Hi people. Someone told me this was the place to go for these kind of questions.

Does anyone think it's a bad idea or a good idea to use an AKG D65S to record a snare drum?

I'm using that on the top of the snare and a Joe Meek JM47 on the bottom.

Any opinions greatfully received.

I'd be careful w/that AKG. She's got some hypercardioid in her & that could spell trouble with the ol' hi-hat. Or not, depending on what you're going for. What kind of snare you using? What kind of music you recording? These are important questions in determining what action you should take, but most importantly, how does this mic on this snare sound to your ear? Move it around a bit until you start getting the sound you and/or the band wants. Seems like you should've spent an extra $20 or so to buy a 57, but hey, what's done is done. Looks like this puppy's been discontinued by AKG, so when she shits, I'd grab a 57 if money's a concern.

That Joe Meek might serve you better as an overhead, but you wouldn't necessarily be wrong to throw it underneath a snare. I for one, don't really like the sound of the snares enough to give them their own mic, but don't forget to flip either the top or bottom mic out of phase, otherwise you will get the distinct sound of poop.

Rock out with your socks out.

Also, you may want to hit up prosoundweb.com for more info & feedback.

Thanks allot for that. Useful stuff.

I will of course judge it by ear (can't right now cause it's late here - UK - I don't want to wake the neighbours) just looking for a few opinions to keep in mind.

I haven't bought mics especially for this occasion, just borrowed as many as I could get my hands on.

cwiko wrote: don't forget to flip either the top or bottom mic out of phase, otherwise you will get the distinct sound of poop.

I've never really understood phase. How do I flip it out? You mean stereo-wise I'm guessing?

You flip phase in one of two ways:
HARD WAY: Disassemble cable connectors. De-solder positive & negative leads. Swap postive lead w/negative lead & re-solder.

EASY WAY: If console is so equipped; press phase reverse switch in. (it may look like an oval with a diagonal line going through it)

It is important that you do this only to one of the mics you throw on the snare, either top or bottom NOT BOTH. Basically, when the drummer strikes the snare drum, two sound sources appear; one from the top head & one from the bottom head. To put this simply, imagine each wave as it radiates outward. The top head's goes up toward the ceiling, the bottom head's goes down to the floor. Now, putting into practice what we know about the additive & subtractive properties of sine waves...a positive wave plus a negative wave of the same amplitude will cancel each other out (and produce a flat line -- for visual purposes). Translated to sound, your ears will go 'I know there should be something more there than there is & it shouldn't sound that way at all!' This is what a phase flip will solve.

Hopefully that was a decent enough explanation.

Excellent explanation. Thanks!

Neither solutions are an option because I can't mess with borrowed XLR leads and my desk doesn't have phase reverse so I guess I'll just mess around till I get a good sound. Another mic I'm using is going through an Avalon VT737SP Vacuum tube. I'm using that mic as an all over kit on because it's the best mic I have (Kiwi Blue). Would you advise that I have phase reverse on the Avalon? That's the only one I have the option on.

Thanks again for humouring an amature.

You only need to employ a phase reverse in situations where you are miking a sound source with two mics at opposing sides of the instrument when there are two separate sound sources (as in drums), not in the case of one mic being used as you described with the Kiwi.

I do re-iterate that it'd be highly beneficial for you to not only browse this forum for knowledge, but also check out prosoundweb.com as well.

Not a problem helping you out at all (what little i did). Good luck!

cwiko wrote:You flip phase in one of two ways:
HARD WAY: Disassemble cable connectors. De-solder positive & negative leads. Swap postive lead w/negative lead & re-solder.

EASY WAY: If console is so equipped; press phase reverse switch in. (it may look like an oval with a diagonal line going through it)

It is important that you do this only to one of the mics you throw on the snare, either top or bottom NOT BOTH. Basically, when the drummer strikes the snare drum, two sound sources appear; one from the top head & one from the bottom head. To put this simply, imagine each wave as it radiates outward. The top head's goes up toward the ceiling, the bottom head's goes down to the floor. Now, putting into practice what we know about the additive & subtractive properties of sine waves...a positive wave plus a negative wave of the same amplitude will cancel each other out (and produce a flat line -- for visual purposes). Translated to sound, your ears will go 'I know there should be something more there than there is & it shouldn't sound that way at all!' This is what a phase flip will solve.

Hopefully that was a decent enough explanation.

or you could just make an adapter, shit, then you can reuse it!

Right...or you could mark the cable that you've re-wired & re-use that. Seems a touch simpler than an adapter to me, but to each his own!