I tried this today ...

noisedude

noisedude

New member
We were recording a drum track at uni for a colleague's coursework. It was AKG Egg, 57 on snare, MD421s on toms and NT5 overheads, going through a Spirit Studio 24 desk.

Just for a laugh and because I had one lying around I put an AT4050 across the room on omni to see what would happen. My colleague (notice I don't say friend) bitched at me, saying we hadn't been taught or shown to do that, so it wasn't right.

Anyway when we were putting the tracks together I brought up this extra mic and this lad and his drummer both went, "Wow, what happened then?". The 4050 brought in this great sparkle and air to the top of the sound that we hadn't heard on the kit before.

Question is ... does this make any sense? Maybe the NT5s were too close over the top - or are they quite dark? When it comes to doing my coursework in a couple of weeks, I'm considering putting a pair of 4050s like this with the aim of having 'stereo air' ... or maybe mixing the overheads out altogether!!
 
A room mike, set in omni mode is ALWAYS a nice way to bring out some of that airy, room sound.
Sometimes its desireable, sometimes its not.
Sounds like it worked out good for your situation.

I can't believe the guy bitched at you for experimenting! :confused:

I don't know ANYTHING about the NT5's so I can't comment on the quality of their sound.
 
I just got done tracking drums for my band in a 30'X14' wood panelled room upstairs in my house and after trying and passing on an Oktava mc12 overhead pair went with an Omni 4050 about 2 feet above the drummer's head. I loved it right away (and happily in awe of my room sound mmmm-knotty pine planks - so much sweeter that drywall)

BTW - I had never tried this before, but compressing that overhead sounds really nice in playback.
 
Thanks guys. It worked well in this case because it was a bit of a jazz instrumental piece they were recording. One of the criteria of the coursework (I hate this stupid system) was using at least six mics on kit. I suspect they could have had a quality jazz sound with a pair of 4050s and a kick mic!!
 
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