SM57 on snare is doodie, over and out...

[DJL]

Also I come in with the mic pointing straight down at the snare to help reject the rest of the kit even more. I mean straight down.

Bingo.

 

[Neil Ogilvie]

although the '57 isn't the snare mic of my choice is certainly is usable. I use a schoeps small diapragm condensor generally. Use the polar pattern to put the hi-hat in the rejecting portion its pick up pattern. Also I come in with the mic pointing straight down at the snare to help reject the rest of the kit even more. I mean straight down. however you gotta watch putting too much of the ass end in direction of the hi-hat or you start picking up the kick. Also people forget there are lots of loading issues with dynamic mics and preamps. Half the time you are getting shitty sound because your load is incorrect. Dynamics are very sensitive to proper loading and if you have preamps which can select different impedances you will hear a drastic shift in the sound quality with different selections. A lot of great engineers don't like 57's for nothing. It is user error my friend. I mic the top and bottom of the snare and blend to taste. Mic parallel to the snare wires not perpendicular. Also you will have to invert the polarity of the bottom mic in reference to the top mic. word.

As much as I hate to say it, that all makes perfect sense (in reference to the loading issue). Matching impedance of a mic with the pre will make a huge difference to the sound of it.

 

[larraga]

I know no believes it but I still swear by the AKG C-1000 with the attachment on the capsule that turns it to hyper-cardiod on snare. My weapon of choice. And if the drummer smacks it, so what.

I've had a C1000 ever since they first came out (probably my first mic purchase) and learned to hate it for acoustic instruments, so I haven't used in for maybe 3-4 years. I read one of your posts and now having learned to hate the sound of a 57 on a snare (in my room anyway) and having a smallish mic collection - stuck the C on the snare and it absolutely rocks. I use it as an alternate take mic (to a 57) on the cone of a closed-back 412 cab or an open back 212 and it also shines there. Thanks so much for the heads up!

 

[Rimshot]

I guess I'm a little slow, but I just figured something out. When everyone talks about "the best mic..or sound for snare...or kick" you all have a heavy rock sound in mind. That's fine if that's what you're after. I've tried a lot of the mic configurations that people have reccommended here and it just didn't work for my sound. I play with a lot of soft grace notes, cross stick, rimshots, rim clicks, brushes, hand dampening, etc. and I need a strong and sensitive signal. In dynamics, I've had good results with a Sennheiser e835. For live work, I've used the e604 and it sounds good but has a slightly less strong signal.I have a real old SM57 that works fine and I use it a lot but it needs a lot of gain. Most of you are looking for that very strong and heavy CRACK on the downbeat, right? I'm finding that I rely mostly on my overheads and I feed a little more into the mix from the snare mic, but not that much.I play a lot on the hats and use them a great deal so I welcome a bit of bleed.
I'm seriously considering getting rid of all of my close mics and investing my money in really top of the line overheads and mic'ing my 7 piece kit with 4 mics instead of the 10 I'm using now.

 

[DeadPoet]

Rimshot: have you read Fletchers' 3 mic drum article ?

I love using the rooms' sound and blending in the close microphones, but your room (and drummer) really have to be good ... (ain't this a subject beat to death or what)


Herwig

 

[sweetnubs]

I'm not sure what feltcher's 3 mic technique is but one of my favorites that i use sometimes for a nice jazz kit is a kick mic, small diaphragm condenser on the snare (sometimes I'll cheat and put a 4th mic on the snare wires) and a ribbon as an overhead. The nice thing about ribbons is they are inherently a figure 8 pattern and you can use this pattern to your advantage. set it up so each side of the kick is within each end of the pick-up pattern. Instant faux stereo with mono compatibility and and old school sound. Ribbons on jazz cymbals kick ass. why thank you nubs.

 

[sweetnubs]

I'm not sure what feltcher's 3 mic technique is but one of my favorites that i use sometimes for a nice jazz kit is a kick mic, small diaphragm condenser on the snare (sometimes I'll cheat and put a 4th mic on the snare wires) and a ribbon as an overhead. The nice thing about ribbons is they are inherently a figure 8 pattern and you can use this pattern to your advantage. set it up so each side of the kit is within each end of the pick-up pattern. Instant faux stereo with mono compatibility and and old school sound. Ribbons on jazz cymbals kick ass. why thank you nubs.

 

[Teacher]

i've heard someone used a super size fries box from McD's... cut a hole in the bottom and voila....you can cover it with duct tape if you don't want anyone to know its a mcdonald's fry holder that your using to ISO your sm57

 

[DJL]

Hey nubs, what mic's do you use on the kick and snare when do that? Oh, and what about the top snare mic placement so it works good with brushes and etc? Thanks.