You know how you can mic a guitar amp, and also have a room mic, away from the amp? Have any of you tried a room mic with drums.... not an overhead, but an actual mic placed farther in front of your set? How did it turn out for you if so? Reason I ask is because a friend of mine mics his kit and has a mic across the room as well, and he get a kick ass overall drum sound from it. I tried, and can't seem to get nearly anything close to what he had. (obviously different equipment and skill levels may play a role)
Drum "Room mic"?
- Thread starter Dougdlux
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Chibi Nappa
New member
I hate to say "always"... So pretend I'm not saying "always".
I always put a room mic on the drums. Usually I use it together with the overheads. My last song I didn't use any overheads at all because the two room mics did it so well on their own.
Chibi Nappa
New member
As far as how to use room mics:
Your drums must be tuned. Perfectly.
Your drummer must play as you want the final mix to sound. If you have to tell him to hit the skins harder and the cymbals softer, do it.
There must be at least one place in your room where the kit sounds like the final mix envisioned in your head. Remember, up and down are valid "different places" along with left/right/front/back!
Pretty much you have to be able to hear the final mix of your drums somewhere in your room while the drummer plays unamplified. Put the mic there.
Your drums must be tuned. Perfectly.
Your drummer must play as you want the final mix to sound. If you have to tell him to hit the skins harder and the cymbals softer, do it.
There must be at least one place in your room where the kit sounds like the final mix envisioned in your head. Remember, up and down are valid "different places" along with left/right/front/back!
Pretty much you have to be able to hear the final mix of your drums somewhere in your room while the drummer plays unamplified. Put the mic there.
BentRabbit
New member
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+100
That's it right there...
If your drums don't sound good in the room, ain't no room mic anywhere that'll fix em.
steveneudaly
New member
Excellent answers. A quick and thorough explanation to a very valid question.
Luckily I've got some drum tracking to do later this week where I can give this a shot.
Luckily I've got some drum tracking to do later this week where I can give this a shot.
Indeed. Thanks for the responses. I have few days this week that I will be at a friends practice space recording their new stuff. I will give a room mic a shot. It was built AS a practice space for musicians, so I am hoping (one can only hope) that the acoustics are half ways decent.
iownrocknroll
New member
I normally use 2 room mics.
one 5-8 feet infront of the kit normally a ribbon. at about the height of the top of the kick drum
then I do a room mic about 20 feet away
I normally crush the ribbon hard with compression, and the distant room mic, I'll send to a reverb send
one 5-8 feet infront of the kit normally a ribbon. at about the height of the top of the kick drum
then I do a room mic about 20 feet away
I normally crush the ribbon hard with compression, and the distant room mic, I'll send to a reverb send
Seafroggys
Well-known member
I've experimented with room mics, but for my personal drum sound I prefer the upfront sound...just two overheads, snare, and bass.
Steve Henningsgard
New member
Unless they do things differently where you're from, acoustics were very likely the last thing on their minds when they built the facility :/
cavedog101
Well-known member
This is a good place to start. I find that the distant mic works better behind the drummer in most cases but you need some heighth in the room to get this. A hallway close by is another good place for an ambient mic. You have to be aware of the time constraints when far micing a kit. Too far gets you blurred snare when the far mic is up in the mix. Too close and its usually out of balance if you also have overheads. One reason I like it behind the drummer is the presence you get from the snare and the kik in this position.
I dont recommend a dark sounding mic for this. Good budget mics for this mic would include AT4033, ADK A51, SP C1, etc etc. If you have an 87 then by all means put it there.
BrentDomann
Has a Dedicated Member.
You might try to not pay attention to the room mic as a kit mic, but really focus on it as an ambient mic. This will work especially well if your room has some reflections. If you're standing in a verby room with a kit and the drummer is really wailing, you'll perceive those early reflections.
The room mic will really work well if you compress it a bit and use it to highlight early reflections in your mix. This is useful if you're recording songs where the band is going full-bore for the whole tune but you have to preserve some amount of dynamics--you can bring that room mic up at certain points in a song, for example, and it will give the listener the impression that the drums are getting hit harder.
Subtle is key, though.
The room mic will really work well if you compress it a bit and use it to highlight early reflections in your mix. This is useful if you're recording songs where the band is going full-bore for the whole tune but you have to preserve some amount of dynamics--you can bring that room mic up at certain points in a song, for example, and it will give the listener the impression that the drums are getting hit harder.
Subtle is key, though.
Room mics on drums are definitely worth a try, IMO. All of the best recorded drum sounds that my band has been able to achieve have used a room mic on drums.
If you get too far away from the kit, be aware that there can be an audible delay in the room mic sound with respect to any close mics you may be using. To get around this, I typically zoom way in and manually nudge the room mic track ahead in time a bit until the waveform aligns nicely with the close mics.
Matt
If you get too far away from the kit, be aware that there can be an audible delay in the room mic sound with respect to any close mics you may be using. To get around this, I typically zoom way in and manually nudge the room mic track ahead in time a bit until the waveform aligns nicely with the close mics.
Matt
samth3mancgp
New member
I'd try compressing the room mic like he said. It can make your room sound bigger and more reverberant than it is dry. Also check to see that the room track is in phase with the rest of your tracks. If the mic is placed farther away it may actually be noticeably out of time just a bit. (oops i just saw another post said the same thing haha)
I have left it out of phase or just slightly out of sync before though. It can make it sound very thick. It just depends on what kind of sound you are going for
. I feel like my best drum sounds come from a room mic, not from reverb plugins etc.I usually hang out in the analog forum but I saw this thread and its a good question.
I've recorded bands "all at once" on several occasions and noticed the typical "bleed" issues that many people complain about actually enhance the drums, often making them sound bigger or fuller. I guess this is kind of like using room mics to capture the room ambience with the drums.
TheChikenMaster
I'm Unbalanced
Hence the idea of recording drums in a big live room rather than a small icky room. Even without room mics the drums sound bigger.
