micing setup

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N8theGr8

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i will soon be getting 2SM57's, to go along with my so-so radioshack mics. i've heard that i should probably put 1 sm57 on the bass, and one on the snare, and use the radioshacks as overheads. 1st, where should i place the sm57 on the bass? right in front of it and about how far (just to get an idea). 2nd, are their clip-ons that will work on the snare for the sm57? and 3rd, will this setup change where i should place the overheads now that there will be a mic on the snare? thanks, -Nate
 
Try the kick mic about halfway into the drum and about level with the beater, closer for more attack farther for a more rounded sound.
There is something called an LP (Latin Percussion) Claw that can clamp onto the rim of the drum and hold the mic in place. Some people dont like to clip/clamp mics for recording because vibration can sometimes be picked up by the mic.
You will have to place the overheads by ear, you might need to bias one towards the hihat since it doesn't have its own mic, you will need to listen to the placement in the context of a mix to see what's getting lost and what's too loud.
 
should the overheads be at ear level while sitting on the stool or while standing?
 
Hmmm... RS mics...

I think you'll get a better sound using 2 SM57s placed XY near the drummer's head and catch the entire kit that way rather than attempting to get even close to a reasonable sound using RS mics....

My opinion only - your mileage may vary!

Bruce
 
should i even bother using one of the radioshack ones inside the kick? im trying to think of some other possible setups that could work (the 2 SM57s, 2 radioshacks, both about $25 a piece), but im begining to realize that more mics is not always best when they include radioshacks. is there a single spot on the kit where they could work alright?
 
Nah, I think the R.S. mics probably would do an even worse job on kick since the areas that they are probably weakest is in handling low frequencies and high SPL's (volume), the bottom line however is that we can sit here and spout forever, what you need to do is try different arrangements and see which, if any, give you a workable result.

Try:

1 Bruce's XY suggestion
2 57 on kick, 57 on overhead
3 57 on kick, 57 on snare, RS overheads
 
for recording stereo, i know it wouldnt work in your 2nd setup suggestion, but would i pan left an right with the RS overheads (i heard somewhere that they would have to be same model), or the 2 57's in the XY?
 
I would go for dumping the rs mics, in my experience they are more trouble then they are worth, yes you'll pick up more but rs mics have a problems with giving lots of white noise....yep if you plan to do stereo with your overheads it's best to use the same modle mics since all mics tint sound slightly diffrently...

I sugest the 57 of bass and 57 on overhead, but if you got a bit of money to throw around I would diffinetly rent a couple of condener mics to use for overheads then use the 57s on bass and snare....
 
try to offset the overhead mics so that the snare is directly in the center ... instead of being equidistant from the drummers head ... they should be from the snare drum instead. This will give natural panning to hihat/cymbals as well as toms when you pan them L/R.
This is more necessary considering that you won't be close-micing the toms. I'd also bring the overheads down a little bit, since you'll want to pick up more from the toms with them.
I agree w Bruce and usually go with XY when I close mic (less chance for phase problems), but I tried this technique based on a John Sayers diagram I saw a while back ... and when you're only using minimal mics, it works pretty well.
Good Luck.
 
i found this plugin for n-track called drumagog, and it replaces a bad snare/kick track with a set of the included samples or wav's off the internet. i figured that now, if im not going to use the RS mics seriously, i could use an RS inside the kick, sm57's for overheads left and right, then replace the crappy bass track with the set of samples. i thought this program was pretty cool, tapping on my desk can instantly turn into a snare track :) . it can reproduce snare rolls very well, i tried it out. does anybody think this could work well for my situation?
 
drum mics

hey, i'll tell you straight up that some of the cheapy mics sound just fine. i had mics from K-Mart (4.99 each) which sounded great for what they were. I think it depends on your sound and what you are looking for. remember, a lot of the judgement on mics are from their frequency response. so what if you got a K-Mart mic that only picks up 100hz-12khz? your drums probably won't even attempt to fill that bandwidth... as for pure sturdyness, the plastic mics suck, but they are going to be recording the drums, not supporting weight or keeping grandma's life support working. i upgraded my snare mic to a sm57 and together with the kmart cheapies it sounded great. plus for the price of one sm57 you could get 15 kmart specials. other than that, CAD makes some good cheap(but professional) drum mics(4 for 200$) that sound really good. just shop around, try out every mic you can get your hands on and only then after you get all your research done, buy what you want, not what others say are good or not. RS mics are probably fine if you like the sound.

aside from my rant,

1 sm57 goes on the snare facing in from the hi hat side(if the drummer does not hit it) to reject the hat sounds, the other in the bass drum about 4 inches from the back head and tilt it about 30-45 degrees off center(so the actual shockwave does not hit the mic element directly.. that would be bad) and put the radio shack cheapies on either side of the kit but just in front of the kit kinda pointing at the hihats and the ping if you have one. adjust your eq and pan to taste. if you get phase issues, try moving the mics closer or farther away from each other. i don't think the cheapies would have the upper frequncy response you need to place them overhead( the cymbals will wash them out with midrange and possibly clip the signal if they are too close.) so experiment with the mics to the sides of the kit and you will probably get close to what you are looking for and still using the RS mics.
 
Big Kahuna

where would one come across that mentioned John Sayers diagram?




-thanks
 
if i were to use an RS on the inside of the bass using a trigger during mixing, what could i do with the 2 sm57's and RS? just the 57's as overheads...or use 1 57 on snare, and 57 and RS overheads? i dunno which would be best
 
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