Drum Room Micing

[Lonnie5]

Hey Guys,

Just seeing who out there prefers using pair of condensers and a mono ribbon for room micing, or a pair of ribbons and a mono condenser and WHY.

[warhead]

Single ribbon mic (AEA R84) 99% of the time, blended center in the mix.

Delivers great depth and punch, and not a lot of sizzle (I get that from overheads).

Overheads are condenser 99% of the time, panned hard left / right.

War

[Gretschman]

I like using different mic's depending on the Drummer and the music .

I use Josephson ES22 's on some , Gefell m930 art on others and Lawson 251 FET
on some .

As for ribbons , all Crowley and Tripp ribbons . Depends on the track and player .

I use a limiter on each and tube pre's . The occasional EQ for color .

I don't own any dynamic mic's , I prefer condenser mic's .

[drBill]

Neither. Single ribbon out front of the kit. thumbsupthumbsup

[Jake Dempsey]

I do a ribbon/condenser MS most of the time. Either that or a spaced pair of omnis and a ribbon in the middle. 99% of the time: MS in front of the kit.

[fakiekid]

i voted it doesnt really matter because I'm still trying things out. I will try and do 3 room mics though, a mono, compressed to shit mic, along with a stereo lightly compressed matched pair.

At the minute I'm loving a Marshall 4x12 as my Front of Kit mic, punchy low mids! Experiment with placement. Takes EQ very well but mainly helps add thud to kick and snare, not so much room. Great for intro effects etc. Mono 414 or u87.

My normal setup though is a pair of 414's in XY. Would love to try a M/S pair soon though.

[drmmrboy]

I've never tried either combo as rooms. Is this a common practice?
I'll usually use a pair/single ribbon OR pair/single LDC.

[DeadPoet]

I'm still experimenting with my newish room.

- OH: 2x Peluso P28 X/Y - Room: 2x M160 spaced parallel worked great
- OH: 2x M160 X/Y - Room 2x KM184 spaced aimed at diffuser wall worked good
- OH: 2x M160 semiORTF - Room 2x P28 spaced parallel worked okay to good

It all depends on drummer, kit and genre of course..


Never done mono room. I try to check phase in the room mics so that I can choose if I want them mono or stereo afterwards.




Herwig

[heisleyamor]

3 room mics seems a little over-the-top to me. I get great results with just 1 mono room mic. Adds a little more depth too because the stereo image isn't wide.

Jeff

[deve]

Two pairs of condensers here. One pair closer and one further back. Different combinations for different sections of the tune.

[seansolo]

Coles 4038's in the room either side. Compression varies.

Either a U87 or a U47a in the loft (set to stun), or sometimes center in the room.

Huge sound!

[Jeff16years]

i use 3 cond. 1 left, 1 right, 1 center (low)

usually KSM 32's

[Kenny Gioia]

I voted "it doesn't really matter" because it just doesn't.

[Fletcher]

What ever is left over after the rest of the sounds have had the correct mics chosen and placed.

[lord_bunny]

Maybe I'm overboard but the best drum sound I've ever gotten featured four room mics.

My room is fairly large with tile flooring, plenty of 703 on the walls (which aren't parallel) and a drop ceiling.

I used Blumlein 414's out front 10' and NT2's just as far back but at the edge of the drum kit, or spaced around 6'-7' apart, with the blumlein in the middle. The overheads were R84's spaced equal distance from the snare but fairly close to each other. I like the dark mics close to the source and the brighter mics further away (the nt2's are really bright)

Kick BETA52---------->GR MP4H
Snare SM57----------->GR MP4H
Tom 1 MD421---------> Soundworkshop 1280b
Tom 2 RE20---------->Soundworkshop 1280b
Hat 451-------------->Soundworkshop 1280b
Ride 451------------->Soundworkshop 1280b
OH L R84------------->GR MP4H
OH R R84------------->GR MP4H
Room Blum L 414 BULS>Aphex 1100
Room Blum R 414 BULS>Aphex 1100
Room Wide L NT2------>Soundworkshop 1280b
Room Wide R NT2------>Soundworkshop 1280b

I recorded it with a pencil mix in mind, so the hi hat mic was -34db or something... just enough to hear it bring the hat into focus... the guy had these wonderful 60's dark and quiet hats that sounded good with the 451.

I like the idea of the four room mics because the room sounds good firstly, but also because I can later boost the wide ones to add a lift to a particular section, or take them all out for a tighter, darker sound.

For my money it was the most natural sound I had ever gotten, even in comparison to minimal mic set-ups i've used. It just sounded like standing in front of the kit to me.

I also mic'd the toms and snare from 2" up and 2" away from the drum head... so lots of bleed which I think helped.

[mikethedrummer]

when i record my own songs, i close mic every cymbal, get the prox effect going. its phenominal, so at least 4 sdcs, sometimes w a 414 as a room, but my room sucks so parallel comp works much better on the close mics than a smashed room mic.

suppose it would depend a lot on your room and style
im pretty keen on presence and overproduction

[robertshaw]

patch in a lexi and instant room with full control

[Trev@Circle]

Often a G4 macbook mic front and centre... sounds awesome (seriously... try it!)! Otherwise I might go with a mono ribbon or a U87. Sometimes I'll just stick both/all up and see which I prefer.

[joeq]

2 Condensers and a Mono Ribbon
2 Ribbons and a Mono Condenser
It doesn't really matter to me....

this poll strikes me as having very limited and arbitrary choices to vote for

like a poll asking what's your favorite ice cream flavor?

• rocky road
• pineapple fudge
• It doesn't really matter to me.....