How to prevent leakege?

[brotbacker]

Is it a good idea to put foam or anything round the mics to isolate ? Has anyone got good experience with any material? Currently I’m away from my studio so I cannot really try it out. Also has anyone experience with the telescope mics that are used in film or for interviews? Are those even in anyway possible to use on drums? Top quality recording is not so much of an issue, isolation is my prime problem. That is to say, it’s not a huge problem if the sound if the snare sound turns out to be too bright for instance or just doesn’t sound realistic.

[joeq]

build yourself some gobos - maybe find some office throwing out their old "cubicle" stuff

experiment with positioning the instruments in various parts of the room

learn where the nulls of your mics are. Be aware of what you are aiming your mics away from not just what you are pointing them towards

I occasionally put foam around a mic, but if you have to go that far, its an act of desperation.

I have access to a bunch of shotgun mics, but I never liked them in the studio.

[brotbacker]

Could maybe expand a little on the shotguns, cause I don't have access to them? For example is it possible to not have them far away from the sound source and get natural sound?

[joeq]

Originally Posted by brotbacker

Could maybe expand a little on the shotguns, cause I don't have access to them? For example is it possible to not have them far away from the sound source and get natural sound?

the thing you have to remember about the shotgun mic is that the long tube is mostly empty space. the mic element is down in there somewhere, but the length of the tube keeps you from getting too close to any source.

You would be better off getting a regular cardiod mic and jamming that 1" away from the snare drum than putting a shotgun with the end of the tube 1" away from the snare drum.

Shotguns typically have a pretty bad frequency response and weird off axis lobes at different frequencies. Many shotguns are "pre-eq'ed" to eliminate all but the vocal range.

there is a reason you don't see them in the studio. several reasons.

the solutions to isolation are to be found mostly in the physical world: gobos, room treatment, location in the room, placement of the mics, knowing the patterns of those mics, and forcing those guitar players to turn down.



it's mostly just hard work and experimentation.

do a search here on "gobos". lots of cheap DIY solutions.

[Mike Caffrey]

Whay do you want to prevent leakage?

It's a serious question. If you can answer it, it will reveal a whole bunch of solutions.


In my expereince, bleed is almost never an issue in the way people worry it will be.

[Ollie]

There is good bleed and bad bleed. Bad Bleed is the bleed that makes your drums for instance sound smaller. It is caused by frequencies cancelling each other out: especially in the low end. Find the place in your room where drums sound bigger and fuller.

If you do not like a room type of sound, you can ceratainly add differerent products around the kit to help the problem.

Originally Posted by Mike Caffrey

Whay do you want to prevent leakage?

It's a serious question. If you can answer it, it will reveal a whole bunch of solutions.


In my expereince, bleed is almost never an issue in the way people worry it will be.

[brotbacker]

for instance it would be nice to have a ride-only or hihat-only signal in order to lay effects on the signal in a live situation. Also it would make creating a stereo image of the drumset easier.

[DaveC]

for instance it would be nice to have a ride-only or hihat-only signal in order to lay effects on the signal in a live situation. Also it would make creating a stereo image of the drumset easier.

Just make overdubs, it was a very common thing back in the 80's
Tom-fills being played separately, crashes, etc...
I heard once that Tony Thompson played the groove for a song and Roger Taylor (Duran-Duran) played the tom-fills...
Strange why they used a second drummer for the fills when the first drummer could do it him bloody self...probably a myth, but overdubs is sometimes the key.

[Mike Caffrey]

Originally Posted by Ollie

There is good bleed and bad bleed. Bad Bleed is the bleed that makes your drums for instance sound smaller. It is caused by frequencies cancelling each other out: especially in the low end. Find the place in your room where drums sound bigger and fuller.

If you do not like a room type of sound, you can ceratainly add differerent products around the kit to help the problem.

That's called comb filtering caused by bad phase relationships between the mics.

[YoungChampion]

Bleed is rock and roll!!!! sometimes it glues everything together... but gobos are good too... if you don't have any, turn a boom mic stand parallel to the ground, and throw a thick blanket over it...

queens of the stone age recorded drums with no cymbals... then went back and overdubbed them...

be creative.

[Sqye]

i usually use this - teflon plumber's tape.

[Sqye]

you can also try these doggie diapers.

they USUALLY prevent leakage (depends how ACTIVE your dog is).

[PhilRanger]

Originally Posted by Sqye

i usually use this - teflon plumber's tape.

In what way?

edit: oops, Now I get it. lol.