R
robeaux
New member
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
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