Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Ruston  It's not an idiotic suggestion but it's slightly the mark of someone who spends more time reading than doing....There is a school of thought that says that it's best for the initial kick transient to push the speaker forward in which case you'd want to make sure that it was going 'that way'. But of course you can never assume anything because there could be a mic, cable, pre, or bit of outboard wired backwards somewhere along the line which will reverse it! So just print a bit and make sure. If you decide to leave the kick positive, you just need to ensure that everything else is going the appropriate way for it's position. The moment you get too stuck in thinking which way things 'should' be, you go wrong.
J |
Well... there is a way that things "should be." Cables, mics, outboard, etc. should be wired correctly. But I think you point was made... just listen.
IMO. I believe that, all things being as they should, or "normal" (nothing is wired incorrectly), the top snare, the top toms, and the overheads all should have they're polarity reversed. The bottom snare, bottom toms and the kick drum (being mic'd from inside or the front) have the correct polarity already, as they are receiving the signal. The "top" drum mics are not directly receiving the signal. Flipping the polarity puts the top mic in phase with the respective bottom mic.
This seems to prove true to me as when I record just a kick drum, normal polarity, the signal is positive (judging by viewing the waveform in protools). The same with the bottom mics. This is how a start nearly every session and it seems to sound best. Of course, I always check phase between the relation of mics, as well, and adjust accordingly.
Does anyone think differently of this idea? I'm curious. I'd like to read some other opinions.