Micing the underside of a snare.

  • Thread starter Thread starter ManInMotion711
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ManInMotion711

ManInMotion711

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What kind of mic should i use for this? At my personal disposle i have a Audio Technica AT 2021, and a CAD GXL 1200. Would either of these work?
 
A SDC works out very good on the underside of a snare.
 
Personally I really like the sound of a crappy 58-copy through a cranked preamp for that position and then a decent mic on the top.
 
And pay attention to the polarity/phase of the signal. ;)

If your snare bottom mic is pointing up, and the top mic is pointing down…. you can guess the rest!
 
xaudia said:
And pay attention to the polarity/phase of the signal. ;)

If your snare bottom mic is pointing up, and the top mic is pointing down…. you can guess the rest!
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Yup. That's a biggie too!
 
I guess i have alot more research to do for this kind of recording lol. Btw what exactly did you mean by a pad?
 
a pad will reduce/attenuate the signal to make sure it doesn't clip whatever it's running into (you can then bring the level up later when you're mixing, and the peaks will be intact). A lot of mics have them built in (sometimes it's like a switch between 0 and -10dB, which would attenuate the signal by 10 dB. Sometimes the preamp can do this on the other end. If neither of those options is available, you can put a special inline pad somewhere in between the mic and the pre.

I use a beat-up Shure SM81 for this - so I'd try the 2021 first
 
antichef said:
a pad will reduce/attenuate the signal to make sure it doesn't clip whatever it's running into (you can then bring the level up later when you're mixing, and the peaks will be intact). A lot of mics have them built in (sometimes it's like a switch between 0 and -10dB, which would attenuate the signal by 10 dB. Sometimes the preamp can do this on the other end. If neither of those options is available, you can put a special inline pad somewhere in between the mic and the pre.

I use a beat-up Shure SM81 for this - so I'd try the 2021 first
Click to expand...

Oh ok. Thanks. I had no clue what a pad was referring to
 
It's also a good idea not to point the mic directly at the snare wires. If you do, you end up with a papery, flappy undesirable sound. I point mine at the bottom head and position my mic at about the same angle and distance as I have my top mic. And, as was said, flip the polarity/phase of the bottom mic.
 
All true but I have to say that the many times I've miked the bottom I never used it in the final mix. Hell, lately I've been using just the overheads and kik mics.
 
Track Rat said:
All true but I have to say that the many times I've miked the bottom I never used it in the final mix. Hell, lately I've been using just the overheads and kik mics.
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yes, yes and yes again. :thumbs up:
 
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