ebeam wrote:It makes "sense" to want to flip the polarity on the batter head mic, but if you think about it, most of the other mics on the kit are picking up the kick drum from the batter side.It depends on the dominant kick tone really. I've only dual mic'd like this on kits with a closed front head that had a lot of 'whoomp' and sustain, which is closer to the sound captured by the res mic. I suppose if the kick is really muffled, you'd mostly hear the 'pttt' sound in the other mics. Even then, it seems like the bleed wouldn't be as instantaneous as the batter mic..

cenafria wrote:I usually check the phase of the close mics with the ambient mics (or overhead mics depending on what's being used). So once the resonant head mic is in phase with the ambient mics (by flipping the polarity if necessary) then I check the beater head mic with the resonant head mic by switching the polarity on the beater side mic while listening to both kick drum mics. It works well for me. I do prefer, however, to record the beater mic on a different track. With toms I follow the same process but I record both mics to one track.I follow this method as well. Be sure that your overheads are in phase first, then add in the resonant head (since the low end tone will be more present than on the batter), then include the batter head to finish the phase puzzle. Once you have recorded the kick mics in phase though, it doesn't hurt to take them both out of phase from the rest of the kit to see if that sound is more desirable for the context during mixing. I have used kicks both in and out of phase from the rest of the kit, it all really depended on what sounded best in the track/album itself.

It makes "sense" to want to flip the polarity on the batter head mic, but if you think about it, most of the other mics on the kit are picking up the kick drum from the batter side. So, are you going to flip the polarity of the overheads if they are on the batter side of the kick drum? If you use the same logic, you would flip the polarity on every tom mic, just because the attack is sucking air away from the mic?Anyhow, I don't think there is one answer to this question. From what I understand, we cannot hear absolute polarity differences, so I would flip, or not flip, which ever mic sounds best in context with the other mics on the kit. With so many sources interacting, this is where all the fun and pain of drum recording lies..

154 wrote:ebeam wrote:It makes "sense" to want to flip the polarity on the batter head mic, but if you think about it, most of the other mics on the kit are picking up the kick drum from the batter side.It depends on the dominant kick tone really. I've only dual mic'd like this on kits with a closed front head that had a lot of 'whoomp' and sustain, which is closer to the sound captured by the res mic. I suppose if the kick is really muffled, you'd mostly hear the 'pttt' sound in the other mics. Even then, it seems like the bleed wouldn't be as instantaneous as the batter mic..It is likely the time delay between the kick and the overheads makes this less important than for two mics on the same drum. I was really just trying to make the point that there is probably not one answer for all situations.bishopdante wrote:On drums I do not like the sound of having the kick drum upside down, especially when it meets bass guitar the right way up. Percussive sounds the polarity is really quite important. Violin not so much.Not a kick drum, but try this and see how you do: http://www.audiocheck.net/blindtests\_abspolarity.phpI got 5/10.Anyway, even if you can hear it, it is probably not very important and probably more due to the reproduction system that any psychoacoustic effect. I'd worry more about what you can hear and that is phase relationship between the kick mic(s) and the rest of the kit. In the past, I've used "nudging" in the DAW like MTAR to deal with (my) poorly recorded drums, but I generally find if you have the mics placed well, it isn't necessary.Hm, just realized this thread is 4 years old..

How do you folks check phase on overheads etc. without using software? Strictly with your ears and trial'n'error?

japmn wrote:I usually don't flip the kicks or the snares. When recording to CPU, I can even see that I don't need to usually. If they aren't perfectly aligned, I'll just nudge the bottom snare, or front kick wave a few Ms. to line it up. It is better than just flipping polarity.A good idea....I've done this on overheads to simulate Haas-effect.

I usually don't flip the kicks or the snares. When recording to CPU, I can even see that I don't need to usually. If they aren't perfectly aligned, I'll just nudge the bottom snare, or front kick wave a few Ms. to line it up. It is better than just flipping polarity.