Floor Tom Help

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:07 pm

Alright, I'm recording a song right now that features really prevalent floor tom, and try as I might, I cannot get it sounding the way I want going in. I'm fairly inexperienced, so I don't know exactly what the problem is, but I know that the sound's bad going in, so it's probably the microphone or the placement. I'm using an SM57 (pretty much all I've got) and I've tried a number of different placements. It doesn't have enough of a punch, and the sound's not nearly round enough.

If it is indeed the microphone, could anyone recommend one that would help me out? Preferably $200 or under, but I'll go as high as $300. If it's any help, I really like the sound Animal Collective got out of their floor toms on Strawberry Jam.

Thanks in advance!

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:24 pm

New heads?

Tuned properly?

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:27 pm

bent wrote:

New heads?

Tuned properly?

Yes annnnnd yes. Are you saying, in a roundabout way, that the 57 should be fine? If so, I'm out of ideas...

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:17 pm

I think your basic problem is that you are trying to rely too much on that microphone? You should probably be relying more upon your overheads. That's where you get your sonic image. Kick & overheads. Then you add in a little of the microphone that is on the floor drum, to fatten things up. But if that floor tom doesn't sound good on the overheads, you may be in a bad space and are experiencing acoustic phase cancellation. You might have to move everything to get it to sound right? Just because you stick it in a drum booth and/or shove them into the corner doesn't mean it'll sound right regardless of what kind of microphone/s you choose.

Keep trying
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:23 pm

RemyRAD wrote:

I think your basic problem is that you are trying to rely too much on that microphone? You should probably be relying more upon your overheads. That's where you get your sonic image. Kick & overheads. Then you add in a little of the microphone that is on the floor drum, to fatten things up. But if that floor tom doesn't sound good on the overheads, you may be in a bad space and are experiencing acoustic phase cancellation. You might have to move everything to get it to sound right? Just because you stick it in a drum booth and/or shove them into the corner doesn't mean it'll sound right regardless of what kind of microphone/s you choose.

Keep trying
Ms. Remy Ann David

It's actually just a floor tom (ala Pet Sounds), so there's no kit involved. It's possible that we're in too big of a space. Should the SM57 do the trick?

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 1:15 am

There's not realistically such thing as "too big of a space" for drums. Do you have a sample?

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 5:32 am

Sheehan-J wrote:

There's not realistically such thing as "too big of a space" for drums. Do you have a sample?

I don't. If things go as disasterously tonight as last night, I'll bring one home and post it.

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 5:46 am

try this...

Top mic maybe too close and pointed too close to the rim. I'd start about 3-4" above the rim and pointed to the impact point of the sticks.

Get in the area of the floor tom and move all around it until you hear the sound you are looking for. Put a second mic there.

More than likely, you'll find that its somewhere around a foot or three from the drum... closer to the floor.

Also, if it's not got enough punch... drop the tension on the bottom head in SMALL increments... like 1/16 of a turn, until you find it.

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 7:34 am

I was going to say pretty much the samething. Find the spot in the room your ear like and put the mic there. Also you may need some distance to create a 'fuller' sound. (2-3 feet)

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