does anyone mic the bottom

[Nick The Man]

does anyone mic the bottom of the snare if so what mic should i use

[Chibi Nappa]

Sometimes... but I find micing the side of the snare to be much more useful. An SM57 should be fine. Put the mic near one of the small holes in the snare shell, but angle it enough so the air doesn't make the mic pop. I find this is a better sound than the underside of the snare.

[Nick The Man]

good idea


ill give it a shot ...thanks

[mixsit]

Originally Posted by Chibi Nappa

Sometimes... but I find micing the side of the snare to be much more useful. An SM57 should be fine. Put the mic near one of the small holes in the snare shell, but angle it enough so the air doesn't make the mic pop. I find this is a better sound than the underside of the snare.

Same same here.

[Cloneboy Studio]

Sometimes I mic the bottom of the snare. My guidelines:

1.) Dynamic mic--usually a SM57, but I've put SM7's, MD421's and RE20's underneath.

2.) Put under mic out of phase.

3.) Gate the under mic snare during mixing.

[Todzilla]

I've had good success with a LDC - a Neumann U89, in particular.

Cloneboy's right about phase. Flip it opposite top mic, as the top head goes in, the bottom goes out.

[xstatic]

I usae a 414 usually on bottome snare. Often times you will need to check the phase on the bottom mic, but always check it. The way I like to position my bottom mic it often sounds better in phase.

[LRosario]

SM57 on top

A good small diaphram condenser on the bottom (gets those highs really well).


And if you decide you don't want it, just cut it from your mix

[Farview]

I mic the bottom every time. I use a 57 (mostly) and have had good luck making sure the bottom mic is the same distance and angle as the top mic. Of course you have to hit the phase button.
I tend to gate the top mic during mixing and leave the bottom mic open.

I have also mic'd the side which can work great in certain situations. As you can tell, there is no absolute right way to do it, if it sounds good it is good.

[Son of Mixerman]

I never mic the bottom.

When was the last time someone stuck their head under snare?



It would take too long to explain it and I'd tick off somebody saying it so I'll let you suffer



SoMm

[mixsit]

Originally Posted by Son of Mixerman

When was the last time someone stuck their head under snare?

SoMm

A funny side. At a local two thousand-seat gig, when the name band came up, even as the mc did his intro I thought for sure, blown HF driver. The band played, more torn aluminum sound - a nice hot bottom snare mic.

[robin watson]

[QUOTE=Son of Mixerman]I never mic the bottom.

When was the last time someone stuck their head under snare?

When was the last time you stuck your ear an inch away from the top of a snare?

Never had much luck mic'ing the snare bottom myself, although the snare side thing I've yet to try out.

[Son of Mixerman]

Originally Posted by robin watson

When was the last time you stuck your ear an inch away from the top of a snare?

Lot of times and actually I've had my head underneath too. Maybe thats why I don't do other things.



SoMm

[franksquid]

Using a 4 mic setup(XY overheads, snare, kick), I use a SM57 or M88 on the bottom with reverb. Sounds great to my ears. YMMV.

[EleKtriKaz]

Originally Posted by franksquid

Using a 4 mic setup(XY overheads, snare, kick), I use a SM57 or M88 on the bottom with reverb. Sounds great to my ears. YMMV.

You're only micing the bottom? If you're doing top and bottom that would be a 5 mic setup: x, y, kick, top, bottom.

[enferno]

i usually mic both the top and the bottom. doing that you have to make sure that you flip the phase on the bottom mic 180. these 2 mics blended with the overheads gives a great snare sound.

[franksquid]

Originally Posted by EleKtriKaz

You're only micing the bottom? If you're doing top and bottom that would be a 5 mic setup: x, y, kick, top, bottom.

On the current project I'm working on, the snare was very dry mic'd on top in the X/Y, kick, snare configuration. I placed the mic on the bottom of the snare about 3" away from the snare wires and added a little brite reverb. It worked like a charm in this case but I don't see myself doing that all the time!

[Ronan]

Originally Posted by Nick The Man

does anyone mic the bottom of the snare if so what mic should i use

Almost never.

[logan]

i allways mic the bottom. everyonce in awhile the side. i just find that the bottom mic gives me the sizzle that i want mix with the top mic. but sounds like crap if its outta phase . so i allways makes sure my bottom snare mic and my over heads are both in phase ..sounds better to my ears and i use 57's even a 58 sometimes for country.

[Fletcher]

Everytime I do I'm sorry I did... I can never get those mics to sound worth a damn.

[mrface2112]

it depends on the song and the sound i want. sometimes i do, most often i don't. like others, i tend to go for an LDC about 6in from the shell of the snare, aiming at the side. that's a nice woody crack there.

i've taken a shine to taping an MXL603 to one of my shure 545's (pre-sm57) and putting them both on top of the snare, side by side. that's a really neat sound too. lots of body and mids from the 545 and lots of whack and top end from the 603.


cheers,
wade

[Jburn34]

I mic the side a lot of times (try a SP C1) to get that nice rattle sound. I've had a lot better luck with the side than with the bottom. To be honest, though, I usually just use SoundReplacer now.

[mrface2112]

< try a SP C1 >

i've used the SP B1 in that role to great success. in fact, that's one of my favorite uses for the B1.


cheers,
wade

[uncle_j73]

I got to use an Audio Technica AT835b condenser on the bottom of my Tama steel snare on a project a few months ago and it sounded awesome. I rarley hear such a good sounding bottom snare sound. Mixed it in with an SM58 on the top and wow.

[johnsuitcase]

I've tracked bottom mics a few times, never used it in a mix, though. I think if you are careful about top mic selection and placement, the drum is properly tuned, and you use compression correctly, you can get the best sound from the top head. The overheads should pick up a lot, as well, if they're properly placed.

My big problem with the bottom is that it seems (to me) to "fuzz up" fast rolls and ghost notes. The snare should have nice body, but that's more of a compression issue, in my experience (and also depends on how tight the snare heads are, and how the drummer hits it!). I try to be very careful to preserve the clarity of the attack first, then fill in behind it, if that makes sense...