Are My Drum Overheads (Oktava MK012) Overloadiing?

[Mikeren]

Have you mixed the kit and it still bothers you?
Personally I don't hear the mic fluttering or distorting from overloading.
Are you comparing to other drum recordings in the same space with the same mic setup?
Relax, put up a mix and see what you think. Tweaking your mic placement to reduce what you're hearing is your first and best option, if it still bothers you. You could even try X/Y and "recorderman" setups to compare.
I'll let the real slutz tell you that blah, blah mic or yada, yada cymbal will fix your woes.

[b0b]

I wouldn't blame the mics. I have a pair of those Oktavas and I don't think I've ever managed to get them to clip or distort. You definately have the same issue in the room mic which suggests to me that the cymbals in that space just sound that way. I would assosiate the flutter sound with cracked cymbals. The hats sound ok and at least in the room mic they are much louder than the cymbals. That's one more reason why I don't think the problem is the mics.

[lcressy]

I have these mics, and I did the Bill Setzler mod for $25.00 each. Before I did the mod, when I recorded my acoustic guitar which is a 50 yr old martin, I would hear a slight flutter, for the longest I just assumed that it was because the guitar was so old, that the intonation was just a bit off. One day I got the urge to do the mod to see what happened, and now the flutter is gone. They sound like completely different ( better) mics. The joly mod may even be better sounding, but for $50.00 you can't go wrong if you are steady with a soldering iron. Regarding the recordings you posted, I'm at work so I can't really tell anyting on my computer speakers, but what you say you are hearing is also reflective of my experience.

[MrCrowbar]

Thanks for all the replies. I thought to hear some flutter in the room mic as well, but I couldn't tell for sure. It's worse when mixed together, I guess maybe it's because the mics are close to the cymbals that are wobbling when hit so there are phasing problems. Guess I'll fix it with phase inverts, sample delays and reverbs then.

The cymbals weren't cracked, but dirty.

[MrCrowbar]

So it turns out that there's nothing wrong with the cymbals or mics per se. The problem is that the drum set was rather close to a wall and the overhead mic (Glyn Johns) picked up nasty reflections from the wall, especially the floor tom mic. So the wobbling of the cymbals bounced off the walls and came back to the mics at different times and phase thus making it stutter.

Listen up kids: Glyn Johns sounds like ass in small room with reflective walls. thumbsup