[drBill]

Originally Posted by Mike Caffrey

I listed to the kick and snare clips.

I'll start with the argument against my position. The clips should be mixed as close to the final context as possible, which is kind of how it sounds to me.

What I found was that in some cases, there wasn't much difference until you hear the solo'd mic. So maybe that's the lesson - that the mic makes almost no difference.

However, if you're trying to highlight the differences in the sounds, less OH/room will help, and it imposes your taste a little less.


Also, for my taste, I'd rather hear the solo'd mic at the top.

Hey Mike! thanks for the comments. As I stated in the setup - FOR ME - (and I was really only doing this for craig and myself) listening to a mic without it being in the final "context", is worthless. Well, not worthless, but not much help. If you are not hearing much difference in the big picture, then I would conclude that the difference between the mic/mics really is minimal and not that big of a deal. Grab whatever's close. A complete and FAIR drum mic shootout is about as close to impossible as anything I can think of. Everything effects everything else. It's all interactive. I would have loved to hit the EQ, but that would have raised the complexity of things exponentially. Then compression, to the third power....

Even as the shootout sits now, I think a WHOLE lot of people took one look at it and said.....thanks, PASS!!

I'll presume your comments are mostly towards the snare clips since the OH mics play a lot less of a part on the Kick. I see your point, and certainly it's a valid one. I could have done it with NO overheads, but for me, the overheads are at least 70% of my snare sound. The close instrument mic is just for whooomph. Not much else. So taking out the OH would really sound weird to me.

Like I said in the setup, if I get enough interest, I'll make these all available in Pro Tools Format so that people can adjust the mix levels to suit their own esthetic. Really, that's the only way for critical listening anyway, because slight level balances between mics make ALL the difference in the world.

I guess it's all in measures. If I ever have time, I'll try to go back and reduce the amount of OH on the snare clips if it seems right when I get in the session. Thanks again!

BTW, your comments would lead one to believe that the OH mics are the most important drum mics you have. And I'd have to agree with that. thumbsup

Originally Posted by Hayman

I think the most important thing with this great test is that you can hear how different mics capture not only their "targeted" drum but also how that mic capture the rest of the drums and how well they all sound together.

Richard

Thanks Richard!! That's what I was after. I think we'd all do the test a little different. I know next time I'd do it different still, but ultimately you have to do something or end up with nothing. I did spend a substantial amount of time thinking about how to present the clips, and still....I know it could be better.

Originally Posted by danbronson

I really liked the piano ribbon clips, this is in a whole new league though! Thanks for taking the time to do this!

I can't wait to listen on proper monitors and write down some notes. Let us know what the mics are soon pleeeease!

Thanks dan. I loved doing the piano ribbon clips, but this was a lot more challenging as far as "listening" is concerned. Although at first all the mics may sound very similar, critical listening on good monitors in a decent envrionment (ie: NOT at your computer) will reveal the subtlties of how the mic affects the other drum mics, the punch, the overall timbre. etc.. My wife would say a mic sounds like a mic. I think we all know different. This shootout is all about seeing if more than one set of tom mics is necessary. Or if a condenser is better than a dynamic on the snare. Etc. I hope that with repeated listenings and the reveal of the mics, you'll know for sure - or at least have an educated guess whether a mic will work for your drum application.

Here's an interesting thought for everyone. One of the reasons I like my favorite tom mics is because of how the BLEED from other drums sounds in them. Musical, not muddy, thuddy or muffled. THAT makes all the difference to me.

Originally Posted by TheArchitect

Having listened to the inside Kick, snare and toms, the biggest differences where in the kick. The toms were a little too muffled to hear much of a difference IMO. The snares were real close as well although some differences were audible..

thanks. had to be a lot of work. When so we get the results?

Results are going to be a few days away I think. There's a lot for people to listen thru and I don't want to ruin it with the preconceived notions that we all have. I know that there's a $29.00 mic in there that ABSOLUTELY floored me, that had been sitting in my mic closet for 2 years unused. LOL

For what it's worth, the Tom mics were really different for me......

Cheers,

bp