Drum track....

R

RAMI

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I posted this in the Tone Thread regarding the guitar sound and got a lot of help.

But I'm posting it here because I want to focus on the drum sound. I mic'd my bottom snare, which I never do. But I have the extra channel and I have the extra mic, so I figured why not.

I'm not sure how this sounds, though. I've sort of lost perspective since I spent so much time soloing the snare and working with it, I don't even know what I'm listening to any more.

I randomly solo'd the drums at about 25 seconds and about 50 seconds.

I'm going to re-track this anyway, because my timing isn't great on it. I can definitely give a much better performance than what I have here. But I just need some opinions on the snare.

Here's my take on it: The snare is a little box-y sounding, regardless of the bottom mic. Agree? Let me know how it sounds to you.

Thanx
 

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  • Snare Shmare.mp3
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I thought the snare sounded excellent. *Maybe* a little boxy, but not by much.

If I ever had anything close to a complaint on your drum sound, it was that the snare was a little too thuddy or heavy. But not here. I thought it was excellent. It really snapped.
 
I thought the snare sounded excellent. *Maybe* a little boxy, but not by much.

If I ever had anything close to a complaint on your drum sound, it was that the snare was a little too thuddy or heavy. But not here. I thought it was excellent. It really snapped.
Huh! Cool. I guess I was too far inside it that I was hearing it a certain way. That's good to hear, thanx.

Snare sounds great to me here. Nice SNAP to it.

The bass line however, is very fuckin' nice! :thumbs up:
Cool. Thanx.

OK, well I'll keep this set up, then. But I think I still have to re-track the drums. The playing is not rock solid.

Thanx guys.
 
This may be purely a taste thing...but IMO, I would lower the pitch on the snare by a tad...I think that would chunk it up and also remove what you feel is "boxy" about it. I don't think it's a miking problem even with the bottom mic....I think it's just too tight w/fast decay...needs a pinch of resonance.

Speaking of bottom mics...yeah, I've experimented myself with using/blending it in a bit, and it actually can sound pretty good, of course, it's dependent on the sound and mix you are after....but certainly not a tool of the devil. :D
 
It sounds real good to me. If anything, I'd say the snare is not boxy at all, and you could drop the bottom mic back a little in the mix. Just a little. I'd also tune it down just a little if it were me. I'm gonna PM you a little trick you may not know, but I don't wanna reveal it in here. I gotta save us some stuff that'll keep us way ahead of the game. :D
 
Speaking of "tricks"...

There's an article in the current/April issue of Electronic Musician - "Big Drums, Small Spaces" - aimed at the home/project crowd who usually has to record drums in typical living spaces, rather than huge, live studio spaces.

Only a few pages, with bunch of pics demonstrating setups...but might be helpful to some folks. They even have an insert describing and showing the Glyn Johns minimalist drum mic technique.
 
This may be purely a taste thing...but IMO, I would lower the pitch on the snare by a tad...I think that would chunk it up and also remove what you feel is "boxy" about it. I don't think it's a miking problem even with the bottom mic....I think it's just too tight w/fast decay...needs a pinch of resonance.

Speaking of bottom mics...yeah, I've experimented myself with using/blending it in a bit, and it actually can sound pretty good, of course, it's dependent on the sound and mix you are after....but certainly not a tool of the devil. :D
Yeah, I might be mis-describing it when I say "box-y". I think it might pop too much and tuning it down might be the answer. I'll definitely try that.

What I did with the bottom mic was high-pass it at 2k, boost it with a shelf at 4k, compress the shit out of it and gate it. So, basically, it's just the high end sound of the wires.

It sounds real good to me. If anything, I'd say the snare is not boxy at all, and you could drop the bottom mic back a little in the mix. Just a little. I'd also tune it down just a little if it were me. I'm gonna PM you a little trick you may not know, but I don't wanna reveal it in here. I gotta save us some stuff that'll keep us way ahead of the game. :D
Cool. haven't checked my PM's. Going there now.

That is exactly why I've never taught you guys how to write cool songs. ;)
Fucker. :(

:D

Speaking of "tricks"...

There's an article in the current/April issue of Electronic Musician - "Big Drums, Small Spaces" - aimed at the home/project crowd who usually has to record drums in typical living spaces, rather than huge, live studio spaces.

Only a few pages, with bunch of pics demonstrating setups...but might be helpful to some folks. They even have an insert describing and showing the Glyn Johns minimalist drum mic technique.
I'll try to find it. I have been using the Glyn Johns technique for years, so I'm familiar with that. I only started adding tom mics to it recently.
 
I mic'd my bottom snare for a while when I first started mic'ing my kit, but with my setup I just never thought it added anything of value.
Weirdly I UNflipped the phase a couple times on the bottom mic and thought the snare sounded better.
 
I mic'd my bottom snare for a while when I first started mic'ing my kit, but with my setup I just never thought it added anything of value.
Weirdly I UNflipped the phase a couple times on the bottom mic and thought the snare sounded better.
Yeah, it's funny. Most posts I read about the bottom mic is people saying "Every time I've ever mic'd from the bottom, I never end up using that track". I can see why. You shouldn't need it. You should be able to get a good sound with just a top mic. Like I said, I ended up high-passing at 2k and boosting from 4k up with a shelve. So, I'm not really using the bottom mic for anything other than the wire sound. The one good thing about it is that I don't have to boost 4-5k on the top mic, which means I'm not turning up the hi-hats in the top snare mic.
 
I got a pair of AKG C1000s for overheads.

D-112 on the kik

SM57's for my toms

An AKG ATM63HE on the snare. It's a pretty cheap mic, I think. But when I did my shootouts, I liked it on my snare more than a 57.
 
I truly think the snare sounds pretty good. Neither here no there but I've been using C-1000's for tom mics for years.
 
I truly think the snare sounds pretty good. Neither here no there but I've been using C-1000's for tom mics for years.
Thanx man.

Condensers for toms. That's pretty cool.

I forgot to mention, since we are taking about mic'ing the bottom snare, that I used an AKG C3000b on the bottom. I could have used anything, that just happened to be the extra mic I had.
 
Right now I use C-1000's for rack toms, C-3000 on floor tom, an MD-441 on snare, D-112 in the kik, an AM-52 outside the kik and a pair of Earthworks SR-71's overhead.
 
Man it sounds really good to me, nice bottom and crack, if I had to nitpick it would be the sound could sustain a little more. I have been fighting my snare sound for months and boom! you post one that sounds awesome. I really hate you.......:D
 
Rami,

I think u r splitting hairs here....Sounds great

Man it sounds really good to me, nice bottom and crack, if I had to nitpick it would be the sound could sustain a little more. I have been fighting my snare sound for months and boom! you post one that sounds awesome. I really hate you.......:D
Thanx guys. :)

It's not terrible, but there is still something bothering me about the snare in this track. But since I posted this a few days ago, I worked on my snare and I think it sounds better in the video I posted in the other thread. Thanx a lot.
 
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