Pictures Of Mic'ed Up Drum Kits In The Studio

[matskull]

Originally Posted by Darm

Here's my little studio, using the recorderman's setup

This looks like a spaced pair to me, not like the recorderman...
Is it a sm7 on the kick?

[fossaree]

Originally Posted by Darm

Here's my little studio, using the recorderman's setup

I'm curious about your room's dimension . Any chance to tell us ?
thnxs

[Darm]

Sorry, posted it in a high end forum, when it's actually the lower end I guess=)
Sm7 on a kick, sm57 on a snare and oktava mke2 electrets as overheads. I measured the distance from both kick and a snre drum and placed the mics on the equal distances.
The room is more of a drum booth, covered with basstraps from the floor to the 3m ceiling (and there's more basstraps on the ceiling too).

[matskull]

Originally Posted by Darm

I measured the distance from both kick and a snre drum and placed the mics on the equal distances.

I guess it works, what I understan from the recorderman technique is that one mic or over the snare and the other over the drummer's shoulder, both at equal distance from the snare and kick.
That's how I learned to do it from the videos.

Maybe you should give it a try, it sounds nice.

[andychamp]

Originally Posted by matskull

(...)what I understan from the recorderman technique is that one mic or over the snare and the other over the drummer's shoulder, both at equal distance from the snare and kick.
That's how I learned to do it from the videos.

Maybe you should give it a try, it sounds nice.

...and, with the right mics & room, and a well-tuned bassdrum, these 2 mics will be all you need. Won't even need a kick mic.

[SLy_drums]

My drumkit (Pearl Reference + SJC Custom maple snare drum) miced, it was in july for the recording of my own band Kwato. We recorded in a big room near to our rehearsal place.

We used the following :
414 ULS as OH into Pacifica pre.
SM57 on top snare into API pre.
Oktava MK012 under the ride cymbal into Purple Audio pre (spot mic).
Beyer M88 in the kick drum into API pre.
SM7 on the hats into Vintech X81 pre.
Beta98s on toms into Mindprint DTC/API pres.
Royer R121 + 414 XLII as room mics into API pres.

Sounds quite good to me, very roomy, overall a bit dark because of the 414 ULS, here's a quick premix I did with the drums before we rec the guitars. Nothing definitive but it will be easier then, when searching the guitar sound.
Kick is the M88 EQed and compressed, with a tiny bit of a sample mixed in for clear attack., it has a bit too much 300Hz in it but I fixed that.
Snare is natural, EQ, verb and compression. A bit muffled but it was done quick.
Toms are a bit loud ; touch of EQ.
Rooms are compressed and EQed.
Hihat has its lows filtered, and so for the ride cymbal.
OHs have the lows filtered out + a little boost in the 11 khz area.
All done in Digital Performer with Metric Halo Channelstrip plugin.

You'll hear some guitars but it was just a quick tone test with an LTD guitar.

[Bobbaganouche]

Originally Posted by edvdr76

If I'm not mistaken that is a Lawson mic......

Yup it is a Lawson L47

[Bobbaganouche]

Originally Posted by Vintageblue02

What are the mics on the snare? Looks like 609 on bottom & a side address Audio Technica on top, yes?

Yup e609 on the bottom and a ATM-450 on top.

Love the 450 for its open, natural sound and ability to to placed in tight spots. Also has nice off axis rejection of the hi-hat.

[NoizyNinja]

Drummer Ryan Hoyle recording at my place with my '70's Gretsch maple kit and his Tama bell brass

[DeadPoet]

Originally Posted by NoizyNinja

Drummer Ryan Hoyle recording at my place with my '70's Gretsch maple kit and his Tama bell brass

How's the OH symmetry soundwise? Looks like the positioning was made with eyes, not ears (but I could be mistaken)



Herwig

[fakiekid]

Originally Posted by SLy_drums

My drumkit (Pearl Reference + SJC Custom maple snare drum) miced, it was in july for the recording of my own band Kwato. We recorded in a big room near to our rehearsal place.

We used the following :
414 ULS as OH into Pacifica pre.
SM57 on top snare into API pre.
Oktava MK012 under the ride cymbal into Purple Audio pre (spot mic).
Beyer M88 in the kick drum into API pre.
SM7 on the hats into Vintech X81 pre.
Beta98s on toms into Mindprint DTC/API pres.
Royer R121 + 414 XLII as room mics into API pres.

