What’s the deal with the mono drum room mic?

[joelpatterson]

"Well, the arrangement was pretty lame... but they played it great!"

[PRobb]

Originally Posted by Winey

More often I feel something really basic I need is not there, yet somehow glockenspiel, triangle, choir, mics through plastic tubes (for no apparent reason) always are.
I don't really like going through 96 tracks of garbage just to find the 20 that need to be there.
These days it seems we need a two day prep just to figure out what has been recorded and somehow make sense of it.
And I'll take 16 drum room tracks over 16 uncomped, unnamed, badly arranged guitars anyday.

Clarification- I was talking about sonic choices- recording a few extra drum mics. If the mixer has to "go through 96 tracks of garbage just to find the 20 that need to be there", he should get credit as arranger. If not co-writer!

[Winey]

Originally Posted by PRobb

Clarification- I was talking about sonic choices- recording a few extra drum mics. If the mixer has to "go through 96 tracks of garbage just to find the 20 that need to be there", he should get credit as arranger. If not co-writer!

Haha I'm with you.

[PRobb]

Mr. Shmix seems to have left the building on this one. That happens after 6 pages on the same topic. But just in case he's still checking in- it's a treat to have you here and I think I can speak for us all when I say I hope you become a regular.

[3rd world order]

Originally Posted by MarkRB

I LOVE those 'weird' random room mics on kits, they are what can make a good drum recording into an amazing drum mix, although I guess we are talking about a more artificial sound, and it helps if the guy recording it has half a clue. SM58 thru a BOSS overdrive?? Alllriggght.

a rat pedal is also fun to use as an sm58 mic preamp..

generally speaking, i hide my room mic behind a gobo and face it towards the wall to get as indirect a sound as possible... then smash it thru a smart C2 (sometimes in Crush). i dont use a lot of top end from my room mic, as that interferes with the OH/image. close mics are for impact, yeah.

[Kronos147]

Wow, old thread.

Not sure I have seen the OP around lately, but to the OP or anyone else famous on this thread incognito, your secret is safe with me. Why?

I'm Batman.


But actually, a few chimed in about the mono room and compress the hell outta it. I do that a lot too, works well for me. I usually pan it up the middle, though the mic is often out of the room and to the right of where the drummer sits. I am not sure if having two mics outside that door would really give any imaging properties worth storing.

I have also recorded a lot of mono overhead. Sometimes on gentle ballads and things where everything is in stereo, mono drums can sound really nice.

My drum room is about 350 sq ft, and right now I am pretty sure nothing of my mics would sound good (to me) for a room sound in that room. My mics are all cardioid only, though. I hope to beg, borrow, or steal some nice omnis at some point to try two room mics in the studio.

Interesting thread, either way.

[RobDrmz]

Alll I know is I LOVE using my SPUTNIK as a mono overhead about 10-15 feet back at should height.

This will REALLY add a lot to the sound. Cutting back the highes also, great!

[SamSites]

Most of the time I use a mono mic. About 3m in front of the kit. I brightens up the sound ... sometimes too much ... so I use it for coloring.

I've had some seriously good results with just 2 C414's in omni. Good stereo image and image representation of the room.



Sam

[bannerj]

I really like the mono OH but I'm kinda addicted to an omni pair right down close to the kit just in front of the drummer moving it just far away so that the drummer doesn't smack them. Really really easy and really great sound.

[andychamp]

Originally Posted by bannerj

(...)an omni pair right down close to the kit just in front of the drummer moving it just far away so that the drummer doesn't smack them.

I'm intrigued and wanna try that.
Would that be somewhere between the drummer, the snare and the rack tom(s), just above the bass drum?
Pics/sketch would be cool.

[dannyschmanny]

Originally Posted by bobwarren

You could always copy and paste the mono two make a stereo pair if you absolutely needed stero. (Yuck, just kidding!) I am finding in the mixes handed to me have stereo OH's and Room and sound very similar. If the OH's caught the depth and width of the kit, I coud see where a mono room heavily treated would benefit the overall sound. But here's the thing: now all you guys have heard that mono rooms is the shiz, so for the next few years it's what we'll be dealing with becasue someone thought it to be cool. Wasn't the Eventide pitch shifter/doubler a standard for a number of years replacing an actual double? And when did it become Bible to position the drums in a mix with the toms panned across from left to right or vice versa depending on the drummer's or listener's perspetive? Obviously someone had the testicular fotitude to go against the grain and hand a mix engineer a mono room. Cool if you ask me. (If it sounded good, of coarse!)

actually i don't know that it has never NOT been there. Remember recording started out mono. there was no stereo initially, and even when they started getting more tracks and you got more than just a mono drum track, you got maybe a kick, snare and a mono that covered room/oh's. might have gone away for awhile once stereo hit it big when it first was introduced, but it's not some new recent fad.

having the mono room actually gives you a lot of options. like was stated, you can have everything mixed around it more centeralized and then expand everything else at certain points of the song. it can be squashed and brought in a bit to help fatten/thicken. you can have it super compressed or not compressed at all and mute everything else and jump to the mono for a break, you can pan it off to a side...

as a mix engineer you are given the track often either because it was a specific vision of the producer/artist, or it was to allow you another option to be creative on your end.

My end suggestion would be the following..

Have a talk with the producer/artist to get a sense of their vision, and gauge how creative you can be with the mix. the more open they are, the more you can use that mono room mic as an advantage to do some really creative things.

[bannerj]

Originally Posted by andychamp

I'm intrigued and wanna try that.
Would that be somewhere between the drummer, the snare and the rack tom(s), just above the bass drum?
Pics/sketch would be cool.

It depends on what all is in the kit. I don't think so much about where it should be between the snare and floor tom. I think in terms of how to space them out to get a full "picture" of the kit. General rule is about the drummer's shoulder height. The kind of cymbal work on the song and the type of music/player will determine how close to the kit you can get. With this technique I'm not using tom mics--maybe just on the floor if it is used a bunch in the song. I've never done it with 414s in omni though-only a borrowed pair of B&Ks and my oktava mc012s. I usually add kick, snare and then a low or high mono. Hope it works for you! The room will determine a lot of course since they are omnis.

[Tim Abraham]

I haven't seen anyone mention it here, but I've found a Little Labs IBP to be very handy for making mono room mics work best in a mix.

I also got a cool sound recently by using a transient designer on a mono room, set to reduce the attack on the room mic. It really added some nice goosh to the kick and snare.

[EvilE]

mono ribbon room mic is great! can add some nice low end and ambience to the kit. also can be used super squashed for a nice lo-fi kinda drum break. stereo rooms are cool too. it's all about what kind of sound you are going for. i think a lot of indie stuff coming out these days has mono room stuff going on. sounds kind of vintage and funky. if you want huge airy drums go stereo as far away from the kit as you can get in a big awesome room.

werd

[Dubious]

For drums I like the sound of OH's panned wide, toms panned less wide, snare slightly off side... and then i usually have a FOK, Mid room and a far room.

so potentially three mono sources running down the middle. Both room mics are in omni.

I like to track with them and then at mix time i'll play with them depending on the sound i want.

Sometimes the FOK mic is barely used. Sometimes its the GLUE.

With the room mics sometimes 1 ends up muted, or i will switch to the FAR mic for a different part of the song, closer for another.

Or ill do a fake stereo thing and pan the two different room mics to differant sides.