GREAT way to get fat drums, fast, with 3 mics...

Its been my experience with this technique that tom mics don't really make much sense. Since the overheads are so close to the toms, I have a hard time finding use for tom mics. If I'm going for that close-mic'ed tom sound, I generally back the overheads off somewhat. That way you have better control over the cymbals/toms balance. But I suppose this all depends a great deal on how you have your kit set up - cymbal height, etc. - so YMMV.
 
I swear by this technique

I will never use any other way to record my drums unless I happen to stumble accross something better it only took about 2 hours to get the sound I was looking for and my set is a Piece of .... well you get the picture. All i did was throw some compression in and a touch of verb and they sounded bad ass Thanx Guy's. funny thing is I was looking in an EQ magazine and they suggested this method as well. Whoda thunk it (obviously somebody);)
 
I defenitly will post a sample as soon as I can get my connection running the right way I keep timing out when I try and upload stuff but thats the price you pay for dial up.
 
eq,comp,placement,ect,ect

tubedude,

what wound you think wound be the best placement for the kick mic in this technique? what kind of eq did you use on the mics?
did you compress it?

i'v try 2 overheads just one and i got a bad sound. you see the overheads was picking up the back head of the bass drum and was making a bong/muff sound. will your technique help me?
 
I had this problem at first too but what I did was muffle both front and back heads of my kick tune it down just a bit and placed my kick mic, angled slightly in a 4" x 4" box with the open side facing the kick about an inch and a half from the hole from the front skin. I then compressed the hell out of my kick track till I got the sound I desired and also put a bit on the OH's which made my snare snap more and drownd down the kick in that channell. adding a slight bit of reverb maybey a plate or something helps bring everything together real well . But what works for one may not work for the other. Good luck
 
I understand the concept for this technique...but...can someone post a picture of this?

The way I visualize it, the drum overheads would get in the way of the drummer, if they don't play very controlled. So...post a pic if you can please...I think that would make this thread even more complete.
 
I understand what you mean about the control issue. WHen I tried this at first I kept hitting the right side Oh with the stick when I'd go to hit the crash so all I did is raised both mics in accordance with the way they were at the lower point and compensated by raisng my gain a bit and I still came out with a better product than when they where lower. Sorry I can't post a pic but maybey this will help.
 
Yeah, Dioxide. That was the issue I was talking about. I tracked a band a week ago and tried this technique. Right off, the drummer said he would hit the mic on the crash side. I let him play for a while and he kept hitting it. So I raised them up to where I normally put them. I'm just curious about how to get the mics in there that close and have them not be in the way...
 
Well I don't know what type of music your recording but when I backed off of the set I went ahead and put some instr. mics under each tom turned em up maybey a third of what my oh's were at to catch the ring out panned them accordingly with the oh's and it really worked out. so I guess just use the basic setup but manipulate it to go with what you want.
 
Ya I just spent 20 minutes looking for this thread to try and help someone the other day. It's sure as hell helped me.

Thanks tubedude:)

This really proves it's the sound source you should worry about first. And this technique makes it oh so obvious..... That you should....... Drink Skyy vodka. Whoo Hooo...... Oh ya also make your drums sound decent then record.


Buy some new studio heads before you drop $300.00 on a mic that will capture the crapyness of your set better:D

Better yet find someone who can tune drums great. (don't call me)


Later TD

F.S.
 
With every good comes some bad

There are several flaws to this technique.

In a bad room (and they are plenty) your going to have more of a problem.

In a recording along side other instruments the leakage will be more problematic.

Knowing that most Drummers don't play all that balanced:D, you will have a problem balancing the kit.

Less control for the Engineer during mixdown.

Saying all that....with a good room and drummer and gear, it can sound very natural and even very powerfull.
 
Back
Top