penningtron wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:21 am

airloom wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 8:50 am If the drummer is good enough, I can get away with a single mic in front of the drums, but that rarely happens with rock bands.

Yeah.. I've been playing for a long time in many bands and recording sessions with no complaints, but only maybe in the last 2 years feel like I could pull off (a combination of self balance, arrangement sense/restraint, tuning skills, and selecting drums/cymbals suitable for the music) this minimalist approach. It helps to not be playing in 'desperately trying to cut thru the mix' type bands anymore.

+1

When I had to play drums loud enough to keep up with half stacks (or more) I definitely wasn't concerned with, or able to, also play in a way where the kit was balanced. I cut my teeth playing AmRep/T&G style noise rock and I do wish I learned a little earlier about backing off a bit and playing dynamically, but that's also a decision that the whole ensemble needs to make.

twelvepoint wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:33 am +1

When I had to play drums loud enough to keep up with half stacks (or more) I definitely wasn't concerned with, or able to, also play in a way where the kit was balanced. I cut my teeth playing AmRep/T&G style noise rock and I do wish I learned a little earlier about backing off a bit and playing dynamically, but that's also a decision that the whole ensemble needs to make.

Yep. I also used to default to 'X drum + tuning is the loudest therefore best choice' but now try to listen in terms of eq and context. Maybe the felt side of the kick beater sounds better, maybe the 6.5" brass snare is overpowering, maybe a little tape under the ride isn't so dumb after all, etc.

The only overhead scheme I never use is XY.
Recorderman and spaced pair are my preferred approach, but obviously it depends entirely on the dynamics and how balanced the player/kit are.

For small rooms/low ceilings I often go for a M/S setup. Positioned in front of the kit at around eye/ear/face level height, and slightly to the left or right of center so the sides aren't parallel to wall surfaces. How far back from the kit, again depends on dynamics and the player.

Two Blueberry cardioids set up ORTF style in front of the kit about four feet away and half a foot higher then the highest cymbal.

EDIT; This is more of a stereo image thing. Never mind me.

twelvepoint wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:35 pm Oktava MC-012s with Omni capsules and a jecklin disc. A bit unorthodox for overheads but seems to work ok in my room, which is small but has 10.5’ ceiling. Spaced pair sounded weird and XY wasn’t imaging as well as I want. The mics are as low as possible, and oriented in a slightly skewed way, like if there was an imaginary like between the rack and floor. I like the image better than the conventional way of aligning to the plane of the kick head.

Wish I had some samples but I’ve been working more with typewriters lately.

FYI
They make a figure 8 adapeter and a shock mount if you ever want to try MId-Side.

Mickey242 wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:00 pm

twelvepoint wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:35 pm Oktava MC-012s with Omni capsules and a jecklin disc. A bit unorthodox for overheads but seems to work ok in my room, which is small but has 10.5’ ceiling. Spaced pair sounded weird and XY wasn’t imaging as well as I want. The mics are as low as possible, and oriented in a slightly skewed way, like if there was an imaginary like between the rack and floor. I like the image better than the conventional way of aligning to the plane of the kick head.

Wish I had some samples but I’ve been working more with typewriters lately.

FYI
They make a figure 8 adapeter and a shock mount if you ever want to try MId-Side.

That would be interesting to try but I'd been in the woods for so long with overheads and I finally like the disc setup. It's a little weird, but it works pretty well in my weird small-but-tall room.

Also "try a Jecklin disc" is the kind of suggestion you get when your engineer friend is a classical recordist.

Seems as good a thread as any to post this, but I finally made my life easier and put up a permanent ceiling mount for overheads. I had the gooseneck and Hercules shockmount already, collecting dust in a drawer. Got a mounting flange and one of the DIY-RE blumlein bars and now I have a dedicated ORTF setup. Saves me two mic stands and the chance of the drummer knocking them over when standing up.

Nate Dort wrote: Mon Feb 27, 2023 3:38 pm Seems as good a thread as any to post this, but I finally made my life easier and put up a permanent ceiling mount for overheads. I had the gooseneck and Hercules shockmount already, collecting dust in a drawer. Got a mounting flange and one of the DIY-RE blumlein bars and now I have a dedicated ORTF setup. Saves me two mic stands and the chance of the drummer knocking them over when standing up.

I do the same thing in my basement. ORTF seems to work the best for low ceilings IMO. when I do XY it just feels like I could have gone with mono, which I do a lot. I also have 2 ceiling mounted placements on a beam about 10' out front of the kit about 10' apart that I will put SM81's or sometimes 2 Warm Audio fet 47 clones into. I keep them panned really wide and barely bring them in to just give the kit a smear. little SDC on little round base table stands are good for floor mics too. I'll put them out and point them down so the diaphragm is almost touching the floor. Sometimes just one of these is good out in front of the kick about 6-10'. Anyway, yeah, podium nipples in the ceiling rules.

I don't like drum overhead mics. Mid-Side, ORTF, or a good stereo mic in front of the drum kit.

Edit: Recorderman mic set up? Anyone had any luck with that.

For the last bunch of drum tracks I recorded I used two cheap LDCs directly over the toms about 6' off the ground. I eyeballed the relative height, I didn't measure them against the snare head or kick or anything, I didn't worry about phase alignment, I just put them up and forgot about them. Sounded great, no phase issues, blended in perfectly with the other stereo pair (cheap blumlein ribbons 3' in front of the kick). Would mic again.