Photos of your drum micing techniques.

[picostudios]

Do you have any picture of how you mic drums in a session? Or just a session in general. I figure you can post them here.

[Blue Bear Sound]

I have some pics of a session with one of the local bands..... some drums shots you can see a bit of the mic'ing --> Blue Bear Sound - In Session

[picostudios]

Just curious, but what is that mic for?

[Blue Bear Sound]

It's a talkback mic........!

[picostudios]

There should be no talking back in the studio! Attitude will get you no where with me. ;-)

[mrface2112]

ya know Bruce, every time i look at photos of your space, i can't help but admit that i grow more and more jealous.

that's just a fantastic looking space, and i bet mixing recordings made in it is a pleasure compared to what most of us are dealing with to one extent or another (poured concrete walls, square rooms, 7ft ceilings and whatnot like that). you could prolly just put a couple PZMs up on the walls and get a "usable" drum sound out of em. :b


you've got one of those spaces that most of us homerekkers aspire to. and yeah, i wouldn't take any crap from drummers, either, me being one and all.


cheers,
wade

[vestast]

Originally Posted by Blue Bear Sound

It's a talkback mic........!

I hope you slapped him upside the head !!

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by vestast

I hope you slapped him upside the head !!

Actually - having mute control on everyone's mic at the talkback mixer is great!

Shuts people up real good!!!

[MadAudio]

Here's what I've been using lately to record rehearsals.

Kick - Beyer TG-X50
Snare - MXL v93m (tried it on a whim - it's not bad, but not great)
Toms - SM57's
OH - RS PZM's (I've got a pair of MXL 603's on the way)

[Drumman74]

Actually I have recorded interesting room reflections if you record enable the talk back mic... Bring it up in the mix a little bit, you might be surprised. Learned this from a teacher while at CRAS in AZ.

[Ronan]

Here is a drum kit when I produced a record with Terry Bozzio playing drums.

I tried to record it with 4 tracks but I ended up using 11.

http://www.venetowest.com/gallery/bozziokit.jpg

16 toms
40 cymbals
4 kick drums
1 snare

[picostudios]

Do you REALLY need that many drums?

[MadAudio]

If you're Terry Bozzio you do! That man can PLAY!

BTW, Ronan, what was the record?

[Ronan]

Yeah, Bozzio is the only drummer in the world that should be allowed to have that many drums. For people who do not know his thing, all the drums (and cymbals!!!) are tuned chromaticaly. So its more like a giant marimba. He can play harmony parts with the guitar.

The album was Situation Dangerous by Bozzio, Levin, Stevens. That would be Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Joun Lennon) and Steve Stevens (Billy Idol). It was a great record to work on.

[vestast]

Originally Posted by Ronan

Yeah, Bozzio is the only drummer in the world that should be allowed to have that many drums. For people who do not know his thing, all the drums (and cymbals!!!) are tuned chromaticaly. So its more like a giant marimba. He can play harmony parts with the guitar.

The album was Situation Dangerous by Bozzio, Levin, Stevens. That would be Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Joun Lennon) and Steve Stevens (Billy Idol). It was a great record to work on.

Didn't he also do some stuff with Jeff Beck ? I think he was on Guitar Shop but I don't know about any other ones..

[MadAudio]

Bozzio also played with Zappa for awhile, and has worked with Steve Vai. And let's not forget Missing Persons, the band he had with his wife!

Ronan - Very, very cool. I have the first Black Light Syndrome record and it's incredible. Was this the same kind of thing? Eh, you don't really need to answer, 'cause I'm sure I'm going to buy it.

[Wizball]

Originally Posted by Ronan

The album was Situation Dangerous by Bozzio, Levin, Stevens. That would be Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Joun Lennon) and Steve Stevens (Billy Idol). It was a great record to work on.

Now I'm bloody impressed, if you pardon my french. That record has one of the best drum sounds of all time. My drummer friend and I (bassist) has played that album over and over, commentating all the time about "Oh! Did you hear that one!" and so on. Remains one of my favourite albums of all time, and it's one I never get tired of.

The sound is much - much! - better on that than the first BLS record. MadAudio, you NEED that album, and you need it now.

[jim primate]

drums from "goat" by the jesus lizard.

[jim primate]

and if anyone's heard the drums from goat, you'd do well to copy these techniques. sounds like you're standing in the room with the drummer. god bless mr. albini.

