The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

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wing
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The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by wing » Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:37 pm

I recently heard about the "Wurst Mic Technique" invented by Moses Schneider. Basically you use a dynamic cardioid like a SM57 pointed right at the drummer's knee, positioned kind of equidistant between snare/toms/kick. The idea being that it kind of rejects so much cymbal information (which you'll get in your overheads anyway) while adding a lot of punch and character from being kind of at the center of the kit.

I just tried it and I gotta say: WOW! It's pretty amazing even just from the humble 57. If I was limited or going for a simple 1-2 mic drum setup, this is the position I would use, or this plus an overhead, as it actually gets a surprising balanced blend of kick, toms, and snare punch too. Snare sounds especially fat from this position. I have a small (but treated) room, and it's pretty sympathetic to the acoustics overall. Definitely try it out if you haven't!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Bh3D_Pvt8 - also he's so enthusiastic and fun to listen to!

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by I'm Painting Again » Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:20 pm

Moses is the best.

I'm not sure he invented it? maybe coined the term..

for me that's a distorto-smash position for blending into a "traditional" placement sound

good with an omni dynamic imho

if you want to try and get the drums with minimal cymbals on a track to compress heavily try the old 57 stuck in a gardenhose that's strewn out around the kit on the floor - that works pretty great with some trial and error

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by drumsound » Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:32 pm

I've done this a ton of times with various mics, and processing. Its really great.

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by losthighway » Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:54 pm

I used to do this all of the time. It often worked better as my destroyed by pumping compression or distortion mic to blend than the room mic did.

I don't know why I stopped, I'm gonna bring back the crotch mic!

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:45 pm

A 635a into a Ross or MXR distortion pedal and right to tape was my secret sauce for a long time. Now I’m using a Western Electric salt shaker in this position. No distortion. It gets combined with a Reslo Beeb ribbon on OH and an EV 664 on kick. All three into a 4 channel ward beck mixer and onto one track on the tape machine. So great.
A Coles is pretty great in that spot as well.

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by kslight » Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:09 pm

I’ve definitely done this as an ass mic before, works well.

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by RSWRecording » Tue Apr 09, 2019 6:25 pm

Never tried this. Gonna give it a try. Thanks for sharing!

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by drumsound » Tue Apr 09, 2019 7:49 pm

losthighway wrote:
Tue Apr 09, 2019 4:54 pm
I used to do this all of the time. It often worked better as my destroyed by pumping compression or distortion mic to blend than the room mic did.

I don't know why I stopped, I'm gonna bring back the crotch mic!
That's me general M.O. as well. One of the BEST results I ever got was an EV408 into an ART tube pre driven HARD.

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by emrr » Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:10 am

I used a Neumann KM131 omni in that position as the only mic on a drum kit, sounded great, cymbals properly 'Back In Black' low but clear.
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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by Recycled_Brains » Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:26 am

I think the best drum sound I've ever gotten was something similar to this. It was an M160 aimed between the toms at the snare, but further out, next to the side of the bass drum. That plus a kick drum mic. It's as close to a dirty vintage kit sound as I've ever gotten.
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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by digitaldrummer » Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:20 am

The EV664 also makes an awesome "crotch mic". I haven't tried mine on kick yet. hmmmm....
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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:24 am

digitaldrummer wrote:
Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:20 am
The EV664 also makes an awesome "crotch mic". I haven't tried mine on kick yet. hmmmm....
It’s good in a vintage, non-subby way. More thump than sub.

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by floid » Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:29 am

EV 665 or Senn 441 are my faves. How far it peeks over the rim of the kick determines kick/ snare balance, angling left to right balances the toms.
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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by drumsound » Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:35 pm

I usually place the mic over the shell, I think I'll try past the rim this weekend.

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Re: The drum "Wurst Mic" technique - Holy shit!

Post by eh91311 » Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:48 pm

Drummer Atma Anur used the same exact 1-mic placement for recording his drums when we both played in DH Peligro's solo band project in the late 1990's and I recorded a practice with my Tascam 4-track to learn the songs. I used a SM57 mic, it captured the entire kit well.

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