This lady proving why she is a national treasure...

losthighway wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 10:57 am

Garth wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 9:02 am

Adam_I_III wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:45 am If you're worried about spill, why not reamp the drums in the room after you've finished with the rest of the stuff?

* mind blown *

I'm absolutely going to try this at some point - and sending a signal of just drums w/ no cymbals (minus whatever bleed of course)....

Yeah, the best part of this strategy is you can decide how much of each drum to send. When I do it it's usually a lot of snare, a little less toms, and just a bit of kick.

Agreed that it doesn't sound like a regular room mic, but it can be quite good when used sparingly.

I finally got to try this last weekend but not with acoustic drums & some electronic drums - in fact, I am certain I remember reading that FM J Foley and Austerity Program were doing something like this. I'm happy with the results - hopefully next time I can spend more time w/ it but yeah this got it to a nice blend of smear and realness vs all the precision and clarity you get from going straight-into-the-snake

EDIT: oh & my room mics were pair of Oktava MK-012 in ORTF

I use a Blumlein array, Cascade Vin-Jets. Three reasons:

1. I can focus on the reflections that sound good and can reject the reflections that sound like ass, unlike omnis or PZMs where I'm kinda stuck with everything. Blumlein has a way of making a room sound better than it really is.

2. Miss me with condenser or dynamic hype. I'm here for that straight up ribbon honesty that has the cohesion to tie the drum kit and/or other instruments together.

3. All the good Coles and Beyerdynamic ribbons are almost always on drum overheads or guitar cabs, but these Vin-Jets are really not bad here.

Sam_Scholten wrote: Sun Feb 20, 2022 5:16 pm I use a Blumlein array, Cascade Vin-Jets. Three reasons:

1. I can focus on the reflections that sound good and can reject the reflections that sound like ass

How do you focus? experimenting with placement?

Thanks FMBD for the very informative post. I think whether or not the minimal mic approach will work or not depends on what kind of drum sound and overall aesthetic you're going for, what options you want available during mix, and can the drummer pull this off. All it takes is one Paiste Rude mini china to throw everything off, so make sure your drums have a nice balance in the room itself.

FMBD, I'd be super interested to hear a sample of your super-simple mic plan if you would consider sharing?

I've been travelling in the opposite direction and am currently mixing most complex mic strategy with (imo) the best results.

last night I ended up putting a mono OH over the kit and for a stereo setup I put 2 Oktavas on little floor stands behind the drummer about 4 feet pointing straight across the floor pointed at the kick beater. Each mic, the mono, and each stereo mic were placed equidistant from the beater, about 50 inches. It sounded really cool. I have super low ceilings and this gave me a cool stereo spread that was really dense and heavy without too much cymbal ping/splash.

Nice. That's similar to what I do except I usually have the mics out front, but behind can work well too.

Next time try putting the Oktavas right on the floor, it'll probably be even better.

MoreSpaceEcho wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 8:41 pm Next time try putting the Oktavas right on the floor, it'll probably be even better.

I put them on little stands sitting in Honda Accord Brake Rotors to keep them from being stepped on . seemed to work. P.S. Brake drums/rotors are a studio must. I use them all the time for all kinds of stuff. Weights, for one. I slip them over round base stands to weigh down the stands. they are great.
Actually one of the most useful things I have lying around.

Brake rotors and drums are also cool sounding percussion instruments and if IIRC were even used in some quote “serious” orchestral or percussion ensemble pieces.