ORTF with hypercardioids

[mattr]

I'm still fretting over these overheads.
Is it ok to use hypercardioids (Rode NT3s) in an ORTF setup?
Will their patten be too tight? Would I need to reduce the angle between them or something?

Oooor, would it be better to go for C1000s (still in ORTF)?

Thanks

 

[MessianicDreams]

I'm still fretting over these overheads.
Is it ok to use hypercardioids (Rode NT3s) in an ORTF setup?
Will their patten be too tight? Would I need to reduce the angle between them or something?

Oooor, would it be better to go for C1000s (still in ORTF)?

Thanks

You should be OK to use the Rode mics. Of course, the C1000s being cardiods are what the ORTF setup was intended for, so they would probably be slightly better, I suspect you may get a slightly weak center imaging with the Rodes but that could be solved by altering the ORTF setup slightly.

 

[mattr]

altering the ORTF setup slightly.

Would that be decreasing the angle between the mics a bit?
The C1000s would make sense as they are cardioids, but as always I've read completely conflicting views of which is better. They fit into the same mic clip so I suppose I could always quickly swap them over and see.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

If push came to shove, you could always add a third center channel with a cardioid or an omni right own the middle.

But in the case of drum OHs, I'd probably just position/angle the hypers not so much to try to recreate a natural stereo image, but rather just to accentuate the best sound from the kit. I.e., don't worry about a hole in the middle, just get the image to sound good and not woory about the stereo image aspect of it. This might even mean skipping the idea of two OHs altogether.

G.

 

[mattr]

I was already thinking of putting a LCD room mic (NT1000?) quite close to the kit and high up, which I suppose would end up as a centre overhead.

How do you think it would sound with the centre mic above the drummer pointing down towards the snare/middle toms and then the overheads on front of the kit in some modified xy/ortf aimed more at the cymbals?

I'm afraid I can't really play. All the mics are in my school's studio where I'm going to be tracking drums.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

How do you think it would sound with the centre mic above the drummer pointing down towards the snare/middle toms and then the overheads on front of the kit in some modified xy/ortf aimed more at the cymbals?

I don't know; how do you think my chili would taste if I added more onion powder to it?

All you can do is taste what you got and figure out what it has too much of or not enough of and adjust your ingredients from there.

G.

 

[mattr]

Well that's decided it... I've just been to see the drummer rehearse and he has a huge amount of cymbals. His best cymbals which he uses most often are next to each other in the middle so I'll put the NT1000 on that as a centre overhead, then the NT3s above it pointing outwards to get either side. Having the mics close together should help with phase coherency should it?

 

[MessianicDreams]

Having the mics close together should help with phase coherency should it?

Well, yes and no.

What i would do is make sure that the snare is the same distance to all the mics. Use an XLR to measure this. If you've got more than 1 mic on any source, you're going to have phase issues. Whether these are problematic phase issues or not is hard to decide; i suggest you give it a go and listen to them - if you hear phase problems, do something about it. If you don't, hit the red button


People tend to get too cerebral about phase - if you can't hear it, it ain't a problem.