Overhead 101

Greg_L said:
The problem with islam is they don't tell you what kind of virgins you get. They could be virgin boys.
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Yeah and worst case scenario would be they're a spaced pair and attacking you from front and back! I think this is fast becoming the most obscure overhead mic placement thread.
 
Thanks to everyone that replied, I think I've learnt enough for me to experiment whilst abiding by phasing rules to come up with a sound I like.

As it stands I love the spread I'm getting from having my left OH above my furthest left drum/cymbal (in my case it's a crash cymbal) and my right OH above my furthest right drum/cymbal (in my case it's a 16" floor tom). There's also a perfect symetry about those mic placements I'm finding hard to ignore - the centre of the crash cymbal and the centre of the floor tom are both exactly the same distance from the centre of the snare drum.

I seem to be capturing a fair representation of the kit as a whole, and as many times I've read sentiments like "OH mics are 6ft tall and at a ratio of such and such apart...." I've also read "rules are meant to be broken and have a play...", so all in all, fuck it, I'm happy. Tempered ignorance is bliss. Over and out.
 
Stick 2 mics above the drum kit over the cymbals, have a listen to the drum sound and adjust until it sounds good and everything is being picked up. Forget all the theory and tape measures, if it sounds good it is good. Try things out and learn.

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
Forget all the theory and tape measures, if it sounds good it is good. Try things out and learn.
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I disagree. I do agree that all the theory in the world doesn't make up for a lack of experimenting, using your ears, etc....But ohase issues are a scientific fact, not some mumbo-jumbo that people use to sound intelligent. If your 2 mics aren't an equal distance from your snare, it won't sound good, period. It will be out of phase at the least, and/or just sound out of whack. So, you might as well save yourself the time and measure, because you're going to end up doing that anyway.
 
As the overheads make up 90% of the sound, they need to pick everything up, so better get drummers to move the snare into the middle of the kit centre of the kick drum so the mics work:D

Also if you add room mics out front they are not equal distance?

Phasing is important, but it's totally impossible to have every mic on a drum kit in phase, the distance between the snare mic and the overheads or a tom mic and the overheads is not equal distance.

Also by having the overheads equal distance from the snare you may find that some cymbals / drums are not being picked up due to the mic position.

Don't forget also that the floor tom mic rack tom mics, high hat mics, etc also pick up snare form different distances.

All of the above is why you have to experiment with mic position.

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
As the overheads make up 90% of the sound, they need to pick everything up, so better get drummers to move the snare into the middle of the kit centre of the kick drum so the mics work:D

Also if you add room mics out front they are not equal distance?

Phasing is important, but it's totally impossible to have every mic on a drum kit in phase, the distance between the snare mic and the overheads or a tom mic and the overheads is not equal distance.

Also by having the overheads equal distance from the snare you may find that some cymbals / drums are not being picked up due to the mic position.

Don't forget also that the floor tom mic rack tom mics, high hat mics, etc also pick up snare form different distances.

All of the above is why you have to experiment with mic position.

Alan.
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I never said you didn't have to experiment with mic position. But with pretty much every overhead micing technique, the snare is centred. It's also usually in the "middle" of the set up, more or less. So, there;'s more chance it will be out of phase if it's not centred between the overheads. Toms, floor tom, cymbals and hi-hats are usally enough to one side that they won't have phase problems since phase problems are caused when 2 mics are getting a signal "almost" at the same time.

Like I said, I'm not disagreeing with the whole experimenting thing. But I still think you'll end up centering that sanre after all the experiments. So, you might as well pull out the measuring tape before you start experimenting.
 
witzendoz said:
As the overheads make up 90% of the sound, they need to pick everything up, so better get drummers to move the snare into the middle of the kit centre of the kick drum so the mics work:D

Also if you add room mics out front they are not equal distance?

Phasing is important, but it's totally impossible to have every mic on a drum kit in phase, the distance between the snare mic and the overheads or a tom mic and the overheads is not equal distance.

Also by having the overheads equal distance from the snare you may find that some cymbals / drums are not being picked up due to the mic position.

Don't forget also that the floor tom mic rack tom mics, high hat mics, etc also pick up snare form different distances.

All of the above is why you have to experiment with mic position.

Alan.
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That's all fine and dandy, but you've obviously never heard an out of phase snare, or wouldn't know it if you did. It's a sucky sound.

Overhead placement is important. All mic placement is important. Unless of course you'll settle for any sound you capture.
 
I suppose that I have been doing it so long now that I probably set up the mics at equal distance by eye? Actually when I think of it, a young engineer was in the studio one day with a band and I have thrown up the mics as a start, he go out the tape measure and was telling me about the equal distance thing and when he measured they were within a whisker of being equal anyway, he just stared at me ha ha:).

So point taken.

alan.

Oh and thanks for the 2 cents worth and the insult Greg.
 
witzendoz said:
I have thrown up the mics as a start, he go out the tape measure and was telling me about the equal distance thing and when he measured they were within a whisker of being equal anyway, he just stared at me ha ha:).
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Well, there you go. You're better at this than you gave yourself credit for. :D :cool:

Your eyes are probably better than my ears. :eek: :)
 
Greg_L said:
Lol. Gotcha. The problem with islam is they don't tell you what kind of virgins you get. They could be virgin boys.
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Actually it does state that you get beautiful female virgins. But the funny part is expecting to go to heaven after blowing up innocent civilians. :confused:
 
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