Live Drums

[moelar2]

I really wish there was a "Live" Forum. I know, I know - this home RECORDING.

Nonetheless, I'm wondering how some of you Live Audio gurus mic drums. Theres basically three scenerios I"m curious about:

1.) Small bar.
2.) Medium Bar/Club
3.) Large Club/Open field

For a small bar, what I would have probably done is mic the kick then put one mic between the snare, hi-hat, and tom 1. I'd then put up another one between tom2, and the floor tom. I probably would have used 57's. In this scenerio, would it be appropriate to use condensers, an oktava mc012, for example? Keep in mind, this is a small bar. Would it have been undesirable to just put up one 57 as overhead??

For the medium club, I probably would start considering popping condensers up there....suggestions please...

[Tim Brown]

Originally posted by moelar2
I really wish there was a "Live" Forum. I know, I know - this home RECORDING.

Nonetheless, I'm wondering how some of you Live Audio gurus mic drums. Theres basically three scenerios I"m curious about:

1.) Small bar.
2.) Medium Bar/Club
3.) Large Club/Open field

For a small bar, what I would have probably done is mic the kick then put one mic between the snare, hi-hat, and tom 1. I'd then put up another one between tom2, and the floor tom. I probably would have used 57's. In this scenerio, would it be appropriate to use condensers, an oktava mc012, for example? Keep in mind, this is a small bar. Would it have been undesirable to just put up one 57 as overhead??

For the medium club, I probably would start considering popping condensers up there....suggestions please...

Well,

In a small club, I'd use a Kick Mic (D112) a Snare Mic (a 57 would work, but I would prefer a Beyer M422 because it has a tighter pattern), and a condenser overhead directly over the drummers head and aimed straight down.
I'd gate and compress the Kick and snare mic's. (The overhead will give you a good snare sound, but the reason for gating the snare mic is so that you can send a fairly clean signal to the reverb unit.)

Medium sized club I'd mic each drum.

Large and out doors-mic everything....if you don't mic it, it won't be heard.
I do know some guys who have used a pair of PZM's UNDER the drumkit, mounted to 8'x8' plywood...and the kit was very "live" sounding.

I have also used just a couple of small clip on condensers on a small kit, mounted beneath the cymbals aimed in at the center of the kit for a stereo spread of the kit, with another clipped to the floor tom's bottom rim-which was aimed at the kick drum's mallet spot. (these were all Shure Beta 98's), and it allowed the drummer to control all of the dynamics....each mic was eq'd the same, with just 6 db's cut at 1 khz. But that requires a REALLY good sounding kit to be able to do that.


Tim

[moelar2]

Tim,

Thank you! I was hoping you'd see this thread.

Would it be wise to use the super-cardioid capsule on my Oktava or would that be too narrow (for small setup)? Also, how far above the drummer's head do you suggest I place the mic?

Just as a heads up, I'm going to post a new thread, probably either in this forum or in the Studio Display forum (which one do you suggest??) with pictures of my kit with mic setup, the room its being recorded in, and a dry clip. Basically I want to know what I should address first to get the most immediate results. The drums sound like they were recorded inside a tin can - too bright and airy. They are not "in your face" enought. I'm considering builging a rack out of pvc pipes and hanging heavy comforters...how effective would this be??? The post will be up tonight.

Feedback?
T H A N K S .

[Tim Brown]

Originally posted by moelar2
Tim,

Thank you! I was hoping you'd see this thread.

Would it be wise to use the super-cardioid capsule on my Oktava or would that be too narrow (for small setup)? Also, how far above the drummer's head do you suggest I place the mic?

I would just use a regular cardioid pattern for the overhead.
Put it on a boom, and have the element of the mic about 12"-24" above the drummers head. You could also aim it at your "Kick drum side" knee...that will put it essentially right between a rack and floor tom.
I ran sound for years, and one of the things I used to do was rent me, my mixer, outboard gear, mic's and stands, and a snake for $75 a night-and the band provided racks and stacks.....and I have had to deal with some real doozies when I was doing that....especially when some guy thinks he can run an entire sound system off of ONE CS-800. talk about a nightmare...ugh!

But that situation allowed them to have a decnt front end to the PA for realatively cheap..of course for $300 a night, or $500 for 2 nights they could have rented my entire setup....and had close to 10,000 watts of power....but they obviously didn't want to work just to pay the soundman!


Just as a heads up, I'm going to post a new thread, probably either in this forum or in the Studio Display forum (which one do you suggest??) with pictures of my kit with mic setup, the room its being recorded in, and a dry clip. Basically I want to know what I should address first to get the most immediate results. The drums sound like they were recorded inside a tin can - too bright and airy. They are not "in your face" enought. I'm considering builging a rack out of pvc pipes and hanging heavy comforters...how effective would this be??? The post will be up tonight.

Feedback?
T H A N K S .

I looked for the thread so I guess you didn't post it yet.
I'm replacing my kitchen flooring this weekedn (all the way down to the Joists man! We had a pipe break, and water was just flooding and sitting in my crawlspace for several months (the drain cracked) and we didn't have any idea until the stupid kitch floor started to buckle at t5he subfloors seams... ugh! what a nightmare.
On the good side, I picked up a new DeWalt Sabre saw for $100 at Home Depot....and then went to "Scotty's" DIY center, and they had the same sawe...not even 10 miles away....and it was $60 more!! What scammers. Thank God for Home Depot...
Oh, and the best part, is now I have a refridgerator in the studio, because we got new appliances for the kitchen...
Woo hoo! Cold drinks....I should put a keg in it.

I'll be looking for that thread over the weekend.


Tim