Before you buy

Try the recorderman method...

And before buying omni capsules, i would close-mic the toms.

Also try moving the drumset around. Walk around with the floor tom
and hit it and look for where it sounds real sexy & set up the kit there.
The room and the drumset are interconnected.

The Audix D series might be your poison for that style of music...

"The room and the drum set are interconnected".....EXACTOMUNDO!
Throwing up an omni in a not-so-great acoustical environment may make your problems worse, too. Omnis pick up much more of the room, you need to watch that. The Oktavas have a reputation for being very erratic, quality-wise, especially the Chinese versions. And with (2) of them up in the air, you might be experiencing some phase issues that MAY be minimized by pulling one of them out. Try it. And BTW, I LOVE the SM57, but on kick? Hmmm....

Re: Before you buy

2012 wrote:
And before buying omni capsules, i would close-mic the toms.

Dont have enough inputs/mics/pres

2012 wrote:
Also try moving the drumset around. Walk around with the floor tom
and hit it and look for where it sounds real sexy & set up the kit there.
The room and the drumset are interconnected.

I have already found a sweetspot. But I have a more or less untreated room. So that sux!

I am mostly happy with the kit sound. The cymbals are thin and splashy though. The reason, in all probability is cause they are currently placed in the maximum rejection area of the overhead mics. Why I was enquiring bout ordering a pair of Omis caps for the 012's.

My only current solution, to the cymbal sound, would be to raise the height of the OV's to a reasonable level, but that kills the desired tom sound (which is somehow more important).

Would you please listen to the clip ? I guess it would be instrumental in me explaing my problem.

thank you!

moonbaby wrote:
Throwing up an omni in a not-so-great acoustical environment may make your problems worse, too. Omnis pick up much more of the room, you need to watch that. The Oktavas have a reputation for being very erratic, quality-wise, especially the Chinese versions. And with (2) of them up in the air, you might be experiencing some phase issues that MAY be minimized by pulling one of them out. Try it. And BTW, I LOVE the SM57, but on kick? Hmmm....

I had the 012's ordered from the soundroom, and am quite ok with them.

I also do not think I have any serious phase issues. I take care of that. Make sure my snare stays put and improves.

I cheated on the kick.. :oops:

ohk, here's what you do, now listen closely and do this in the EXACT order that I tell you to or otherwise you will have forever thin sounds out of your cymbals... First - take the end of your ride cymbal stand (the end that a bolt end on it) and install an acoustic guitar/under the sadle/bridge pickup on it, now repeat this first step on all of your cymbals... than slap one of those bad boys on your fourhead and turn around in circles 5 times while repeating the phrase "indi musicians on myspace all suck" and tapping the ride cymbal rythmatically... Second - shove a drum stick through your snare drum and drop it like it's hot... ohk if none of that works for you then try recorderman's way...

hope this didn't help because if it did I would be slightly freaked out....

i have listened to the tracks and once again, i suggest you try the recorderman method with your overheads. i also think you need to invest in a low-frequency mic for kick/bass. one such as the AKG D112 or Audix D6 would be good for you.

go ahead and duplicate the overhead tracks in your session and use one of the stereo pairs to mix the cymbals and use the other pair to EQ for the toms.

this will enable you to bring out the definition from both.

i think the previous post suggests a direction that might lead to succes, still you might have to compromise. i don't think it's really possible to get a decent or "typical" metal drumsound with just two overheads and no spot mics on the toms. in your example the hi end of your overheads sounds very hyped and exxagerated, which is necessitated by, if i understand you correctly, your need to get enough hi frequency "click" on the toms. in a jazz situation you'd just place the overheads and not eq them at all and you'd be fine, but for metal you need some 2-6 khz content on the toms that "bites" through the guitars. if you see any chance, try to expand your setup to accomodate two or three (or however many toms you have) more mics. if that's not possible, give the suggestion with doubling your overheads on seperate channels a try, it might help.

johnthemiracle wrote: the hi end of your overheads sounds very hyped and exxagerated, which is necessitated by, if i understand you correctly, your need to get enough hi frequency "click" on the toms.

this is true...

johnthemiracle wrote:
if you see any chance, try to expand your setup to accomodate two or three (or however many toms you have) more mics. if that's not possible, give the suggestion with doubling your overheads on seperate channels a try, it might help.

I do not see my self expanding my setup immediately, constant financial crunch. But i will give the recordermans method another try. I tried it once before but withought luck. Must be getting something worng. Also, duplication the OV track sound like a great idea. Maybe i can just edit the toms on the duplicate track and EQ them... this should work..

Thanks a ton to everyone!

Sidhu