How much panning on Overheads ?

[ApolloSpeed]

ok.....how much panning do yall prefer for the overheads on drums ?

If I pan all the way to each side....it kinda sounds too "stereo" to me.

So what do yall use typically ?

 

[reshp1]

ok.....how much panning do yall prefer for the overheads on drums ?

If I pan all the way to each side....it kinda sounds too "stereo" to me.

So what do yall use typically ?

It depends on how the mics are setup. If they are set up such that the stereo separation is small, then panning hard left/right will sound right. If the mics are placed for more extreme stereo separation, then less panning is in order. Need to use the ol' ears on this one.

 

[mixsit]

I have what's probably an a-typical setup, so.. but my kit' is a pair low-ish on either side and from the rear -they generally getting the 'beef of the kit and get panned in 50-60%, somewhere between that wonderfully solid mono image, and 'but I want it wide too' point. Then I get to play with the cymbal mics out nice and wide for a top-candy variable.
So it can also depend some if your 'overheads represent the 'kit or cymbals too.
Mondo mono kit(or near) can be a very compelling.
Wayne

 

[LRosario]

just leave it mono


Only kidding. Yeah, probably no more than 70% left and right. I avoid excessive "stretch" in any mic pairing. The good ol pair of ears will help ya on that.

 

[xstatic]

There are many factors involved such as....
1) What mics are you using?
2) How are they placed?
3) How are the drums set up?
4) What pickup patterns are you using?
5) How are the drummers dynamics affecting the image?
6) How does your room sound?
7) How does the different pan images affect the whole mix?

In the end, the best thing to do is what makes the whole mix sound the best, and not just the drums. Often times a hard pan sounds unnatural when solo'ing the drums, but in the whole mix it lends the right flavor. For the right mix, mono may even sound the best. As a starting point though, how about trying 50/50?

 

[SonicClang]

In my room, with the way I set up the overheads, I go hard left and hard right. It sounds incredible to me.

Here's an example of how they sound in my room. I just recorded this on Saturday (11-19-05). This is 100% left and 100% right respectively.

Also make sure you're paying attention to the fact that the snare is off-center, so you don't want to set up the overheads left/right with respect to the drummer himself. The left OH would actually be to your front left and the right OH would be to your back right. There's an excelent description of how this setup works on John Sayer's website.

 

[ApolloSpeed]

my setup is :

(2) Meek JM27 Overheads (about 2 ft. above kit pointed at crashes)

(1) SM57 on snare

Ddrum kick trigger and DM5

(3) CAD tom mics

I don't have a hihat mic.....but my hihat are always kinda loud too.....
But I was just wondering how much stereo should be used on drums typically in a mix

and yes....if I pan more than 50 percent... the snare seems "off" or something. Kinda wierd to me.

 

[RAMI]

As stated above, it depends on a few things. In my case, when I was using an XY sonfiguration over my drums with the mics almost touching, I had to pan them hard left and right. Now, I've been using a mic placement technique that I got froma thread here. One mic directly over the snare pointing down, the other mic over my shoulder also pointing at the snare, both mics equal distance from the snare. I find I get such good seperation that it sounded like my arms were 20 feet long when I did hard panning, so I have them at about 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock.

 

[Sonixx]

... One mic directly over the snare pointing down, the other mic over my shoulder also pointing at the snare, both mics equal distance from the snare.

YES

 

[gecko zzed]

I have tried a number of drum mike placement techniques, but the one that most often gets the best results for me is to use just three; two overheads and one on the kick. The overheads (NT5s) I place behind the drummer's shoulders, both directed at the snare. They pick up enough of everything else to give a good overall balance. When panning, I generally don't pan too wide, usually starting at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock.

If I later discover that they are too wide (or too narrow), I can use a stereo imaginer to adjust the spread (though I try to avoid this if I can).

On the kick I use a CAD KBM412, which seems to work fine for me. Interestingly, CAD mikes don't get mentioned much on this forum, so I wonder whether anyone else has had experience with them?

 

[matt rascal]

fwiw, heres where i usually start:
kick and snare - center
toms - 20% left on rack 1, 10% right on rack 2, 35% right on floor
OH's - 50% left and right

but of course it will vary from set up to set up