mic toms from the bottom??

[willow]

Hi,

Although I have been playing drums for over 25 years, I am still not an expert at mics, due to the fact that all the bands I have been in have always had roadies taking care of the mics.

I recently purchased an inexpensive set of drum mics with clips (Samson). I am starting a new project and will not be playing until a few months, but I broke out the kit to see how my setup is going to work out. (will only use them live, not for recording). Since I have a big set with a lot of toms, and cymbals consolodated on minimum stands, I cannot find room for the clip ons on my first three toms..10,12,13. (double-headed shallow toms)

I was wonder if I could get by with the mics on the bottom heads? I know it will be a different sound, but is it possible? (just for live)

I really want to avoid boom stands for all the toms.

Thanks for any help,
Will

 

[boingoman]

Seems like you'd have trouble getting enough attack, but give it a shot. Since they are shallow you might have better luck. They are gonna sound quite a bit different than the ones that are top miced. You could also get one stand, and a bar that mounts two mics, and experiment with positioning until you pick up all three toms with two mics, or a bigger bar and use all three.

 

[xfinsterx]

Seems like you'd have trouble getting enough attack, but give it a shot. Since they are shallow you might have better luck. They are gonna sound quite a bit different than the ones that are top miced. You could also get one stand, and a bar that mounts two mics, and experiment with positioning until you pick up all three toms with two mics, or a bigger bar and use all three.

i agree.
however....
you could take the bottom heads off and get the mic up in the drum. then the sound guy might have and easier time eq'ing a good sound for you.
the drum does loose some power though, as im sure you well know.
but, if its only for shows id bet the sound guy could make up the loose ends.

 

[Innovations]

I have heard of a lot of folks micing top-and-bottom on snares because the bottom of the snare has something unique to contribute. I dont see the any real benefit on toms.

 

[Farview]

i agree.
however....
you could take the bottom heads off and get the mic up in the drum. then the sound guy might have and easier time eq'ing a good sound for you.
the drum does loose some power though, as im sure you well know.
but, if its only for shows id bet the sound guy could make up the loose ends.

This will work if you want to sound like everyone with a large kit in the '70s.
miking the bottom head will give you the sound of the bottom head (which you probably have tuned an octave above the batter) it will not be pretty.
My advise is to raise your cymbals.

 

[xstatic]

My advise would be to try and rearrange the kit a little so things will fit, and then see if the kit can still be comfortable for you. If this isn't an option, then I would mic them on the bottom like you are suggesting. As a FOH engineer, this would not be my preferred method of micing, but is still usable. First, getting the attack from the bottom heads is much more complicated, but not impossible to fake a little. The good news is that from the bottom the mics aren't receiving nearly the amount of snare and cymbal bleed that they do from the top. What this means is that your engineer can get away with a much bolder high end boost without making the cymbals and snare too loud and/or harsh sounding. You will however definately want to get some gates for the toms though. The bottom head will "appear" to resonate longer and "warble" more than the top head when mic'ed from the bottom. It will be a little more apparent because the tom mics won't be receiving and reproducing as much cymables and sanre as if they were on the top. That bleed actually helps to cover up a little of that unwanted resonation in the mix.

Next, if you do decide to mic from the bottom, you will have to pay much closer attention to something that many drummers don't pay enough attention to. Your bottom head tuning will now be as important if not more important to your top head tuning. The good news is that the bottom heads will be a little easier to tune than the tops since they tend to stay tuned a little better than the top heads on kits usually do. The second piece of good news is that if you don't normally tune your bottom heads often, you may find really quickly that after tuning them a couple of times all of your toms will sound much better acoustically. Also, you may want to consider trying either lightly coated, or 2 ply heads on the bottom if you don't have gates available. Maybe experiment sometime with evans G1 coated heads on bottom toms. If you are playing rock, this can be really cool.

As far as the gates go, the Behringer gates actually work pretty well and are very affordable. If you have the budget though, my favorite sounding gates are the BSS gates, and even Drawmers. If at all possible, try also laying back off your cymbals a little when playing. This will give your FOH engineer a better opportunity to get a more usable tom sound through the OH mics in order to reclaim some of the "top head" sound without having to EQ so severely on the bottom heads. Good luck