processing of any kind.

http://www.soundsdifferent.com/mroozik/ ... ent_eq.mp3

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Post by helmuth » Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:17 am

Is the ride we hear the istanbul we see in the pic? Mehmet or agop? I'm talking about the one in the end, not the beginning, love it!
Sounds like exactly what I'm after. Those aren't that expensive right?

Oh, and you got a nice sound there

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Post by ??????? » Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:20 am

eskimo wrote:Is the ride we hear the istanbul we see in the pic? I'm talking about the one in the end, not the beginning, love it!
Sounds like exactly what I'm after. Those aren't that expensive right?

Oh, and you got a nice sound there
The rides are all istanbuls that I got for 20 bucks each from the US distributor here in NJ because they were returned under warranty. They all have small cracks that I've drilled out.

The ride at the end of the clip is a Mel Lewis signature 21" with one of the two stock rivets taken out. 3/4" crack from the edge that I drilled to stop, it doesn't rattle. Those list for a pretty penny (like $450 or so) but street price for a new one is about half that (or less) and used ones I've seen go for as low as $150. Hope that helps. They aren't my main cymbals... I just got them a couple of weeks ago, but I like them. Especially for 20 bucks each. Oh and it's an agop.

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Post by helmuth » Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:47 am

thanks!
I'll look our for them.
Do you know what others to look out for if aiming for that sound?

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Post by ??????? » Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:53 am

Bosphorous is in that ballpark and is also good.

You've GOTTA try before you buy though because not all of them are good. I've played some downright dogs in fact. Istanbul's QC seems to be slightly better.

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