Urgent Drum Miking Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter jeliot86
  • Start date Start date
jeliot86 said:
So you think I should tune them all down a notch to open them up a little. I believe we tried to tune the bottom head of the snare to an A and the top to a C.
Click to expand...

I think a more open sound is usually better. What may sound too ringy by itself will usually sit just right in a mix. I've done the C/A thing on snares too. You just have to play with it. I look for the most body and tone with the least amount of ring from my snares. It's all about fine tuning. Work on the toms more. Get them near they're natural resonant pitch and then fine tune with the bottom head.
 
Greg_L said:
I think a more open sound is usually better. What may sound too ringy by itself will usually sit just right in a mix. I've done the C/A thing on snares too. You just have to play with it. I look for the most body and tone with the least amount of ring from my snares. It's all about fine tuning. Work on the toms more. Get them near they're natural resonant pitch and then fine tune with the bottom head.
Click to expand...

Much thanks, I'll post the next test from tonight after miking the Toms. One other question I have is, I'm going to have to pic up another mic at guitar center tonight because I'll be using all my other options on the toms. Any thoughts on a Mid to Low priced mic that I might fined up there, to use as my SNARE mic.

thank again.
 
Greg_L said:
SM57 or I5.
Click to expand...


My local Guitar Center did not have any SM57's in stock so I picked up a Sennheiser e609 only after making sure if I did not like it on snare I could return it.
Any thoughts on this mic? It will double great as a stage mic for Guitar Amps as it has a flat face design to hang down from the amp.
 
jeliot86 said:
Jump in anytime...:D I need all the help I can get. We are going to add Tom mic's tonight and do another take. I think gating the direct mic's is going to make a huge difference too! Once I master using a gate, everytime I have ever tried to use them they come out sound unatural but maybe mixed with the overheads it won't matter.
Click to expand...

The trick is to mix the gated signals in with the drum bus you have running thru the Vintage Warmer. But don't put the gated signals thru that bus! You can use aux sends for the gated signals or even duplicate the tracks. Sort of a New York Drum Compression scheme. If I'm being too confusing just tell me what DAW you are using and I could explain it better!
 
jeliot86 said:
My local Guitar Center did not have any SM57's in stock so I picked up a Sennheiser e609 only after making sure if I did not like it on snare I could return it.
Any thoughts on this mic? It will double great as a stage mic for Guitar Amps as it has a flat face design to hang down from the amp.
Click to expand...

I don't know how that mic is as a snare mic, but I've heard good things about it being a tom mic.
 
xaqmusic said:
If I'm being too confusing just tell me what DAW you are using and I could explain it better!
Click to expand...

I have used the NYC Comp quite a bit so i get ya......:D. Should I be gate'in all the direct mic's and sending just the overhead and maybe kick to the Vintage Warmer Bus?

Thanx
 
Second Times a Charm

Here's the new Setup

Overhead - Recorderman's Technique (NT-5's)
Kick - EV RE20
Mid toms - 2 beta 58a's
Floor Tom - EV DS35 (dusted this old puppy off!)
Top Snare - SM58 (took ball off)
Bottom Snare - Sennheiser e609

We tuned down the Toms as Greg L so graciously suggested and all I added to the dry tracks with the music is a little EQ on the Kick, slight verb on the Snare and Vintage Warmer on the Buss.

Thanks to all your help I think we are making some progress.......haaa but what do I know:D

here's the link

http://soundcloud.com/jeliot/drum-test-music2
 
Definitely better from what I remember. Toms sound pretty good. I still think the kick is kind of weak. You're capturing it well, but it doesn't have any thump. It sounds small and tight.
 
jeliot86 said:
I was thinking the same thing, I think we need to take out the the towel we have in there and let some of that out.
Click to expand...

What are the kick dimensions? Also, it's really easy to over-muffle a kick drum and kill it. It doesn't sound like you're doing speed-metal, so it's not like you need all attack and a quick decay. Let the drum be a drum. Whatever you stick in there should just barely touch the head, or both heads.
 
Greg_L said:
What are the kick dimensions? Also, it's really easy to over-muffle a kick drum and kill it. It doesn't sound like you're doing speed-metal, so it's not like you need all attack and a quick decay. Let the drum be a drum. Whatever you stick in there should just barely touch the head, or both heads.
Click to expand...

The drum is 22 X 22, and I think we probably had the towel pushed to far up against the head. It also has a new Evans head, i believe something like an aquarian 2 or something like that.
 
jeliot86 said:
The drum is 22 X 22, and I think we probably had the towel pushed to far up against the head. It also has a new Evans head, i believe something like an aquarian 2 or something like that.
Click to expand...

Evans and aquarian are different brands. You're probably talking about the aquarian superkick 2 drumhead. The aquarian 2 is really tough and it's pretty thick too. I've played those a few times, no one i know muffles the bass drum with these on. Try taking the towel out. Is the bass drum tuned? It's not too loose is it?
 
saads said:
Is the bass drum tuned? It's not too loose is it?
Click to expand...

I tuned it watching a video of a guy from Evans. He called it tuned for Lowest possible frequency. Basically pushing down on the heads.... loosening until the head starts to wrinkle and then tight back up a little and move on to the next peg. Then I fine tuned it while beating it some:laughings:
 
jeliot86 said:
The drum is 22 X 22, and I think we probably had the towel pushed to far up against the head. It also has a new Evans head, i believe something like an aquarian 2 or something like that.
Click to expand...

That's a nice sized kick. It should have more wallop than what you're getting. Try getting rid of the towel.
 
Greg_L said:
That's a nice sized kick. It should have more wallop than what you're getting. Try getting rid of the towel.
Click to expand...

Will do we are back at it tomorrow night but I already pulled the towel out so hopefully that's just what we need

Could someone point me to a solid drum mixing thread, it's time to start having some fun:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top