emergency micing puzzle

[biggator6]

put a 57 on the guitar.. it's worked for a few people over the years "-)

that leaves the rest... mic up the drums close with the ATs.. maybe try the 58 on the snare.. use the NT1 is a single overhead, it may just work great. Also try it out in front of the kit as a room mic - it may do well getting you ambience as well as cymbals. I've had some good results sticking one Rode K2 out in front of the kit.. surprisingly good representation of the drums.

If you had two good condensers, I'd try the Glyn Johns setup.

[DontLetMeDrown]

Hmm... 50 miles is not that far.

[johnbohn]

you're probably better off with out them...

Seriously though, biggator6's idea sounds good to me.

[uncle duncan]

What he said, with the rode as OH. Try the two Radio Shack mics as room mics, so you can add some stereo ambience to the mono OH mic.

[TheRealRoach]

I (naively) purchased the AT kit pack years ago. The "Kick/Tom" (the 58 looking thing) is a last resort if I run out of 57s or something. They work. The "Snare/Tom" mics are virtually useless. The only thing they are used for are in the talk-back system. If I knew then what I know now i would've just picked up two 57's.

Anyway, I would use the 57 that you do have on the snare, the two AT "kick/toms" on the toms (assuming a four piece kit), a 58 in the kick. Then use the NT-1 for a full kit mic. Walk around the kit and find a spot where everything sounds equally represented at a good tone (pay special attention that it doesn't sound TOO roomy, and that you can hear the cymbals crisply. Put the mic there.

I have never used the Shure 548, but I am very familiar with the 545S (which is very similar to a 57... I've used it exclusively as a vocal mic for a whole record once). Anyway if this as good as my 545 then you'll have no problem whatsoever getting a good guitar tone.

My rationale is that if you're going to skimp anywhere, do it on the guitar. It's easy enough to dub afterward with a 57 to improve the tone. But if something in your kit doesn't sound good, you can't as easily over dub the kick drum.

With your extra Radio Shack mics, throw one of the cardioids up on the left of the kit (maybe 5-10f back) and another one on the right side. These will act as stereo rooms mics that you can compress the snot out of, or just keep them clean to give a little "stereo-ness" to the drums.

Good Luck!

[lowdownjoe]

I agree with Roach, with one exception. I'm pretty sure you can get solid guitar tone from the Kitpak mic labled Snare/Tom. I've done it, funny how a mic sold as part of "Drum Pack" dosn't really work for drums.

I also own one othese Kitpak's, picked it up cheap from a drummer who moved away. I do use it live, but not for recording.

I would keep the SM57 on the snare for sure. Oh so important to the kit sound. And the Rode out front should supplement the whole kit and bring the cymbals along with it.

Question: Are you able to record these mics onto separate tracks?
Track Instument
-----------------
1 Kick
2 Snare
3 Tom
4 Tom
5 OH or Front
etc.....

Or are all the drums going down on 1 track and the guitar another?
To me that is important, in that if your drum kit is printing on one channel then you really need to focus on getting it right the first time.

[biggator6]

There's another option that we haven't though of... more of a 'modern' approach.

throw a mic on every drum.. don't care what it sounds like, as long as there's some separation... gate them and sample-replace them in your DAW later.. just get a decent overhead with the NT1.

I'm not a fan of it - but it may be a better option here if you don't love the results

[TheRealRoach]

Originally Posted by biggator6

There's another option that we haven't though of... more of a 'modern' approach.

throw a mic on every drum.. don't care what it sounds like, as long as there's some separation... gate them and sample-replace them in your DAW later.. just get a decent overhead with the NT1.

I'm not a fan of it - but it may be a better option here if you don't love the results

Barf. ha ha.

Here's what i say to that: If i wanted to sit in front of a computer screen clicking for hours editing I would've worked in an office doing data-entry. In fact i'd probably be making a lot more money. But I would rather make music.

Please note that I recognize that the poster "is not a fan of it", and that they were only providing another solution.

[biggator6]

Yeah - I think sample-replacement has it's place.. but then why bother spending time picking mics, placing mics, picking preamps, and generally giving a crap about getting drum sounds? (tuning drums? nah.. just sample-replace them)

BUT - with limited resources, or a really garbage kit/room/player.. it can get you a MUCH better finished sound than trying to mic up a garbage kit with garbage mics and garbage preamp, etc..

There is also a place where it's the right thing to do.. metal kicks, for instance - drums just don't sound like what most metal bands want on their records.. a lot of guys trigger samples live now for this very reason.

[Oli_W]

if the 57 doesn't quite sound right on the guitar, you could always map the guitar part to midi (im sure there's a plugin to convert-to-midi) and play it through your laptop's SB16 sound card "elec-guitar" synth.

That sometimes gives the edge that you really need on a commercial record these days. You'd need a nice pre to get the most out it though.

[Oli_W]

sorry, i've been asleep for a year (or maybe 24)