Room mics placement

SLy_drums · 6th September 2006

First, I never had the chance to track drums in a big room yet, but I hope that day will come soon.

It's been a few recordings I tried to use an R121 as room mic, but each time I didn't feel very much satisfied with it. It had a lot of cymbal bleed, with no real improvements in terms of punch.

Do I necesserely have to track the drums in a big room to use room mics ? How do you choose the place to put them ? How do you deal with cymbal bleed ?

username · 6th September 2006

hmmm.. the way you've said that makes me think your realy not looking for the room mic sound..

Room mics have quite alot of cymbals in them.. basicaly if the drummer hits his cymbals too hard (the vast majority do) then theres gonna be lots in the room mic (same goes for over heads)..

as far as not getting more punch from it.. I wouldn't realy say room mics are for punch.. infact.. if anything they're sorta the oposite.. they add more.. well.. Room sound..

Led · 6th September 2006

In a bigger room the cymbal bleed is not such an issue. Placement depends on what you want from the room mics. If you want a stereo representation of the room sound record with two mics xy, or use 4,1 near each corner with the kit in the middle of the room(check phase), maybe with some baffling around the kit, or chuck a heap all round the room and record em all and pick later, or walk around with your finger in one ear and listen for spots that sound big and powerful. But go back in and listen and try moving things around a bit then listen again in the control room. Put a mic as far away as possible, like up a hallway with the door open and just cut it in on a fill in the mix. I read an interview with William Wittman about one of the Cyndi Lauper track (girls just wanna have fun?) where the snare room sound was a mic right up high facing away from the kit at the wall/ceiling corner (or there abouts). As an youngin I saw Nick Launay do some amazing things with room mics, getting the broadest range of different sounds from the one room.
A small room is not really good for room sounds, your better of getting it dry as you can and add artificial ambience later. You could still do the waist high mic about 4 feet back in front of the kit thing, but that's more of a grit thing than a room sound.
If you record in a good sounding room, you'll find it a lot easier to get good room sounds.
Cheers

Ollie · 6th September 2006

Is your studio in a basement? Then put the mic on the staircase going upstairs.
Is your studio in a room of your house? Then perhaps find a free bath room that that you can place the mic in with the door open. Expmeriment, hopefully you find something that lends you an ambience that you can use.

centurymantra · 6th September 2006

I will second the 'room up the staircase' trick. I've recently gotten into experimentation with this and think it is an awesome method of lending ambience. There's a particular spot that instantly turns my medium-small tracking room into a huge chamber. My room is decent, but geared towards the acoustically dampened side of things and I've struggled a bit getting a good 'room mic sound', normally opting for using a mic 3-5 feet in front of the kit more as a crunchy, whole kit kind of sound. I love the stairway mics, and this has been a great way of adding dimension to the drum tracks. Luckily, I have a room layout tailor made for implementing this technique.

6th September 2006	#1
SLy_drums Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 760 Thread Starter	Room mics placement First, I never had the chance to track drums in a big room yet, but I hope that day will come soon. It's been a few recordings I tried to use an R121 as room mic, but each time I didn't feel very much satisfied with it. It had a lot of cymbal bleed, with no real improvements in terms of punch. Do I necesserely have to track the drums in a big room to use room mics ? How do you choose the place to put them ? How do you deal with cymbal bleed ?

6th September 2006	#2
username Gear addict Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Tasmania, Australia Posts: 305	hmmm.. the way you've said that makes me think your realy not looking for the room mic sound.. Room mics have quite alot of cymbals in them.. basicaly if the drummer hits his cymbals too hard (the vast majority do) then theres gonna be lots in the room mic (same goes for over heads).. as far as not getting more punch from it.. I wouldn't realy say room mics are for punch.. infact.. if anything they're sorta the oposite.. they add more.. well.. Room sound.. __________________ The Gear-less Slut

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6th September 2006	#3
Led Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,711	In a bigger room the cymbal bleed is not such an issue. Placement depends on what you want from the room mics. If you want a stereo representation of the room sound record with two mics xy, or use 4,1 near each corner with the kit in the middle of the room(check phase), maybe with some baffling around the kit, or chuck a heap all round the room and record em all and pick later, or walk around with your finger in one ear and listen for spots that sound big and powerful. But go back in and listen and try moving things around a bit then listen again in the control room. Put a mic as far away as possible, like up a hallway with the door open and just cut it in on a fill in the mix. I read an interview with William Wittman about one of the Cyndi Lauper track (girls just wanna have fun?) where the snare room sound was a mic right up high facing away from the kit at the wall/ceiling corner (or there abouts). As an youngin I saw Nick Launay do some amazing things with room mics, getting the broadest range of different sounds from the one room. A small room is not really good for room sounds, your better of getting it dry as you can and add artificial ambience later. You could still do the waist high mic about 4 feet back in front of the kit thing, but that's more of a grit thing than a room sound. If you record in a good sounding room, you'll find it a lot easier to get good room sounds. Cheers

6th September 2006	#4
Ollie Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 1,002	Is your studio in a basement? Then put the mic on the staircase going upstairs. Is your studio in a room of your house? Then perhaps find a free bath room that that you can place the mic in with the door open. Expmeriment, hopefully you find something that lends you an ambience that you can use.

6th September 2006	#5
centurymantra Lives for gear Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 665	I will second the 'room up the staircase' trick. I've recently gotten into experimentation with this and think it is an awesome method of lending ambience. There's a particular spot that instantly turns my medium-small tracking room into a huge chamber. My room is decent, but geared towards the acoustically dampened side of things and I've struggled a bit getting a good 'room mic sound', normally opting for using a mic 3-5 feet in front of the kit more as a crunchy, whole kit kind of sound. I love the stairway mics, and this has been a great way of adding dimension to the drum tracks. Luckily, I have a room layout tailor made for implementing this technique.