Photos of your drum micing techniques.

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Wizball said:
Now I'm bloody impressed, if you pardon my french. That record has one of the best drum sounds of all time. My drummer friend and I (bassist) has played that album over and over, commentating all the time about "Oh! Did you hear that one!" and so on. Remains one of my favourite albums of all time, and it's one I never get tired of.
The sound is much - much! - better on that than the first BLS record. MadAudio, you NEED that album, and you need it now.
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Wizball, you totally made my day! Not the best drum sound ever part, but the fact that its one of your favorite albums of all time. My goal on almost every record I produce is that I am always hoping that I might be making albums that mean as much to some one else as my favorite albums mean to me. But its rare that you hear about that stuff from people. Thanks.
 
boingoman said:
Bozzio did a clinic at the music store I used to work at. Amazing. He used the kit pictured above. It was miked with gobs of AKG 414 & C12. Must have been $60-$70,000 dollars worth of microphones.
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Yeah I had heard about that micing before I worked with him and I wanted no part of it. It was my goal to try and record his kit with just 4 ambient mics, but because of the odd Horse Shoe shape of the kit and the fact that there are so many tiers of stuff I had to end up using 11 tracks which I think included 13 mics. I saw Terry a couple months ago and I was happy to hear that he has switched to the more ambient micing as his standard preference


I really hate over micing drums. Its a lot of extra headaches in the mix and extra phase problems and starts to make the engineer more imprtant than the drummer when it comes to getting the sound. Iusually end up using about 7 or 8 tracks from drums on a pop or rock record (often throwing a few away in the mix) If you can not get a decent drum sound on a standard kit with 1 to 5 mics, then you have the wrong drummer playing the wrong drum part and kit.
 
Ronan said:
Yeah I had heard about that micing before I worked with him and I wanted no part of it. It was my goal to try and record his kit with just 4 ambient mics, but because of the odd Horse Shoe shape of the kit and the fact that there are so many tiers of stuff I had to end up using 11 tracks which I think included 13 mics. I saw Terry a couple months ago and I was happy to hear that he has switched to the more ambient micing as his standard preference


I really hate over micing drums. Its a lot of extra headaches in the mix and extra phase problems and starts to make the engineer more imprtant than the drummer when it comes to getting the sound. Iusually end up using about 7 or 8 tracks from drums on a pop or rock record (often throwing a few away in the mix) If you can not get a decent drum sound on a standard kit with 1 to 5 mics, then you have the wrong drummer playing the wrong drum part and kit.
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We ended up just leaving 3 C12s from the toms, 2 414s for cymbals, and the 2 internal D112s in the mix out of at least twelve channels of mic. (Didn't tell Terry) He was very particular- no EQ, no processing, no effects. Our room was small- 50x150, didn't even really need a PA, just for the back. He's a realy nice guy, a class act with a great artistic vision IMHO.

Thanks so much for posting here. I enjoy reading your posts and I'm sure I'm not the first to say thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge.

Recording is so much different than live! The best drum sound i ever got (shit luck i'm sure) was a stereo pair over the drummer's head and a mic on the kick, at my house. I wish I could do that live.......
 
boingoman said:
The best drum sound i ever got (shit luck i'm sure) was a stereo pair over the drummer's head and a mic on the kick, at my house. I wish I could do that live.......
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It was not shit luck. it means that you had the right guy playing the right part and you made some good choices about capturing the whole kit. Last year Percussioni Magazine (the Italian equivelent of modern drummer) Had me as their cover story (about being a dude that records cool drummers) and they asked me how I get great drum sounds. I gave them the same answer I always give:

"I get the right drummer, with good gear to play the right part and then stay the hell out of the way"

Sure I know a few tricks for making things go boom, but believe me, when you are recording a drummer like Greg Bissonette you can put a boom box on the other side of the room and you will get a great drum sound. Any record I have done that has a great drum sound is 90% drummer and 10 % me. If I have any great tricks they are just tricks that let the drummer do the work and try and capture what he is about.
 
jim primate said:
and if anyone's heard the drums from goat, you'd do well to copy these techniques. sounds like you're standing in the room with the drummer. god bless mr. albini.
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oh, hell yeah
 
I don't understand how people get such good drum sounds out of only a few mics. Maybe I'm retarded.. but it doesnt make sense.

I guess it helps to have a good room, good mics, good pres, and a reallly nice drumset. None of which I have.

How do you figure out which mic to use and where to put it? Mic placement/choice baffles me. I can't afford it.
 
geet73 said:
I guess it helps to have a good room, good mics, good pres, and a reallly nice drumset.
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Yep, that's it!
But not in that order. I would say: good player, good kit, good room, good mics, good pres.
Something like that.
 
A shitty drummer can ruin any recording. Even if you had an awesome kit, top notch mics, and clear as crystal pres, it will still sound like a pile of shit.

"You can't polish a turd"
 
I understand that. Heh.

How do you determine which mics to use? Where to put them?
How do you make an ambient mic'd drumset sound up front?
 
geet73 said:
I don't understand how people get such good drum sounds out of only a few mics. Maybe I'm retarded.. but it doesnt make sense.

I guess it helps to have a good room, good mics, good pres, and a reallly nice drumset. None of which I have.

How do you figure out which mic to use and where to put it? Mic placement/choice baffles me. I can't afford it.
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The biggest part is the drummer! It also helps to have a good set and room. But it can not be overstated how important it is to have a good drummer playing the right part. If you have a good drummer take one good quality condensor mic and put it about 3 feet of the ground about 4 feet in front of the kick (move up and down for right kick to snare ballance). You should be able to get a decent sound out of just that. Put a SM57 on the snare pointed about at the center of the snare. Put a Beta 52 or D112 infront of the kick at the head (closer for more attack, further for more boom), put a decent condensor mic overhead and move it around until you get a nice ballance. If you can not get a decent sound out of that then you have the wrong drummer or drum part or drum set.

Also keep an eye out for really ringy drums. Drummers love to play with alot of sustain on all the drums but it will smear the image and clarity of the drums really fast. If the snare has more overtone than fundemental it will never cut through thick guitars.
 
I guess I should try buying some decent mics.

When you use these "ambient" micing styles.. do the toms sound up front?

I'm just really used to close micing everything.
 
geet73 said:
I guess I should try buying some decent mics.

When you use these "ambient" micing styles.. do the toms sound up front?

I'm just really used to close micing everything.
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Listen to some early Led Zeplin records and then you can tell me.
 
Hey, LeksBD,
In the first picture, the 57 on the right side looks like it's pointing right at the ride cymbal. Is that right or some kind of illusion from the camera angle?
 
Hey man,

Nope, no illusion. It's pointing directly at the Zil Bel, about 1 or 2 Inches from the surface of the ride. As you know, the amount of spill from 57's is stupid, so it picks up the wash and ping from the ride nicely, whilst still picking up the Zil Bel.


Leks
http://www.brokendaylight.com
 
Too bad I can't see photobucket photos at work. The server blocks that website.
 
Well, I finally got to do some drum recording with my newest mics - a Beyer M201 and a pair of MXL 603's. I used pretty much the same set-up as in the pictures I posted upthread, but I swapped the M201 for the V93 and the 603's for the PZM's. Wow, what a difference! I'll just reaffirm what others have been saying here: The M201 is an excellent snare mic. I definitely prefer it over my trusty SM57. I used the 603's as overheads, and they worked out great. I'll post an example once the final mix is done.
 
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