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I'm about to start a recording session of a 3 piece band with Drums, Electric Bass, and steel drums. Anyone have any tips, tricks, or pointers for mic selection or placement on the steel drums? I've never recorded steel drums before and any help would be greatly appreciated.
My microphone choices:
Marshall MXL 2001 (2)
Marshall MXL 603S (2)
AKG C1000S (2)
Shure SM57 (5)
Shure SM58
cad m37 (2)
nady cm88 (2)
Audio-Technica pro25
nady dm80
nady dm 70 (4)
ev mc100

Thanks,
Todd Eidson

Comments

Doug Milton Tue, 04/22/2003 - 14:06

Todd,
I think some of your decisions will be dictated by what you and the band envision for the placement of the steel drums within the mix. If you have good isolation, a stereo pair is probably the way to go. The best thing to do is try a couple different mic selections and placement to see what sounds best to you… the AKG or Marshalls are probably the way to go.

anonymous Tue, 04/22/2003 - 17:41

single pan, or double tenor??
when i am recording doubles, I use one mic over each pan two feet above the center of each and pointing straight down - then use another mic underneath each pan trying to aim in the center of the pan - set these mics out of phase with the mics on the top side. Pan the mix of the two pans to suit the overal mix. Single pan would be similar.
Of your mic selection i have used the AGK 1000's with good results - watch out as it's really easy for the high freqs to get away from you - definately use limiters - pans really spike fast!
email me directly if you want to talk more (mcguin@globalfronti…) - i record pans in some fasion at least a couple of times a month and have released 2 cd's in the past two months with pans featured very prominently
good luck
dan

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