holydirt wrote: whats the best way to mic drums (toms, cymbals, bass, everything) and 12" speaker amplifiers(if it matters, it will be used for heavy rock recordings with some soft cleans). thanks

hire an experienced engineer

hire an experianced engineer

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Dirt...your question is just impossible to answer without several years of experience, experimenting, and research...factor in your own equipment, your recording environment, the quality of the sources, and what it is you are trying to accomplish...

All in all, RecorderMan is right. Hire someone, or be prepared to be at it a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time.

What a helpful bunch!! What mikes do you have, how many channels available, to what medium (tape or digits), what's the room like - how do the drums sound in it acoustically?

well, i want to acomplish a full, not thin, sound, i have a few sm 57 mics and a mxr 992(i think) condenser mic, the drums sound fine in this room, and so does the guitar and its amps

Stick one sm57 up above the right shoulder aiming down towards the snare, another out a bit in front of the kick, a third in front of the voice-coli of one of the speakers at 45 degree angle perpendicular to the plane of the cone, a few inches from the grille cloth, let everyone play live. aim the guitar amp away from the kick drum. The bleed will br your friend.

Thats the way I'd a done it...... :wink:

If you really want to learn something, find an experienced engineer who moonlights or independents,speak to them about your desire to learn,offer yourself as second on the project, and listen,watch,ask questions at the right times,and stay awake and aware. Basically, pay for your education.By the end of the sessions you should have an idea as to whether you have any talent whatsoever towards this engineering thing.

My point is to not be harsh, but simply asking a question as you did and not providing any information leads me to believe that you've never done this before and as such you should direct your question to the beginners forum which is right down the street from this one and their will be lots of pertinent help there for you as well as support for your endeavour.

I agree with ... I lernt most of my tech's of watching what other people have done right and wrong... but i would like to pose a question i am new to this forum is there a web page / pages that deal with questions such as this... ?

depends

as far as amps go, it really depends on what sound is coming out of the amp. If you want a really heavy and powerful sound, turn the amp just barely before it distorts, and put an sm 57 right up to the grill in the center of the radius of the speaker. If you want a more warm smooth sound, then use a condenser about a foot away from the speaker. Hell, even use two mics if you feel nescessary, but the most important thing to understand is that there is no really magic way to mic amps, it all depends on prefrence of the engineer, prefrence of musician, sound settings on the amp, acoustics, etc. So the just experiment by putting mics in diffrent places and in diffrent rooms. Ive even done things like putting the amp in my bath tub in my bathroom, putting a sm57 on the grill and a condenser hanging in the middle of the bathroom for natural reverb.