Hey Guys!!
I posted this on "another" forum, but since I've been hanging out here more lately, I though I'd put it up here as well. I wish I had the GB mics to throw into the mix, but.....couldn't wait on this one. I'll probably do another after I get those mics as well.
So......you guys want to settle in for a little fun? Might take a while, there's a LOT of files and a bunch of pics as well. And almost as many surprises for those interested enough to listen critically.
Some of you might remember my last shootout:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear...s/150891-ribbon-madness-some-comparisons.html
Lots of great comments from all of you, so I wanted to get you in on this one as well.
I did a recent drum mic shootout with Craig Bunch. This is NOT a scientific A/B test, but it was a lot of fun, eye opening, and did get way out of hand and seriously over the top pretty fast. heh heh Just a simple comparison of a BUNCH of mics, right???? Well.....not quite.
For this shootout we tried to keep the parts played as close as possible and levels as close as possible, but the transients of the drums themselves fight against consistency as we switch between ribbon, condenser and dynamic mics. Suffice it to say, they are CLOSE in volume, but not perfect. Please take that into account as you listen.
We have a lot of high end mics involved -- and a lot of low end ones as well. Here are the victims:
I learned a lot of things over the course of a couple of days. First, throw what I've been doing "out of habit" for the last decade out the window in favor of taking the road "less traveled". Second, keep an open mind. Third, prepare to be blown away with new mics and techniques. Fourth, don't let a price tag fool you - whether high or low. And Fifth, start saving for more mics. heh heh
In an effort to really let you hear the mic as it should be heard, I've put these clips up on my server as full 16/44.1 uncompressed files as well as mp3's for those of you without broadband. If all of you start hitting me hard and it starts to kill the server, I'll have to take it down and figure out some other way. heh If enough of you are really interested in checking it out seriously, I'll make a DVD available with mixed audio files as well as Pro Tools sessions so you can "remix" and play with the different mics in more detail - for a nominal cost.
I'm not going to tell you which mics I used until later. We made some unusual choices. Some were fantastic surprises. Others were a failure. But all were educational and will help us get better sounds in the future. Most of the mic placements on the drums are pretty standard choices for continuity purposes.
My partner in crime for this extravaganza was Craig Bunch - LA Session Drummer - lending his incredible feel and great ears. Craig is in process of starting a studio of his own and really wanted to listen to the usual suspects as well as some unusual choices - as objectively as possible. Craig is a member (really more of a lurker) of GS and his moniker is "recordingcustom". He used a brand new set of Yamaha's top of the line drums. I'll let him chime in with what he used for heads, tuning, cymbals, etc.. We tried to choose an appropriate groove or pattern to highlight the drum / mic in question. They are often different for different drums. (ie: the HH groove does not have any toms played during it, but the tom groove has a LOT of toms all over the place.) Different grooves to highlight the drum in question. Hope that makes sense. I think it will as you begin to listen.
Here's the low down on how we recorded his drums:
Kick & Hat went thru API512B's
Snare Top and Side went thru API 512C's
Toms went thru the D&R OrionX pre's in my console
Overheads went thru the D&R OrionX pre's in my console
Mono Room mics went thru the Purple Biz
Stereo Room mics went thru the D&R OrionX pre's in my console
Cabling is Mogami for the most part.
All pre's went WITHOUT ANY EQ OR COMPRESSION straight into Pro Tools HD3 Accel via Digidesign 192 converters. There is no processing of any sort anywhere in the signal path. No EQ, No Verb, No Compression, etc. Any ambience you hear is the room.
Please see the pics scattered throughout for placement, room treatment (or lack thereof) and layout.
IMPORTANT : On each clip, you will hear the mic in question in the "overall drum mix" first - AT A SOMEWHAT HIGHER LEVEL THAN IT WOULD NORMALLY BE MIXED AT (FOR DEMO PURPOSES), and in a "groove" situation. Then, you'll hear the drum by itself with all the other mics "open" and lastly just the mic solo'd by itself - all other mics muted. This should give you a better real world idea of how the mic really sounds in the "drum kit" during a groove, with all the other mics open, and finally solo'd by itself. For my purposes, putting up one mic on a drum source and listening is useless. Those types of shootouts don't do anything for me.
So......
Let's get to it:
GROUND ZERO: The mics that are normally up all the time during these clips until it's time to switch out mics for the individual drum/mic in question:
Kick - inside placement - Sennheiser 441 (Craig's request)
Snare Top - Shure SM57
Snare Side - Audix i5
Hi Hat - AKG C451E w/ CK1 capsule
Toms - top placement - CAD M177's
Overheads: Gefell M71S's in a spaced pair configuration.
Room - M.Joly modded Apex 205 - 4 feet up and 6 feet in front of kit
These mics have traditionally got a good sound out of Craig's kits in my room.
I'll post each mic test in a seperate post. Stand by for clips!!!
