stereo or mono room mics for drums??

[contramark]

who uses stereo, who uses mono? pro/cons? i am looking to record a band soon and have never tried the stereo room technique but thinking about giving it a chance. see the thing is i have a limited number of good preamps (about 6) and i must use everyone to its best potential. any feedback would help.

[seaneldon]

i enjoy a mono room mic, anywhere from 6-20 feet back, 4-10 feet high, dead center on the drums. any distant stereo image i need can be achieved with pzm mics on the floor or walls, or by using a figure 8 ribbon for overheads, or a combination of all of that.

[Mike Tholen]

Mono.

I did try a stereo pair of M49's at Abbey Road studio 2 just because the room sounded so amazing but I didn't use them much if at all for the mixes.

I don't waste my time anymore.

[zarembo]

hate to be a repeater--
but lately I've found I get the texture and urgency out of a single mono room mic.

our room isn't that large so it do what it do and that's what it do.

usually a u87 or e250 through the germ or whatever is open.

[shaggseb]

stereo here
I record mostly indie rock and i love roomy drums so (too) much.

A pair of U67 always give me a good & powerfull stereo image.

BTW I often record OH with a pair of omni


cheers

Seb

[AdamLazlo]

I love stereo room mics (far). Most of any mono overheads I use during tracking get muted during the mix. I like wide-open drums (pair of EC92 tubes in Neumann/Gefell CMV563's w/M55K capsules or M7 capsules). A good room helps as well... it's the first thing I look for regarding a studio for my clients.

Other paired room mics that I like, regarding room-drums (other than Neumann/Gefell CMV563's):
Neumann/Telefunken U47 longbody tube
Neumann M49
Neumann U67
Telefunken 221
B&K 4006
Shure SM90

-- Adam Lazlo

[Axle_australia]

why not swing up one mono, and a stereo pair and see which one you like best for the track. that was a pretty crap reply..good one Alex...i'll try again........ I've been a fan of an xy pair (something along the lines of a pair U67s, I've also had some joy with 414's, try to stay clear of really bright hyped up sounding condensors) of about 3-6 metres from the kit at about head hight, and inline with the centre of the kit. Another thing that i had a bit of success with where i used to track drums (depending on the room) is to have a mono mic about 3 metres away from the kit, then i used to chuck up a pair of 57s spread out as far as the room would let me, and facing away from the drum kit at the diffusers that were on the back wall. (making sure i checked things in mono to make sure that nothings going on with phasing , ) this helped widen out the room side of the drum sound.

another thing to try that gets a nice bit of room in the sound is using a pair of ribbons as overheads, I was using coles 4038, or as shaggseb said, using a pair of omnis as overheads, works a treat.

[contramark]

thanks for the replys. the stereo mic i have a an XY mic by audio technica called the AT822. I feel it might spread out the drums a bit more and give me that big ambience. due to limited preamps i basically have the choice to do the stereo thing or go with a hihat mic and extra tom channels. i thinking i will do the following with what i have:

note: d112 kick mic will be using about 75% drum replacer for that attack click sound w/ U195 as the boom

mk012s > pacifica in recorderman setup
sm57 > solo610 on snare
mxl condensor > Great River :bottom snare
D112 > RME fireface for kick
U195 > germanium : FOK about 2 feet away
AT822 > RME fireface : stereo room

hope it works out. the band has an indie style sound. any suggestions?

[edvdr76]

I put an RCA SK-50 Ribbon about 5 feet in front center of the drums. I record it with no compression but I squash it in the mix. I blend that in between the 2 OH mics.

[contramark]

Originally Posted by edvdr76

I put an RCA SK-50 Ribbon about 5 feet in front center of the drums. I record it with no compression but I squash it in the mix. I blend that in between the 2 OH mics.

ok cool! but do you use a stereo or mono room mic?

[warhead]

Single AEA R84, just a few feet off the kit around tom height facing into the kit, pumped and breathed right up the center with some big EQ going on. In my place I enjoy this sound and it handles both room mic duties and adding the near equivalent of parallel drum buss compression at the same time.

Bigness. Life. Room.

War

[trigger]

Originally Posted by contramark

who uses stereo, who uses mono? pro/cons? i am looking to record a band soon and have never tried the stereo room technique but thinking about giving it a chance. see the thing is i have a limited number of good preamps (about 6) and i must use everyone to its best potential. any feedback would help.

Perhaps you can use a M/S stereo setup for the room and have the possibility to only use the mid mike in the mix if you like mono better.

[edvdr76]

Originally Posted by contramark

ok cool! but do you use a stereo or mono room mic?

It varies. On the session I'm doing right now, I'm doing mono. But I will usually do stereo. On this session I'm kind of squashing the mono ribbon room mic. It just sounded cooler on this session.