Roto Toms

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gtoboy
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Gtoboy

Gtoboy

Well-known member
A buddy I work with gave up drumming a few years back and when he found I was looking to buy a set of roto toms he pulled a set out of his attic and gave em to me. They were somewhat rusty and needed new heads but the bearing edges, hoops and adjusters were all in decent shape. So I re-skinned them, cleaned them up etc. and now I'm looking to record with them. I haven't recorded rotos before so I will be experimenting with micing however if anyone has recorded some before I am open to suggestions such as mic placement, single/multi micing, etc. They are (if I remember right) 6", 8" and 10". I haven't yet had anyone in to beat on them while I listen, which makes it harder to figure out where to put mics.
 
It's been close to 30 years since I've had to record any Roto-Toms, but I distinctly remember having a bit of an epiphany in the studio when I discovered they sounded much better when mic'd from the side. iow, instead of pointing the mic's diaphragm at the center of the top of the head from above (like you would mic a normal tom or snare drum) point the mic at the space in between the head/rim and the rotor-adjuster thing, so that the mic diaphragm is perpendicular to the head and below it.
 
They almost sound good miced anywhere. Some guys used to mic them from underneath in a live situation. Just mic them like you would any other tom. The advantage is they are loud and cut through the mix easy. I had a drummer in the late 80's turn up at a live gig I was mixing with a total roto tom kit including the kick drum, sound pretty good when miced up, was very easy to transport in a small car.

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
And right here ^^^^^^is the biggest one

Alan

Edit:

Looks like the spammer has been sent away
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It is always the worst when the trolls don't even form complete sentences. What is the point? Ugh...
 
Oh, and to the OP, It has also been a long time since I played or recorded them (rototoms).

I personally would treat them as a alternate percussion. In small room or live, I would just get them from overhead mics if you have them. If not just a mic below or above if HH is not right there. They are quite loud and do not need much level in mics to capture.
 
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Roto toms are the devils work.

That being said, mixing them from the top, like Bob said will give a mellower sound. If you want the full ping of the horrid things Mic them from the back. (Or front)
 
Well I plan on slapping modulation on em anyway cuz well, they're roto toms, they must flange!:cool:
 
Farview said:
Roto toms are the devils work.

That being said, mixing them from the top, like Bob said will give a mellower sound. If you want the full ping of the horrid things Mic them from the back. (Or front)
Click to expand...

HAHA!! Right! :)
 
Funny thing was that everybody tuned the high to get the ping, if you tune them lower they are much more interesting.

Alan.
 
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