Sounds quite good to me, very roomy, overall a bit dark because of the 414 ULS, here's a quick premix I did with the drums before we rec the guitars. Nothing definitive but it will be easier then, when searching the guitar sound.
Kick is the M88 EQed and compressed, with a tiny bit of a sample mixed in for clear attack., it has a bit too much 300Hz in it but I fixed that.
Snare is natural, EQ, verb and compression. A bit muffled but it was done quick.
Toms are a bit loud ; touch of EQ.
Rooms are compressed and EQed.
Hihat has its lows filtered, and so for the ride cymbal.
OHs have the lows filtered out + a little boost in the 11 khz area.
All done in Digital Performer with Metric Halo Channelstrip plugin.

You'll hear some guitars but it was just a quick tone test with an LTD guitar.

I have a 14x6.5 SJC and a Reference. Good setup!

[NoizyNinja]

Originally Posted by DeadPoet

How's the OH symmetry soundwise? Looks like the positioning was made with eyes, not ears (but I could be mistaken)



Herwig

Actually done with measuring tape. Equidistant to the middle of the snare to each mic and the cymbals are equal height from each mic too. Then we checked the sound which was excellent.

[Tony76]

Originally Posted by SLy_drums

My drumkit (Pearl Reference + SJC Custom maple snare drum) miced, it was in july for the recording of my own band Kwato. We recorded in a big room near to our rehearsal place.

We used the following :
414 ULS as OH into Pacifica pre.
SM57 on top snare into API pre.
Oktava MK012 under the ride cymbal into Purple Audio pre (spot mic).
Beyer M88 in the kick drum into API pre.
SM7 on the hats into Vintech X81 pre.
Beta98s on toms into Mindprint DTC/API pres.
Royer R121 + 414 XLII as room mics into API pres.

Sounds quite good to me, very roomy, overall a bit dark because of the 414 ULS, here's a quick premix I did with the drums before we rec the guitars. Nothing definitive but it will be easier then, when searching the guitar sound.
Kick is the M88 EQed and compressed, with a tiny bit of a sample mixed in for clear attack., it has a bit too much 300Hz in it but I fixed that.
Snare is natural, EQ, verb and compression. A bit muffled but it was done quick.
Toms are a bit loud ; touch of EQ.
Rooms are compressed and EQed.
Hihat has its lows filtered, and so for the ride cymbal.
OHs have the lows filtered out + a little boost in the 11 khz area.
All done in Digital Performer with Metric Halo Channelstrip plugin.

You'll hear some guitars but it was just a quick tone test with an LTD guitar.

Hey SLy_drums,
I really enjoyed the drum sound! Please tell me about micing the kick. How was placed the M88?

[strewnshank]

Originally Posted by SLy_drums

My drumkit (Pearl Reference + SJC Custom maple snare drum) miced, it was in july for the recording of my own band Kwato. We recorded in a big room near to our rehearsal place.

We used the following :
414 ULS as OH into Pacifica pre.
SM57 on top snare into API pre.
Oktava MK012 under the ride cymbal into Purple Audio pre (spot mic).
Beyer M88 in the kick drum into API pre.
SM7 on the hats into Vintech X81 pre.
Beta98s on toms into Mindprint DTC/API pres.
Royer R121 + 414 XLII as room mics into API pres.

Sounds quite good to me, very roomy, overall a bit dark because of the 414 ULS, here's a quick premix I did with the drums before we rec the guitars. Nothing definitive but it will be easier then, when searching the guitar sound.
Kick is the M88 EQed and compressed, with a tiny bit of a sample mixed in for clear attack., it has a bit too much 300Hz in it but I fixed that.
Snare is natural, EQ, verb and compression. A bit muffled but it was done quick.
Toms are a bit loud ; touch of EQ.
Rooms are compressed and EQed.
Hihat has its lows filtered, and so for the ride cymbal.
OHs have the lows filtered out + a little boost in the 11 khz area.
All done in Digital Performer with Metric Halo Channelstrip plugin.

You'll hear some guitars but it was just a quick tone test with an LTD guitar.

Nasty, dude.

[SLy_drums]

Thanks guys,
I improved my mix a bit :
http://sylvain.raulin.free.fr/Kwato.wav


The M88 was inside the kick, facing the beater. Sounds a bit raw when you record it, but if you scoop the mids it souds really great. Can't wait to try to smooth the attack with a Transient Designer.

[peat]

Session i sat in on a while ago
main engineers were seb klich and mike evans

3 piece band tracking





















Kick - D6 in Fet 47 out - 512's
Snr - beta 57 - jlm dual 99v
mono oh - 121 - dual 99v
toms - U87's - avalon ad2022
room and pzm - ua 2-610

that pzm seriously sounds like an mp3, its great!

