Re: OT: Recording Drums - gear selection

[andy butler <akbutler@tiscali.co.uk>]

Rainer Straschill wrote:
> Andy,

> I have some liking for a really artificially wide A/B, and was actually 
> planning to do stereo panning w/ delays vs levels for the individual 
> mics (sd, toms if needed), too.


I'm kind of stuck on the idea that the overheads get
the basic sound, which is just fleshed out a bit by the other mics.
(so if you're not into that, this is somewhat academic)

how about a pair of OH cardioids with a gap
between them?
or do XY coincident , but increase the angle beyond 90 deg,
and fill the "hole in the middle" with the snare & kick mics.

There's no law to say the panning on the individual drums
should match the position as suggested by the overheads
...but that's the way to avoid blurred stereo imaging.


 

>> it's very unlikely you'll need a mic on the ride, actually the trick 
>> is not to get too much cymbal in the OH.
> Which I could, as I understand, avoid by a) moving the mics farther away 
> from the cymbals (thus making the toms relatively louder) 

if drummers were ergonomic, then the position just above the drummers
head would be about right.

Moving the OH back might be needed to even up the distances, but
the toms sound fuller if the mic is on their axis.



>> my wildcard suggestion would be kick drum mic from the pedal side.
> Never thought about that...what is the kind of sound you'd expect to get 
> from that? 

more "drum-like", a more natural transient, as the attack of the beater
isn't muffled by the head. 
Inside the drum, or at a soundhole the sound obtained is somewhat
determined by "what the mic sounds like when you hit it".

...or so the theory goes.
No doubt it also picks up more of the rest of the kit.
Perhaps only worthwhile if there's a spare channel and a spare
mic available.
I have tried it, but that was with a Sennheiser 421.

andy