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Hi gang,

I am about to splash out on a new Hendrix Bubinga drum kit and lots of other new toys for it. Mics for drums have gone by the by over the years all I really have left is a fusion f25 I think. I am considering a 4 mic set up. Bass drum Shure beta 52a, snare or Hi-hat a Shure SM-81-LC and finally overhead a pair of RODE NT5 matched mics. pcrecord Marco and others, thoughts on this?. I'll be putting these through my Apollo Quad preamps. Room is treated and I have done drum mics before but usually 7 mics. Kit will be 6 piece, 22 Bass, 14 snare, 10 and 12 rack and 14 and 16 floors. 15inch hit-hat, 18 and 20 inch crash, 24 inch ride, 8 splash.

May add roto toms too, but, I'll see :)

Cheers,

Tony

Comments

bouldersound Fri, 04/09/2021 - 21:07

Davedog, post: 468535, member: 4495 wrote:
Don't forget to try ORTF technique if you want a bit truer stereo field.

I don't know if I'd call it truer. I think ORTF is more spacious and XY is more precise. My preference would be to retain the ability to time align things for the tonal benefits, which is why I like XY.

I think I might experiment with a pair of PZMs back to back.

Tony Carpenter Fri, 04/09/2021 - 22:24

I got side tracked by the arrival of my final big spend yesterday, a Roland RD2000. I'll get back into the drum room today, and get some more stuff done. I think the overall reaction I got from various people was that the initial setup was almost nailed immediately. I think I want to try to get more of a polished sound straight out of the Apollo, that's going to take another pair of hands and me on the drums though, or maybe I can Sidecar the iPad and pull it off. The biggest problem I have is the IEMs aren't loud enough to make it completely isolation level. I might try some other over ear headphones to try to isolate the live sound away more, or in an ideal world completely :).

I do think that for my purposes, and room that XY plus those 2 mics is the right choice, thanks though Dave :).

Davedog Fri, 04/09/2021 - 23:02

Just a suggestion since you seem to be in experimental mode.

I use several methods here. They are all different.

I especially use X/Y on acoustic guitars I want more punch from. X/Y over a kit with a couple of room mics makes a nice image .

ORTF and a front condenser on a kit gets a nice space for the drums. Maybe add a dynamic under the snare. Beyer 422 or 201 is good for this.

Tony Carpenter Fri, 04/09/2021 - 23:41

Davedog, post: 468538, member: 4495 wrote:
Just a suggestion since you seem to be in experimental mode.

I use several methods here. They are all different.

I especially use X/Y on acoustic guitars I want more punch from. X/Y over a kit with a couple of room mics makes a nice image .

ORTF and a front condenser on a kit gets a nice space for the drums. Maybe add a dynamic under the snare. Beyer 422 or 201 is good for this.

Oh I do appreciate the advice. I’m also restricted to a maximum of 5 mics. That’s why I asked initially what I should mic. My remaining mic is a F25 condenser mic.

paulears Thu, 06/10/2021 - 02:59
I'm reading the comments and am a little surprised by what you're doing. Spaced omnis on jazzier stuff with lots of delicate cymbal work can be nice IN A GOOD ROOM - but spaced cardioids are my usual technique because the volume difference between some crashes, and the usually lower ride make X/Y coverage of an entire kit very difficult unless they are high up = 90 degrees and a left and right cymbal mean they have to be hellishly high and then sound hollow and thin. Even with jazz, a crossed pair wouldn't be on my list. I'm also the kind of person who makes my own rules when things work for me - for example, for some jazz I might have one overhead only and concenrate on condensers for snare, a separate one for the hats and another couple split and panned a little to cover the toms. Kick I'll probably do with a 112 because they're clicky rather than thuddy. So my width comes from the toms, which do cymbals too. I've even recorded jazz sets with overhead and snare/hat - no kick at all - if it suits. I don't do heavy drums because I don't like the genre and frankly am not very good at getting that kind of sound

Tony Carpenter Thu, 06/10/2021 - 03:22
Heya Paul, That was recorded exactly how I play live every day. I use a XY pair of Rode NT55s overhead cardioid! of the snare, a D112mk2 in hole just of bass drum. SM57 on snare and the Audix F15 on hihat. The room is quiet relatively and certainly is small but reasonable height ceiling. I just play and record for myself mostly. We spent time getting the mic and preamps dialled in. And of course the drums all got tuned properly now. New skins I like better G2 Evans. I was trying to find the original sample I put up to compare but it’s disappeared on here.