Have I missed anybody's questions?

[Harvey Gerst]

Re: drum tuning (sorry, a little OT)?

hi Harvey. In the great polar patterns thread you talked a little about drum tuning, then you said it was better for someone to read the Tuning Bible.
I did it, but I found it a little too detailed. Do you have another good link , or did you write something about it?
I know this is the microphone forum, but I guess drum tuning is often overlooked and it is sure the cause of bad sounding drums for home recorders.

Cheers, Andrés

Drum tuning is a hard skill to master. Most of the drummers who come in to our studio don't know how to tune drums. One of the best ways to learn is to find a good drum teacher who can show you how to learn to tune drums. It all depends on the drums themselves, the style of music being recorded, and the final desired sound.

As a general rule, studio drums are usually tuned a little lower than for live shows, since we don't need the extra volume you get by tuning them higher.

I usually start by tapping the side of the drum to determine its natural resonant point and try to tune the top head to that. The bottom head is tuned just a little bit lower to add some ring and sustain to the sound. In the case of kick drums, the back head (the head furthest from the pedal) isn't tuned at all, just tightened enough to take up the slack.

The snare is the hardest usually to tune. You tune it by tapping lightly near the lug, and trying to get all the lugs tuned to the same pitch. Again, the bottom head is usually tuned just a little bit lower.

For recording, we usually use coated Ambassadors on all the top heads.

 

[mgiles7]

I actually asked a question awhile ago, and never got an answer. I was asking if the ecm8000 would be good for recording Opera. But, since I just made the purchase, Now I will ask for what kind of placement would be good in a medium size bedroom with wood floors (pretty live room). And also, do you think the ecm8000 will pick up all the overtones in my voice? Thanks, your a stud!

Matt

PS. I am a Lyric Tenor if that helps any

 

[cordura21]

txs. I was asking you because specially for kick drum, I never heard one live that sounded the same as in record (except jazz records).
So I thought maybe it was because of the tuning technique. I am sure it must be because of the heavy processing of them.
But I will always remember that one of my biggest disappointments in music was when I first heard a kick drum in the room. I said "is this the same powerfull beast I heard on records? Come on!"

Cheers, Andrés

 

[Harvey Gerst]

I actually asked a question awhile ago, and never got an answer. I was asking if the ecm8000 would be good for recording Opera. But, since I just made the purchase, Now I will ask for what kind of placement would be good in a medium size bedroom with wood floors (pretty live room). And also, do you think the ecm8000 will pick up all the overtones in my voice? Thanks, your a stud!

Matt

PS. I am a Lyric Tenor if that helps any

An omni mic should give you the most accurate picture of your voice. As far as the room, you'll just have to try it at various places till you find the best spot and distance.

Try to avoid putting yourself or the mic in places that are exact divisions of the room dimensions (i.e., avoid the spots that are exactly 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, etc. of the different room dimensions). Sometimes positioning yourself and the mic along the diagonal of the room can help. Use blankets on the hard walls if you find excessive room brightness.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

txs. I was asking you because specially for kick drum, I never heard one live that sounded the same as in record (except jazz records).
So I thought maybe it was because of the tuning technique. I am sure it must be because of the heavy processing of them.
But I will always remember that one of my biggest disappointments in music was when I first heard a kick drum in the room. I said "is this the same powerfull beast I heard on records? Come on!"

Cheers, Andrés

There are all kinds of special tricks that can be used to get a huge kick drum sound, ranging from special tuning, proper mic selection and placement, eq, compression, and using the drum to trigger samples, or a low 30 Hz tone or sub-harmonic generator, which is then added to the original drum sound.

Remember, for most pop recordings, it's more about what we "want" to hear than it is about what is really there. We "sculpt" the sound to get the desired effect.

 

[cordura21]

thanks Harvey.

Did you hear the song "History Repating", the nineties version by Shirley Bassey and the Propelerheads. Those drums are so cool and so natural, yet they are a dance group.
BTW, what a great singer Shirley Bassey is!

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Nope, haven't heard it.
Yup, she's a great singer.

 

[mgiles7]

thanks Harvey. I am still very new to recording so I will ask one more question to try and cut down on time messing with mic placement. Should I try and place the mics Lower, same, or higher than my pie hole? If this is going to just depend on the room and other variables, that is cool, but if one of them is definantly not a good idea, at least I will know now instead of later...

