Marshall mxl 604 ? on -10db wassupwitdat?

[clevodrummer]

Im using these mikes as overheads for my awesome Gretsch drum kit. Gonna start doing some recording in the basement. Gonna be the "Me,Myself,and I Trio. I play bass and guitar as well, but drums are my profession.


Got me a Tascam 424MKII which I have had for about five years, and I just took it out of the box today. I am using a BehringerMX802A mixer.
These overheads are doing the trick, but what exactly is the switch on the mike with three settings and has -10db on it. Dont have a clue what thats for. Anyone know?

Im running the two Marshall ohs and I have 4 audix drum mikes. Fusion series, f10 and f12 bass drum mike. The Behringer has only four mike inputs, so Im running the overheads and a snare mike, and Bass drum mike. I have two drum mikes left over, and Im not sure what to do with them as far as tom mikes.Should I run them into the Tascam, and than go into the behringer?

Any advice would be appreciated as I am a newbie. Im also running a digitech reverb foot stomp box, through the behringer as aux send in/send out...reverb is the bomb!!! sounds pretty cool.

thanks for the help!!??

 

[Track Rat]

It's a 10 dB attenuator. Say you were recording something very loud and it was clipping the mics internal elctronics. You would switch in the attenuator which would lower the level hitting the mics electronics there by lowering distortion in the mic.

 

[PhilGood]

There's also the roll-off. The straight line means the mic is in normal mode. The bend line is a bass roll-off, which decreases the low end past a certain frequency. Then you've got the -10db pad. It's an either/or kind of thing.

 

[Jacobi1211]

get yourself an Audix D6 or AKG D112 for the kick drum and put the f12 on the lowest tom (floor tom i assume)... You'll hear a BIG difference.

Jacob

 

[LemonTree]

if you only have 4 inputs forget the two left over mics. Work on getting the best possible kit sound from your steroe overheads then strengthen it with a mic on the kick and another on the snare.

A LOT of great drum recordings have been done this way. Putting a mic on every drum doesn't always mean the best results.

Experament with it.

 

[clevodrummer]

Thanks from Clevodrummer

Hey Thanks everybody...I really appreciate the help. This was my first post and I am impressed. I think Im gonna take Jacobs advice regarding the kick drum mike, and moving the f12 to floor tom...appreciate it!

 

[punkin]

Not a bad plan but, don't disount Lemontree's advice either...it's better than good advice...it's excellent .

 

[Jacobi1211]

very true, most good drums sound great with only 4 mics. but SDCs just simply don't pick up the toms well enough to get a realistic sound... unless we're talkin' earthworks... now, i don't know what he's using for overheads, but I prefer to do my drum recordings with 4 mics as well (most of the time)... with 2 of them being decent LDCs as overheads. I find that C3000Bs do a great job of this. BUT!!! then you typically lose a lot of the brilliance of the cymbols... which i consider unacceptable... but, I am a big proponent of doing more with less. thanks to all who have participated in this discussion!!! good luck with the recordings!!! Let us know how it goes, and maybe see if you can post some clips... you've got me hooked!!!

Jacob

 

[clevodrummer]

clevodrummer advice from lemontree

I went the route Lemontree suggested, 2ohs / snare / kick, and its the best way Ive found to really manage the sound. I like the less is more philosophy with this set up.Less wires to trip over,easier,cleaner.I will keep ya posted.

thanks again,
clevodrummer

 

[Richard Monroe]

That -10db switch is also called a "pad". Most good preamps will also have one, and some mics/pres have multi-position pads, as in -10db/-20db/-30db. I'm told that in ancient times, most preamps were set up for ribbon and crystal mics, which have a much lower output than condensers. When the first condenser mics came to America, there were major problems with preamps being overloaded by the new, hotter condensers. So a felt pad was actually placed over the mic to decrease the output. Later, the attenuator became electronic, but the "pad" moniker stuck around. Most folks don't find a pad necessary when using mics as overheads, but if you are close mic'ing a snare or a loud cab, it might be.
The bass cut, also known as a high-pass filter, decreases the mic's response at a specific frequency. Generally, it is "shelved", so it reduces the specified frequency, and evrything lower than that, hence the bent line. Some people will use the bass cut on overheads, so the overheads will pick up the cymbals, and the amount of bleed from the floor toms and kick will be reduced. This is more common with people who use bizzillions of mics on a drum kit. With 4 mics, most people want the overheads to pick up everything, and be augmented a little by the kick and snare mics to make them stand out just a little. Bass cut can also be useful for mic'ing acoustic guitar, where "boom" or low frequencies from a big bodied acoustic, can make a recorded acoustic sound too bassy. Bass cut is sometimes used on vocalis, also, to decrease low frequency "rumble" coming from foot movement, etc. Rumble is more common in a live situation, but when you are recording at home, and the refrigerator kicks in upstairs, you'll find out what rumble is.

Regarding the number of mics on a drum kit, the jury is divided. There are a lot of people that like 4 mics. I am one of them. There are a lot of heavy metal people in particular, who will tell you that it is almost impossible to get their sound without more close mics, and increased isolation. I think that is more of an issue in a live or live-studio situation, where very sensitive overheads are subject to a lot of "bleed" from guitar cabs, bass, vocals, crowd noise, and rumble from footsteps on stage. It's one where I have to say "each to their own". My own experience, for what it's worth, is that if you can't capture 90% of the sound of a drum kit with the overheads, you need better overheads, a better room, or better mic placement.-Richie

 

[LemonTree]

if you only have 4 inputs forget the two left over mics. Work on getting the best possible kit sound from your steroe overheads then strengthen it with a mic on the kick and another on the snare.

A LOT of great drum recordings have been done this way. Putting a mic on every drum doesn't always mean the best results.

Experament with it.

I'd just like to thank the guy that left me neg rep for this post and forgot to leave his name. May all your stereo mics be grossly mismatched

 

[LemonTree]

ok, gripe for the day over.....

I just want to add to this incase any newcomers read. I use two LDC's for overheads, Studio Projects B1's. They get me a great FULL KIT sound which I then strengthen with an Electrovoice RE20 on kick duty and a shure SM57 on snare.

SDC's are the way to go probably if you're individual micing each drum and just looking for the brass in your overheads. I'd recoment the octava mc012's for that job...and recently the studio projects C4's with the omni caps on...wide open sound for the price