The engineer is going to mix this whole thing in mono too

[fossaree]

very nice aproach !

[matskull]

Originally Posted by peat

Session i sat in on a while ago
main engineers were seb klich and mike evans

3 piece band tracking







Kick - D6 in Fet 47 out - 512's
Snr - beta 57 - jlm dual 99v
mono oh - 121 - dual 99v
toms - U87's - avalon ad2022
room and pzm - ua 2-610

that pzm seriously sounds like an mp3, its great!

The engineer is going to mix this whole thing in mono too

What is that sm57 for?

[fossaree]

Originally Posted by matskull

What is that sm57 for?

i was kinda wondering the same !

[matskull]

Originally Posted by fossaree

i was kinda wondering the same !

Might just be a talkback mic but who knows?

[fossaree]

Originally Posted by matskull

Might just be a talkback mic but who knows?

might be that the drummer was also singing ! LOL

[peat]

yep it was for listenback

the funny thing was it was the first mic we pulled up. it was just running into a DM2000 pre and then straight into PT. The drummer was playing as we first brought it out through the monitors and it sounded amazing! Perfectly balanced and really full and healthy (great sounding kit though)!

[fossaree]

Originally Posted by peat

yep it was for listenback

the funny thing was it was the first mic we pulled up. it was just running into a DM2000 pre and then straight into PT. The drummer was playing as we first brought it out through the monitors and it sounded amazing! Perfectly balanced and really full and healthy (great sounding kit though)!

Mystery solved !

[matskull]

Originally Posted by fossaree

Mystery solved !

yep, thanks

[peat]

not the hugest mystery, cant live without a listenback mic! and for some reason it always seems to blow your multi mic'ed mix away

[fossaree]

Originally Posted by peat

not the hugest mystery, cant live without a listenback mic! and for some reason it always seems to blow your multi mic'ed mix away

;-)

I know !

It's just to make this thread sort of mysterious

[Vintageblue02]

Originally Posted by peat

Session i sat in on a while ago
main engineers were seb klich and mike evans

3 piece band tracking





















Kick - D6 in Fet 47 out - 512's
Snr - beta 57 - jlm dual 99v
mono oh - 121 - dual 99v
toms - U87's - avalon ad2022
room and pzm - ua 2-610

that pzm seriously sounds like an mp3, its great!

The engineer is going to mix this whole thing in mono too

This might sound silly to some of you, but forgive me, I'm new.
You say those U87s are for the toms? How on earth do you keep them from picking up the cymbals? They're not even remotely close to the toms! And the cymbals couldn't be any closer. I've used condensers on toms before but only close miked, never with cymbals that low, and/or I've used the method of tracking cymbals & drums separately which allows me to use any mic I want to track certain drums without worrying about bleed.

Just curious.

[pan60]

look at the null points in the polar patterns.

[EzMotownB]

Originally Posted by Vintageblue02

This might sound silly to some of you, but forgive me, I'm new.
You say those U87s are for the toms? How on earth do you keep them from picking up the cymbals? They're not even remotely close to the toms! And the cymbals couldn't be any closer. I've used condensers on toms before but only close miked, never with cymbals that low, and/or I've used the method of tracking cymbals & drums separately which allows me to use any mic I want to track certain drums without worrying about bleed.

Just curious.

Yeah, what Pan said about the null points is dead on -- I assume the 87 near the cymbal is in fig-8. Another thing to consider when micing drums is that the actual part of the drum that makes the sound is the shell. I mean, yes, the head vibrates when struck, but the tone, save stick attack, of the drum comes largely from the shell. Moving back a bit allows you to capture more of the whole instrument... And a little bleed is not such a bad thing... unless you're tracking Kenny G... in which case, you'll be bleeding soon enough... because you have likely just slashed your own wrists in the studio lounge...

*awaits flames*

[Vintageblue02]

Originally Posted by EzMotownB

Yeah, what Pan said about the null points is dead on -- I assume the 87 near the cymbal is in fig-8. Another thing to consider when micing drums is that the actual part of the drum that makes the sound is the shell. I mean, yes, the head vibrates when struck, but the tone, save stick attack, of the drum comes largely from the shell. Moving back a bit allows you to capture more of the whole instrument... And a little bleed is not such a bad thing... unless you're tracking Kenny G... in which case, you'll be bleeding soon enough... because you have likely just slashed your own wrists in the studio lounge...

*awaits flames*

Oh.

Ok, cool. Well in that case...

Anyone have studio pics they can post of baffles they've made/used to stop bleed in to other tracks/mics? Here are some examples.