SM57, toms, PC hard drive recording, annoying "click sound"

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robeaux

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When I tried recording my 13" rack tom and 16" floor tom with an SM57 on each in my modest basement studio (alesis 12r for mic pre-amps, 20 bit Layla, Vegas 2.0), I consistently recorded an annoying click sound at the initial peak of each tom hit (sounds like I am overloading the mic). I tried various mic placements (distance/angles), a couple different drum tunings to no avail. I eventually used my Blue Baby Bottle on the rack tom (nice warm sound, but a bit pricey to buy another for the floor tom) and moved the floor tom mic underneath the drum, relying on the Oktava MC012 overheads to help fill in the attack. This is ok for a temporary solution, but I'm wondering what I can do (short of hitting the toms more lightly) as a peranent solutions. I know that SM 57s have been used on toms for hundreds of years, so I am inclined to wonder if my problem is related to the digital end of the chain. I've been looking at the Audix D-2 and D-4 (Audix says they handle 144 dB), but haven't seen one in person yet, (and I wouldn't mind having multiple mics to choose from). Any thoughts or similiar experiences?

Other info:
I could best hear the "click" by looping the attack portion of a single tom hit in a wav editor.

The Baby Bottle appears to have some kind of internal limiter because the wav produced by each tom hit is very "rectangular" (no sharp peak).

I am also currently using an SM57 on the snare, (which I assume is louder) so it is possible that the click is also produced on the snare, but masked by the snappy-ness of the snare attack.

Mic'ing my floor tom from the bottom kinda sucks because the bottom head resonates with each kick drum hit (Constant low freq hum).

I think I have some before and after recordings that I can post (in the next few days) if anyone is interested.

Sorry for the lengthy post,
Rob
 
it DOES sound to me as a overload problem.
what if you set your pre-amp (input gain) VERY low, and maybe amplify the wave in cep, dont care about the noise but is there still the klick than?
 
turn your preamp level down, so that your input level (at the digital end of your chain) isn't clipping
 
Yeah it definantly sounds like your initial gain is too hot. I use 57s all the time on toms and snare and don't have this problem.
 
robeaux said:
I know that SM 57s have been used on toms for hundreds of years
Click to expand...

I think Benjamin Franklin used to have the same problems with 57s on his toms, but that was before Digital Audio came about so it must have been a problem with his analog gear.
























Sorry dude I couldn't resist. I know what you mean though, 57s have been used on just about everything forever, but I had to make a smart assed joke. Sorry bro.

It also sounds like the preamp may be too hot to me too. Go down the signal chain from the mic, constantly checking levels. Hell, turn down EVERYTHING on the signal chain to zero, then while you have a friend continuously hit the offending drum(s) go through the chain turning up all the levels a bit at a time. If you still get the clicky noise when all levels are set to the minimum audible level, well then I'm stumped. But I'm almost sure you can find your problem this way.
 
thanks, everyone

Next time I set my drums/mics up, I'll further reduce the input gain to see it that helps, but I'm not sure that it'll solve my problem - the input level on my analog preamp (alesis r12) for the rack tom, if my memory is correct, is usually set pretty low (about the 9 o'clock position), the input from the preamp to the PC (Layla) are always set at zero or lower, and I hear the sound during tom hits that peak at -9 dB, so I don't think that there's any clipping in the digitial realm. I originally thought it sounded like a mic placement issue but I tried several positions. I'm also not sure if a "click" accurately describes what I'm hearing - it's not as extreme as a digital-clipping click.

I'll be recording again in the upcoming weeks and I'll give the 57s another try, but may have an Audix D2 and D4 to compare, and I may start looking for some better quality toms. I'm currently using very old Pearls (from before they were a highly respected American manufacturer) that sound very good in the room (and look totally sweet), but maybe this is a good excuse to buy a set of Starclassics for the studio.

I posted a before/after wav file (~20 sec., mono, 1.47 MB). The first half is with the SM57 and the 2nd half is with the Baby Bottle. Visually, the SM57 part of the wav looks like the initial attack is just too extreme (the Baby Bottle is pretty extreme on the other end of the attack spectrum, tho).

http://www.concentric.net/~Robmoon/wav/racktom.wav
[right click > save as]

I don't really have a specific question at this point, and I truly appreciate this opportunity to pontificate at length about something that's been making me scratch my head for a few weeks. Thanks again.

-Rob


A sidenote:
After isolating and listening to this sound so much, I noticed that it is audible on some of my past recordings, and I'm trying real hard not to let it bug the hell out of me.
 
If the mics are overdriving the mic preamps, a compressor won't help.
 
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