urgent, microtech gefell

[Alexi]

hi there,

i just recieved 2 rental stereosets of microtech gefell's.

2 m930 mics and 2 600'S .

which set should i use for drum overheads and which one for room sound.

i guess i'll use the m930's as my main drum overheads and the 600's as a stereopair about 4 feet in front of the set.

what do you guys think?

cheers

 

[chessrock]

Sounds like a plan.

 

[Alexi]

any other suggestions?

 

[chessrock]

any other suggestions?

Get a hair cut.

 

[Alexi]

hey, since you are the owner of a "professional studio" i want a "professional" answer......how do you start when you record drums.....what are your choices?
ela 251's? c'mon throw some of your "20years recording experience"-stuff at me.

i really need some great input since i am not a pro.

 

[Brent Casey]

i really need some great input since i am not a pro.

Put the mics up, plug them in. Move them around until you get the sound you want. Record the results. Repeat.

Brent Casey
PMI Audio Group
877-563-6335

 

[chessrock]

Put the mics up, plug them in. Move them around until you get the sound you want. Record the results. Repeat.

What Brent said.

 

[chessrock]

Alright, since you asked ... it's different every time. Depends on how the kit is set up and how much space you have to work with and what's available in terms of gear. It appears you like to rent, which is smart. I do that a lot, too, because it's pretty cheap and you can get a hold of some nice stuff. And Geffels are good. Using good mics is a good thing. Yippee skippy. Rock on. But I wouldn't over-estimate their value in getting good drum tracks.

Most important thing is to work with a good kit, and some nice, low-key cymbals that record smoothly. After that, worry about getting them tuned right, with the proper amount of tensioning. New heads are almost always a must. I hate felt beaters in most cases, for example. This stuff makes up about 99% of the sound. From there, I look at it as my job to just "not get in the way" of it. I stick with simple methods without getting cute or overly ambitious. In other words, my role, in the bigger picture, is pretty insignificant.

I can help the drummer by advising him what kind of cymbals record well (Kustom K Darks, for example) ... if I can convince him to change his heads ... to loosen the front head on his kick, or to rent an entirely different kit altogether if I think it's necessary, and I'm successful in my pleas ... then I've made a much more significant contribution to the quality of the recording.

Most of the time, though, I'm a monkey boy and I just do the best with whatever crap I'm given. Most people don't complain about the drum sounds I get. Come mixdown ... yea they want their kick to be all clickety-clackety or they want it to push the subwoofer and they want the snare to explode with tons of reverb like in old Chili peppers or Flaming Lips records or whatever. Now I'm just babbling.

 

[mrface2112]

yes, the easiest way to get a great drum sound is "get a solid, consistent drummer playing a good, well-tuned kit in a nice sounding room, hang some decent mics and get out of the way".

suffice it to say, i'd worry more about the kit and the room and getting it sounding kickass in there.......than i would about where to put the mics.


cheers,
wade

 

[paddyponchero]

Hey chess what heads and beaters do you recommend the most? I find that the lighter heads on toms - ambassadors etc. are a nightmare to tune and record and need really good shells to sound good. Its hard to get heads around here and they are always at ripoff prices, I've tried pinstripes and emperors but havn't had a chance with any of the evans heads

 

[Alexi]

hi there,

since i am am going to play the drums i guess i should comment on your question:

emperor coated all over the set expect bass, i use a powerstroke 3 with fallam slam on this one.

new heads for sure, i've been using ambassadors but found myself using too much gaffa.........emperors sound just right to my ears.

i play a 14"tom a 18"floor tom and a 20"bass.........i get a nice bass drum sound, very good definition and a huge tom sound.....what else do you want?


cheers

 

[Alexi]

btw i heard steve albini say "you have to use evans g1 clear as bottom tom heads"..................what the f****, i should try that, but on the other hand steve hates sm57's and i love them.

 

[paddyponchero]

hi there,

since i am am going to play the drums i guess i should comment on your question:

emperor coated all over the set expect bass, i use a powerstroke 3 with fallam slam on this one.

new heads for sure, i've been using ambassadors but found myself using too much gaffa.........emperors sound just right to my ears.

i play a 14"tom a 18"floor tom and a 20"bass.........i get a nice bass drum sound, very good definition and a huge tom sound.....what else do you want?


cheers

I have emperors on there now and am quite happy, a tad dead on the 10" tom but dead is better than nasty resonances, I have 20" bass drum too with powerstroke head - love small punchy bass drums.

 

[Alexi]

emperors all the way, no additional damping, 20" bass drums rock when you are in the studio, don't let anybody tell you anything else..........


cheers

 

[chessrock]

btw i heard steve albini say "you have to use evans g1 clear as bottom tom heads"..................what the f****, i should try that, but on the other hand steve hates sm57's and i love them.

Albini's really big on mic'ing the bottom of the toms for some reason. He's kinda' anal about it if you ask me, but who am I to question a guy who's worked with Page/Plant, Nirvana, Pixies, etc. ?

 

[Alexi]

question anything, i think albini is kind of arrogant when it comes to mics..........he's great though

 

[Alexi]

hi again,

2 days of recording so far, i think i might tape one of the m300's to my sm57 snare mic and use the other one on the hi hat......the 930's already pick up the set wonderfully........i need some input you guys, the room doesn't sound great.

i need a better bassdrum sound........

i am currently using:

sm57 snare
sennheiser e602 on bassdrum
audio technica ath23 on tom
audio technica pro25 on floor tom
microtech gefell m930 on overheads
microtech gefell m300 as a stereoset in front of the kit.


using a yamaha beech custom.

toms 14x12, 18x16
bass 20x16

snare: premier signia marquis maple 14x5,5

heads: remo emperor
snare: remo emperor
bass: powerstroke 3

so pleeasee people post, i need to master this session.

cheers

 

[chessrock]

Can you get any more specific about what it is you don't like about the kick? And can you tell us more about what kinda' room you're tracking in?

 

[Alexi]

the room is a former studio, it has styrofoam plates on the walls, its about 3 metersx6meters in measurements, we have added "made up walls..........blankets over apmlifier towers....................i am tracking thru a presonus firepod.

the kick just does not have enough punch and 'fulliness'