Question about Room and Overhead Mics on real Drums

[EachHit]

Hi,

I am having a bit of trouble on getting my Mic's setup correctly for a real Drum recording.
My Problem with my Overheads and Snare is that a Snare hit isn't the same Level on the Left and Right Side of the Overheads and Rooms even if the Mic's are almost the same distance from the center of the Snare. Maybe a few centimeters off.
When I zoom into the Waveform of a Snarehit I can see that it appears on the Right and the Left Channel almost exactly at the same Time. Maybe 3-5 Samples late on one.
Is this a Problem with the Room itself and the Micplacement?

Would be cool if anybody would help me out how to setup everything correctly so my raw Drumsound will be as good as possible.

I posted a short clip on Soundcloud

RoomMic:


Overheads:


I never really realised that before cause it's not so obvious when you didn't really only listen to the Tracks alone.

Heavy Greetz

 

[MartijnPaauwe]

Have you tried measuring the distance of the overheads related to the snare itself?
I always use a spare mic cable to measure if the 2 OH mics are equal distance to the snare centre.

I've learned from experience that your overhead mics can look like they're the same distance, but the slightest difference in distance can have a lot of impact on your sound, and phase problems too.

 

[EachHit]

Have you tried measuring the distance of the overheads related to the snare itself?
I always use a spare mic cable to measure if the 2 OH mics are equal distance to the snare centre.

I've learned from experience that your overhead mics can look like they're the same distance, but the slightest difference in distance can have a lot of impact on your sound, and phase problems too.

Hi,

as I put up the Overheads I used a piece of string which I taped to the center of the Snare and then I made a knot so I know where I have to put up the capsule of the Microphone.
As I mentioned, the Waveforms from the Overheads and the Room Mic's seem to be very very close.
Is it possible that I get different volumes cause one Mic is pretty close to a corner and the other one is kinda in the Middle of the Room. That's almost the only choice I have where to put the Microphones.
Besides that should I record a SteroChannel from the 2 Microphones or just each one as a Mono Channel. By now I am only recording everything Mono.

But the Microphones are linked together in my Audiointerface/Preamp (X32 Rack) so I have both at the same Gain.

Heavy Greetz

 

[Heabow]

Yes try placing room mics and/or drumkit in different places in the room.

 

[EachHit]

Yes try placing room mics and/or drumkit in different places in the room.

Unfortunately there is no chance of moving the Kit cause the Drumroom is basically just 2 combined Truck Containers (mobile home). So the Room isn't very High.

I got an old Photo of the Drumroom here:

The Red Pile should be the middle of the Room.

It's not my actual Kit and Setup anymore but you see how limited the Space is. My recent Overheads are just spaced Pair Microphones and the Rooms have approximately 3 times the distance from the snare as the Overheads.

Maybe I can manage it these days to make some photos from my actual setup.

Heavy Greetz

 

[Heabow]

I suggest that - and maybe you've already tried it - you place the drumkit so it faces the middle of the room. That way you'd have a more centered image if that makes sense (you'll get more low end as well). Also, I don't think it is necessary to set you OH so high. It depends on the mics, etc. but try to place them lower. Finally, the height of the room mics can give very different sounds. My 2 cents!

 

[Studdy]

I've read it through a few times and Im missing something.

Distance = Time

More Does Not = Better. If adding in the room mic makes it sound bad, then why do you do it?

The further the mic is the later the wave form will show up. You want the room mic to be later in time than the direct mics, that is what makes it a room mic. The room mic should not line up with the direct mic. Maybe i'm misreading or something. One thing i have learned when micing up a drum kit is that if it sounds good, it is good. A measuring tape and a set of rules is a great starting point and good practice but if it sounds like shit then it sounds like shit. The best way is to start listening to the overheads only, aside from being bass drum light the overheads should give you 80% of the sound you like. So listen to the overheads and slowing bring in the other mics 1 at a time, when it sounds bad or weird you have found the problem. In a far from ideal room and location you will never get a 100% perfect drum sound with multiple mics. There is always some compromise, remember you listen with your ears not your eyes, not everything has to look visually perfect in the daw to sound great. Cheers.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I've faced this problem before and in the end I was unable to fix it. Had to cut the hell out of the lows on the OHs and really killed the cymbal sounds. Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[Trevoire520]

Make sure the mic's are the same distance from the snare, use a tape measure.
Set your input gain to the drummer hitting the snare as hard as he can, match the gain between left and right and you should be all good. This won't necessarily mean that the two inputs should have the same amount of gain.

Record your overheads and stereo rooms to stereo tracks, it makes processing easier later down the line.

 

[EachHit]

Make sure the mic's are the same distance from the snare, use a tape measure.
Set your input gain to the drummer hitting the snare as hard as he can, match the gain between left and right and you should be all good. This won't necessarily mean that the two inputs should have the same amount of gain.

Record your overheads and stereo rooms to stereo tracks, it makes processing easier later down the line.

I think I will rearrange my mic's a bit and see how it works. Maybe I can then make some photos so it would be easier for some of you guys to give me specific Tips on what I can do to achieve the best sound possible.

I added the Room Mic's cause I didn't liked the Sound just coming from the 2 Overheads Mic's. The Mic's for the Overheads on the old Photo are Rode NT5 that's why I hung them so high cause they really picked up to much high end. Also my Crashes are way to shrill.

Heavy Greetz