[boingoman]

Bozzio did a clinic at the music store I used to work at. Amazing. He used the kit pictured above. It was miked with gobs of AKG 414 & C12. Must have been $60-$70,000 dollars worth of microphones.

[Ronan]

Originally Posted by Wizball

Now I'm bloody impressed, if you pardon my french. That record has one of the best drum sounds of all time. My drummer friend and I (bassist) has played that album over and over, commentating all the time about "Oh! Did you hear that one!" and so on. Remains one of my favourite albums of all time, and it's one I never get tired of.
The sound is much - much! - better on that than the first BLS record. MadAudio, you NEED that album, and you need it now.

Wizball, you totally made my day! Not the best drum sound ever part, but the fact that its one of your favorite albums of all time. My goal on almost every record I produce is that I am always hoping that I might be making albums that mean as much to some one else as my favorite albums mean to me. But its rare that you hear about that stuff from people. Thanks.

[Ronan]

Originally Posted by boingoman

Bozzio did a clinic at the music store I used to work at. Amazing. He used the kit pictured above. It was miked with gobs of AKG 414 & C12. Must have been $60-$70,000 dollars worth of microphones.

Yeah I had heard about that micing before I worked with him and I wanted no part of it. It was my goal to try and record his kit with just 4 ambient mics, but because of the odd Horse Shoe shape of the kit and the fact that there are so many tiers of stuff I had to end up using 11 tracks which I think included 13 mics. I saw Terry a couple months ago and I was happy to hear that he has switched to the more ambient micing as his standard preference


I really hate over micing drums. Its a lot of extra headaches in the mix and extra phase problems and starts to make the engineer more imprtant than the drummer when it comes to getting the sound. Iusually end up using about 7 or 8 tracks from drums on a pop or rock record (often throwing a few away in the mix) If you can not get a decent drum sound on a standard kit with 1 to 5 mics, then you have the wrong drummer playing the wrong drum part and kit.

[boingoman]

Originally Posted by Ronan

Yeah I had heard about that micing before I worked with him and I wanted no part of it. It was my goal to try and record his kit with just 4 ambient mics, but because of the odd Horse Shoe shape of the kit and the fact that there are so many tiers of stuff I had to end up using 11 tracks which I think included 13 mics. I saw Terry a couple months ago and I was happy to hear that he has switched to the more ambient micing as his standard preference


I really hate over micing drums. Its a lot of extra headaches in the mix and extra phase problems and starts to make the engineer more imprtant than the drummer when it comes to getting the sound. Iusually end up using about 7 or 8 tracks from drums on a pop or rock record (often throwing a few away in the mix) If you can not get a decent drum sound on a standard kit with 1 to 5 mics, then you have the wrong drummer playing the wrong drum part and kit.

We ended up just leaving 3 C12s from the toms, 2 414s for cymbals, and the 2 internal D112s in the mix out of at least twelve channels of mic. (Didn't tell Terry) He was very particular- no EQ, no processing, no effects. Our room was small- 50x150, didn't even really need a PA, just for the back. He's a realy nice guy, a class act with a great artistic vision IMHO.

Thanks so much for posting here. I enjoy reading your posts and I'm sure I'm not the first to say thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge.

Recording is so much different than live! The best drum sound i ever got (shit luck i'm sure) was a stereo pair over the drummer's head and a mic on the kick, at my house. I wish I could do that live.......

[Ronan]

Originally Posted by boingoman

The best drum sound i ever got (shit luck i'm sure) was a stereo pair over the drummer's head and a mic on the kick, at my house. I wish I could do that live.......

It was not shit luck. it means that you had the right guy playing the right part and you made some good choices about capturing the whole kit. Last year Percussioni Magazine (the Italian equivelent of modern drummer) Had me as their cover story (about being a dude that records cool drummers) and they asked me how I get great drum sounds. I gave them the same answer I always give:

"I get the right drummer, with good gear to play the right part and then stay the hell out of the way"

Sure I know a few tricks for making things go boom, but believe me, when you are recording a drummer like Greg Bissonette you can put a boom box on the other side of the room and you will get a great drum sound. Any record I have done that has a great drum sound is 90% drummer and 10 % me. If I have any great tricks they are just tricks that let the drummer do the work and try and capture what he is about.

[wildflower soul]

Originally Posted by jim primate

and if anyone's heard the drums from goat, you'd do well to copy these techniques. sounds like you're standing in the room with the drummer. god bless mr. albini.

oh, hell yeah