---
I posted this on "another" forum, but since I've been hanging out here more lately, I though I'd put it up here as well. I wish I had the GB mics to throw into the mix, but.....couldn't wait on this one. I'll probably do another after I get those mics as well.
So......you guys want to settle in for a little fun? Might take a while, there's a LOT of files and a bunch of pics as well. And almost as many surprises for those interested enough to listen critically.
Some of you might remember my last shootout:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear...s/150891-ribbon-madness-some-comparisons.html
Lots of great comments from all of you, so I wanted to get you in on this one as well.
I did a recent drum mic shootout with Craig Bunch. This is NOT a scientific A/B test, but it was a lot of fun, eye opening, and did get way out of hand and seriously over the top pretty fast. heh heh Just a simple comparison of a BUNCH of mics, right???? Well.....not quite.
For this shootout we tried to keep the parts played as close as possible and levels as close as possible, but the transients of the drums themselves fight against consistency as we switch between ribbon, condenser and dynamic mics. Suffice it to say, they are CLOSE in volume, but not perfect. Please take that into account as you listen.
We have a lot of high end mics involved -- and a lot of low end ones as well. Here are the victims:
I learned a lot of things over the course of a couple of days. First, throw what I've been doing "out of habit" for the last decade out the window in favor of taking the road "less traveled". Second, keep an open mind. Third, prepare to be blown away with new mics and techniques. Fourth, don't let a price tag fool you - whether high or low. And Fifth, start saving for more mics. heh heh
In an effort to really let you hear the mic as it should be heard, I've put these clips up on my server as full 16/44.1 uncompressed files as well as mp3's for those of you without broadband. If all of you start hitting me hard and it starts to kill the server, I'll have to take it down and figure out some other way. heh If enough of you are really interested in checking it out seriously, I'll make a DVD available with mixed audio files as well as Pro Tools sessions so you can "remix" and play with the different mics in more detail - for a nominal cost.
I'm not going to tell you which mics I used until later. We made some unusual choices. Some were fantastic surprises. Others were a failure. But all were educational and will help us get better sounds in the future. Most of the mic placements on the drums are pretty standard choices for continuity purposes.
My partner in crime for this extravaganza was Craig Bunch - LA Session Drummer - lending his incredible feel and great ears. Craig is in process of starting a studio of his own and really wanted to listen to the usual suspects as well as some unusual choices - as objectively as possible. Craig is a member (really more of a lurker) of GS and his moniker is "recordingcustom". He used a brand new set of Yamaha's top of the line drums. I'll let him chime in with what he used for heads, tuning, cymbals, etc.. We tried to choose an appropriate groove or pattern to highlight the drum / mic in question. They are often different for different drums. (ie: the HH groove does not have any toms played during it, but the tom groove has a LOT of toms all over the place.) Different grooves to highlight the drum in question. Hope that makes sense. I think it will as you begin to listen.
Here's the low down on how we recorded his drums:
Kick & Hat went thru API512B's
Snare Top and Side went thru API 512C's
Toms went thru the D&R OrionX pre's in my console
Overheads went thru the D&R OrionX pre's in my console
Mono Room mics went thru the Purple Biz
Stereo Room mics went thru the D&R OrionX pre's in my console
Cabling is Mogami for the most part.
All pre's went WITHOUT ANY EQ OR COMPRESSION straight into Pro Tools HD3 Accel via Digidesign 192 converters. There is no processing of any sort anywhere in the signal path. No EQ, No Verb, No Compression, etc. Any ambience you hear is the room.
Please see the pics scattered throughout for placement, room treatment (or lack thereof) and layout.
IMPORTANT : On each clip, you will hear the mic in question in the "overall drum mix" first - AT A SOMEWHAT HIGHER LEVEL THAN IT WOULD NORMALLY BE MIXED AT (FOR DEMO PURPOSES), and in a "groove" situation. Then, you'll hear the drum by itself with all the other mics "open" and lastly just the mic solo'd by itself - all other mics muted. This should give you a better real world idea of how the mic really sounds in the "drum kit" during a groove, with all the other mics open, and finally solo'd by itself. For my purposes, putting up one mic on a drum source and listening is useless. Those types of shootouts don't do anything for me.
So......
Let's get to it:
GROUND ZERO: The mics that are normally up all the time during these clips until it's time to switch out mics for the individual drum/mic in question:
Kick - inside placement - Sennheiser 441 (Craig's request)
Snare Top - Shure SM57
Snare Side - Audix i5
Hi Hat - AKG C451E w/ CK1 capsule
Toms - top placement - CAD M177's
Overheads: Gefell M71S's in a spaced pair configuration.
Room - M.Joly modded Apex 205 - 4 feet up and 6 feet in front of kit
These mics have traditionally got a good sound out of Craig's kits in my room.
I'll post each mic test in a seperate post. Stand by for clips!!!
---
This must have taken quite a while.
