Sm57 Problem!!!!!?????

[Musicman002]

Hey Engineers,

Answer a technical question if you can. How come when i mic my snare drum on the top, 2 inches above the snare, and facing toward the center of the drum and then record my track and then listen back while the snare is being soloed by itself it sounds like the snare is bouncing back and fourth between speakers.

I got a mic overhead, 1 in the kick, and 1 on the snare...for this jazz song im doing. It seems to do this when i crank the snare track up into the 4db gain area with my fader after its recorded. Could it be a phase problem? or what.. I personally dont think so cause its the only mic picking up that drum and its doing it even when i solo it. Please Help. Thanks!

 

[Kasey]

Hey Engineers,

Answer a technical question if you can. How come when i mic my snare drum on the top, 2 inches above the snare, and facing toward the center of the drum and then record my track and then listen back while the snare is being soloed by itself it sounds like the snare is bouncing back and fourth between speakers.

I got a mic overhead, 1 in the kick, and 1 on the snare...for this jazz song im doing. It seems to do this when i crank the snare track up into the 4db gain area with my fader after its recorded. Could it be a phase problem? or what.. I personally dont think so cause its the only mic picking up that drum and its doing it even when i solo it. Please Help. Thanks!

umm... well i wish i could help but to me this doesnt even seem remotely possible. if youre soloing the snare then theres only one signal... maybe theres something wrong with your monitoring chain. i'd check that stuff before i worried about what your doing while your micing.

 

[dgatwood]

umm... well i wish i could help but to me this doesnt even seem remotely possible. if youre soloing the snare then theres only one signal... maybe theres something wrong with your monitoring chain. i'd check that stuff before i worried about what your doing while your micing.

Might be a monitoring chain issue, but my first hunch would be reflections off the corner of the room or something. Do you have a reasonable amount of absorbent material on any hard walls opposite the speakers? Do you get this same effect in headphones?

 

[FALKEN]

maybe you are using a stereo to monitor with and the speakers are wired out of phase?

 

[Musicman002]

Hey

No, I'm using Rockit 5 monitors made by KRK right into my board(Digi002 Console) with pro tools LE the speakers are directly into the outs of the board with 2 1/4 inch cords. i dont think its a chain issue...It could be a acoustic issue...My studio desk is in a corner and the speakers are up on speaker foam stands on the side walls...the desk is one of those 3 way desk a center piece and 2 sides. The closest wall in front of the speakers is like 10 feet back..its a big room...there is a window right next to the workstation thats not sound proofed closed off...and theres no padding behind the desk at all...but that shouldnt really mater...the room is pretty dead and well insolated...my studio is huge..its 35 by 35" with only 2 windows in the whole room...what do you think the problem might be...Thanks.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Somebody already pointed out - if your snare is solo'd and it does this, then there's something funky in your monitoring chain.....

A solo'd mono track simply CAN'T bounce between speakers........

 

[Wireneck]

Maybe its your ears?

 

[Musicman002]

Big Blue

Ive been mixing this song for my producer thats trying to pitch my song to a country publishing company...and have been mixing straight for 3 weeks and finally started laying down the drums and hearing this...my ears are probally fatiqued....i need a cruise..lol

 

[Musicman002]

but..

It could be room acoustics...any ideas on cheap wall aborbsion...frankly im not a gear junky...so it doesnt have to look like sony music...im always recording in real studios weekly...just need something to get the job done in my house...Acoustic ideas?

 

[DonGraham]

If your mic is soloed and not panned to one side or the other it will (of course) come out of both sides of the mons equally..........There is no way that (for instance) some problem with a microphone could cause a a "panning" issue.

if there was something wrong with the cord or the xlr connection of the mic the mic would drop in and out.....but if one of the wires was shorting in and out, left and right mons should not be affected differently.......as others have said check yer monitoring chain....maybe somehow when you are cranking up the snare mic, it is causing some sort of overload/clipping which is causing a left to right shift.........

On the other hand, a great audio engineer once told me..." if something is going wrong it it probably a cord, if it's not that cord, it's another cord, and if it's not that cord or another, check the first cord again".

good luck.

 

[Musicman002]

re

When u mic a snare drum on the top with an SM57 how loud should ur pre be...im using a digi 002 so should the gain be only like 3 notches maybe...the snare is a loud instrument and the mic is so close. Any thoughts?

 

[DonGraham]

When u mic a snare drum on the top with an SM57 how loud should ur pre be...im using a digi 002 so should the gain be only like 3 notches maybe...the snare is a loud instrument and the mic is so close. Any thoughts?

I guess it depends on the rest of your signal path......Basically make your loudest hit on the snare drum just below clipping on your input (whether that be monitored from your mic (like a 414), pre, ADC, or DAW......and then the rest of the program material can be controled with a little compression..............So as "hot" as possible with ZERO clipping is perfect.....could be 9 o'clock or 3 o'clock depending on your system.

 

[treymonfauntre]

track it loud enough to hear and not loud enough to clip. are you absolutely positive you don't have any sort of effect you might have accidentally turned on inside of pro tools? no sends or anything like that? its a mono channel?

 

[Musicman002]

re

im recording my snare on a mono track..is that right not a stereo..also should each mic for the drums be mono?

 

[treymonfauntre]

unplug one of the speakers and see if it cuts in and out of the speaker that is working