KineticSound
The VOICE
Setup: I'm in a position where I'm just getting started on my space in the new house (after several years in a downtown loft), and I'm going to be able to track live drums again. However, most of my good drum mics are long gone, save for a handful of SM57's, a kick mic (AT Pro25), and an odd assortment of LDC and MDC mics that could be used for overheads.
The Layout: I've always liked tracking drums using the 4-mic method: Kick, Snare, Overhead above the rack tom looking down, and Overhead about 2-3 feet off the floor tom pointed toward the rack toms. I track jazz, fusion, etc., so this setup works well for me and leaves an open sound. For this test, only the kick mic and the rack tom overhead were recorded.
The Objective: Find my favorite overhead mic from the group so that I can purchase a second of the same model to put beyond the floor tom.
The Test & Disclaimer: I set up and tracked a few bars using four mics: The Pro25 kick mic 1" inside the hole in the kick drum, and the three overheads for the test lined up side-by-side above the rack tom pointed at where the rack tom and snare meet. The snare mic was turned off so that I could test the overheads only. I left the backing tracks in the mix to hear how the drums sat with everything else, however the drums are mixed much hotter than they would typically be (so you can hear the differences in the mics).
I won't say which is which, but one of these is a Shure KSM32, one is an AT2020, and one is an older AT3525. Which sample drum sound is your pick?
The Layout: I've always liked tracking drums using the 4-mic method: Kick, Snare, Overhead above the rack tom looking down, and Overhead about 2-3 feet off the floor tom pointed toward the rack toms. I track jazz, fusion, etc., so this setup works well for me and leaves an open sound. For this test, only the kick mic and the rack tom overhead were recorded.
The Objective: Find my favorite overhead mic from the group so that I can purchase a second of the same model to put beyond the floor tom.
The Test & Disclaimer: I set up and tracked a few bars using four mics: The Pro25 kick mic 1" inside the hole in the kick drum, and the three overheads for the test lined up side-by-side above the rack tom pointed at where the rack tom and snare meet. The snare mic was turned off so that I could test the overheads only. I left the backing tracks in the mix to hear how the drums sat with everything else, however the drums are mixed much hotter than they would typically be (so you can hear the differences in the mics).
I won't say which is which, but one of these is a Shure KSM32, one is an AT2020, and one is an older AT3525. Which sample drum sound is your pick?
