Ribbons on Drums anyone?

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punkin

punkin

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I've noticed that in the recent weeks, there's been uprising interest in ribbon mics. I have to admit I've been bitten as well. I have a couple here and really only use them rarely on guitar cabs and on smooth singin' vocalists...oh and on horns but I don't get them here very often. Bottom line, I've only been comfortable when using them one mic at a time and on solo singers or solo instruments. The M/S thing still ain't my friend nor is the Blumlein. So let me change gears...

I've heard of them being used for drums...anyone using them for this purpose regularly and how exactly are you setting them up? Their bi-directional characteristics is what kinda buggs me. Not sure if you should use just one over the drummer's head or two out front or just put it in the kick tunnel and call it quits :eek:

I've also heard that many/most ribbons have a different frequency response off the back side as compared to the front...is that so? Probably just a characteristic of the chassis or windscreen design I would think?
 
Thanks...I read that somewhere but I'm wondering more on how they were applied.
 
sorry, cant tell you more than that. The coles in particular have a very good reputation and I have heard they are very good on drums, horns. Wish I could help more. :)
 
I'd suggest using ribbons for overheads. In Fletcher's three mic drum technique you could use one for the one over the drummer pointing at the snare and the second mic pointing over the floor tom at the snare. I'd put an ATM25 in front of the kit.

If I were picking a ribbon for this application then I'd probably go with the front side of the AEA R92.
 
Beyer M160s (ribbons) for overheads and your choice of kick -- D6, ATM25 or Beyer M380 in my case (sometimes an RE20). You can mic the snare (SM57 or Beyer M201) and toms (MD421) separately if you want that much clarity.
 
Great guys thanks. But when using ribbons over head, what is the recommended axial orientation? I'd love to see this at work.

I will now return you to the regularly scheduled programming already in progress. :D
 
When using figure-8 patterns, the room becomes more of an issue. If your room sucks, those mics will pick it up. I know that some of them are pretty fragile, I'm not sure I would stick one in a kick.
 
punkin said:
Great guys thanks. But when using ribbons over head, what is the recommended axial orientation? I'd love to see this at work.

I will now return you to the regularly scheduled programming already in progress. :D
Click to expand...

With figure 8 mics it's not so much about axial orientation as it is thinking what's hitting the backside of the mic as well as making sure you stick in problem spots in the rooms in the nulls of the mic. The easiest approach is to just trust your ears. When you have a mic four feet over the snare pointing down at it you realize from experience that it might look as if it's perfectly on axis from one angle but it might look as if it's not aligned from another angle. I've found the Extreme Isolation Headphones to be a reliable aid for mic placement.
 
God, I wish I could remember where I read this, but the producer for the Police's "Synchronicity" record used ribbons for overheads on Stewart Copeland's kit. I don't remember what type!
 
I use ribbon mics for overheads somewhat frequently. 4038's sometimes and more often royers. The key is having a good sounding room. You can put the blumlein micing technique to work since they have a figure 8 pick-up pattern. I'm lucky to have a huge room filled with nice sounding wood. Beautiful, smooth airy sound, to use the exact technical terms. Among most professional engineers there has been no resurgence in ribbons, always been there always will. Much love bitches!
 
sweetnubs said:
Among most professional engineers there has been no resurgence in ribbons, always been there always will. Much love bitches!
Click to expand...

I think the resurgence is in cheap ribbon mics. They weren't cheaply available to people like me until recently with the nady's etc.
 
I've not used ribbons for overheads but most recently used a Beyer M500 for a snare mic. Really nice results, but don't know how much of that is that the drummer really knew how to tune - and play - the drum.

Orienting a ribbon mic with its ribbon parallel to the ground will subtract from its ability to handle low frequencies, as its tension is effectively raised by gravity. Anyone know how much of a factor that might be?
 
Oh, forgot to say - I have taken to using my AEA R44C as a room mic, mainly because it helps the drums sound even better.
 
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