sm57 snare placement help.

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Funky_

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I like the sm57 on snare. Plus it's the only mic I got for snare.

I place the mic under the hi-hat just above the batter skin of the snare. With this placement I pick up a lot of hi-hat and snare and cymbals and even some of the hi's from the kick.

What's a good placement for the mic for the best clean snare sound with the least bleed?

I think snare has always given me the most problems! Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Funky,
Keep your mic on top of the snare head (sorry Kenny), but you need to angle the mic better. The mic should point between the drummers' throne and his stomach. The mic can be placed a few inches off the head, also don't point it directly at the center of the head, try a little to the top of the drum. You're always going to get cymbals and hi-hat....bleeding is not always a bad thing. It's good to fill in the sound a little...I've got some of my best drum sounds from just using 3 mics on a drum kit (kick Beta 52 and 2 overheads SM-81's)Use your EQ sparingly. You might need a little mid-range presence boost after the track has been laid down.

A 57 is a mic stilled used in a majority of professional studios today because it's just a good mic, not the best mic, but an overall winner over the years.
 
Bottom of the head is a different sound, for when you want a lotta wire. Can be groovy with effects, but beware that '80s sound.

For more standard top of head, this is why some people like to use hypercardioids on snare. It's easier to fit 'em between hat and snare, and get the hat in the mic's dead zone. I got Beyer M201s for that purpose.

With the 57, try to raise the hat a little if that works for you. Then angle the mic a little more so the back of the mic points at the hat.

If you're getting high end of the kick, that seems a little odd. I wonder if that's sympathetic vibration of the snare head with the kick. Try retuning the snare.

You will still get some bleed, cymbals etc., but it should be much quieter than the snare. Try using a gate to eliminate stray sounds.
 
With a drum kit you are always going to get bleed. You just aren't going to get a track where the only thing you hear is the snare. Approach the kit with an attitude more as if you are recording ONE instrument that is too big to be recorded with one mic (like you might with a piano).
 
innovations is deffinately right about looking at it as a whole. don't focus on getting all of your snare sound from that one mic by itself, tweak until it sounds good along your overheads and such. i try to look at close micing simply as a way to accent drums without turning up the overheads and drowning the mix. this means you have to pay more attention to where you set up the o-h pair because it will determine the sound of your whole kit, not just the cymbols. its worth it, and you should be doing this anyway ;)
 
If you record a great drummer, the 57 will give you a great snare sound. If you have to record a 'hat and cymbal basher' who's also a little weak on the snare, you'll end up with a sound that sucks.

The off axis response of the 57 isn't nice, plus it's kind of a wide cardioid. That's why a mic like the Sennheiser MD441, the Beyer M69, M88 and M201 are better overall snare mics. The 441 is a super cardioid, the Beyers are hyper cardioids.

The 441 has a very nice off axis response and so have the Beyers, the M201 is my favorite snare mic and it also shines on a large number or other applications.

The Senny and Beyers are a lot more expensive than the 57 though.
 
"Approach the kit with an attitude more as if you are recording ONE instrument that is too big to be recorded with one mic (like you might with a piano)."

You know this makes a lot of sense. I like it. I think I got more caught up in the whole mic thing I forgot about the big picture.

Individual mics are for bringing out the drums and give you more room to work with. Over heads record the whole kit, the other mics allow more detail per drum.

I guess I will mess around with the placements more. Thank you for the insight! :)
 
Funky_ said:
Individual mics are for bringing out the drums and give you more room to work with. Over heads record the whole kit, the other mics allow more detail per drum.
Click to expand...

I think of it as two different approaches. This way is the old way and the modern way, with the close-miking more of the interim approach. Perhaps that was a mistake, and once discarded, will not be returned to, but you can do some interesting things with close-miking, so I haven't turned away completely.

And this from someone who HATED the '80s.
 
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