Matt

 

[Harvey Gerst]

thanks Harvey. I am still very new to recording so I will ask one more question to try and cut down on time messing with mic placement. Should I try and place the mics Lower, same, or higher than my pie hole? If this is going to just depend on the room and other variables, that is cool, but if one of them is definantly not a good idea, at least I will know now instead of later...

Matt

Just a little bit higher to avoid the direct air blast. Use a wind screen on the mic, and change wind screens often.

 

[jitteringjim]

Harvey,
What's the fastest land animal????

 

[TexRoadkill]

How about the average air speed of an unladen African swallow?

 

[Hard2Hear]

Harvey-

I have no questions for you, but I'd just like to say WOW. You're a great and patient man to do things like this for all of us lucky sods here at hr.com.

Harvey's THE Man!

H2H

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Harvey,
What's the fastest land animal????

That would be the Cheetah at 70 mph, but that's only for very short sprints - they cannot sustain that speed for long.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

How about the average air speed of an unladen African swallow?

Ever since Monty Python, there are NO unladen African swallows - they each carry a load of guilt as to which of them is actually the fastest and are their mothers now disappointed with them?

The European swallow has always had to be faster than the African Swallow, since the Peregrine Falcon, 30 degree dive measured at 168 mph, is also a native of Europe.

 

[TexRoadkill]

nothing gets by you Harvey

 

[Harvey Gerst]

nothing gets by you Harvey

Well, I did set myself up for this mess by asking if there were any unanswered questions.

 

[Randy Yell]

Harvey,I visited your studio's web site(very cool by the way) and I noticed there was an Audio Buddy listed among the equipment list.I was wondering if you ever used the little guy and what your thoughts on it and how it compares to other low to medium pres.I also noticed an Mxl 2001p listed among the mics and I'm curious on your thoughts on it and what ,if any,uses it might have.I have one and I think its very harsh,I bought an Audio Technica 3525 for less than I paid for the Marshall and I think it's a MUCH better sounding mic.Are all 2001p harsh sounding or did I just get a bad one?I had thought that the 2001p's were just a shitty mic and then I saw yours at your site and I'm wondering now if they are supposed to sound the way mine does or if I got a lemon.Hmmm....

I really dug your picture gallery,it definately brought me back to a different time and place.

 

[chessparov]

Damn! If anyone (like me) is old enough to remember, if Shell ever needs another
"Answer Man"-get Harvey. And he even has a great website (terrific info there).
Hope you feel better soon, and thanks as usual for all the help.

P.S. mgiles, I also use an omni for singing practice, my experience is that they pick
up too many bass frequencies in my voice unless a bass roll-off switch is on.
(makes my lyric baritone voice sound like Darth Vader!)

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Harvey,I visited your studio's web site(very cool by the way) and I noticed there was an Audio Buddy listed among the equipment list.I was wondering if you ever used the little guy and what your thoughts on it and how it compares to other low to medium pres.I also noticed an Mxl 2001p listed among the mics and I'm curious on your thoughts on it and what ,if any,uses it might have.I have one and I think its very harsh,I bought an Audio Technica 3525 for less than I paid for the Marshall and I think it's a MUCH better sounding mic.Are all 2001p harsh sounding or did I just get a bad one?I had thought that the 2001p's were just a shitty mic and then I saw yours at your site and I'm wondering now if they are supposed to sound the way mine does or if I got a lemon.Hmmm....

I really dug your picture gallery,it definately brought me back to a different time and place.

My son had borrowed the Audio Buddy and I forgot I even had it. I'll give it a try this weekend if I have the time. The Marshall 2001 I got pretty much for free since I was paying shipping to send these things from Marshall to other reviewers after I finished testing them.

By the time I was ready to ship them back to Marshall, it was cheaper just to leave them here and call the shipping even. There were only a few going back anyway and I had already paid for all the ones I wanted to keep.

I found the Marshall 2001 harsh too, which I reported. I think Weston Ray posted my review of the MArshalls on this forum a while ago.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Damn! If anyone (like me) is old enough to remember, if Shell ever needs another
"Answer Man"-get Harvey. And he even has a great website (terrific info there).
Hope you feel better soon, and thanks as usual for all the help.

Hey, when you get to be 65, other than worrying about regular bowel movements, you're flattered if someone wants your advice, and amazed you can still remember some of this stuff.