Question regarding Superior ambient mics

[AntonioPetrole]

when is it necessary to blend in the ambient mics with superior? I use it almost as a reverb and to add some rawness to the OH's. Not sure if thats right or not

How and when do you guys use them?

 

[amitzwar]

well , imo its all about the volume level in the mixer..
for more roomy sounds level up the volume - for less rommy sound and tighter sound level down the volume

 

[Therion_Prime]

IMHO, ambient mics are one of the most important things for drums.
I always mix in plenty of ambience esp. on the snare.
It just sounds so much warmer, richer and natural than without

In the SD2 mixer you can even delay the ambient mics a bit which can make everything really "3D" and can even eliminate the need for a reverb on the snare.

Only on the BD i reduce the ambience amount so it's only barely audible to keep it tight and punchy.

 

[AntonioPetrole]

IMHO, ambient mics are one of the most important things for drums.
I always mix in plenty of ambience esp. on the snare.
It just sounds so much warmer, richer and natural than without

In the SD2 mixer you can even delay the ambient mics a bit which can make everything really "3D" and can even eliminate the need for a reverb on the snare.

Only on the BD i reduce the ambience amount so it's only barely audible to keep it tight and punchy.

so do you turn cut out the bleed on all the cymbals and just leave the snare ambience on? I would imagine not cause you cant do this when micing a kit normally but just wanted to double check. One thing i notice is when you have ambience, the cymbals sound really dry and raw.

 

[Therion_Prime]

so do you turn cut out the bleed on all the cymbals and just leave the snare ambience on? I would imagine not cause you cant do this when micing a kit normally but just wanted to double check. One thing i notice is when you have ambience, the cymbals sound really dry and raw.

Well, you can do many things with SD(2) you can't do in RL, but it makes things so much easier

For METAL I usually do this:
- Disable or greatly reduce mic bleed between all mics
- Adjust ambience levels between close/near/far mics and ambience levels of all instruments. I have ambience in different levels on ALL drums/cymbals/HH.


For non-metal stuff I:
- leave mic bleed on, it makes the drumkit sound more natural
- Usually apply even more ambience than with metal stuff

I do all EQ-ing/compression and even parallel compression within SD2 and only route out the SD bus on a separate DAW-bus and usually apply a tiny bit of an IR reverb if needed. For toms I am usually satisfied with the reverb provided by the ambience mics.
For BD I mix a replacement sample with a SD2 one.

So in short and to answer your question:
- No bleed between mics
- Ambience for everything (only BD almost(!) none)
- No, my cymbals don't sound dry and raw when used with ambience. Try adjusting the different ambience levels (close/mid/far) and the amount of ambience per drum/cymbal.

If there is interest, I could provide an audio sample and my default preset.
(I make use of the metal foundry expansion and samples from SD1 and a kick replacment sample, so it may not be useful for most ppl.)

 

[Teddyboy]

Can you post a drum-only clip?

 

[iamandy]

I love the room mics in Superior 2. i think its the best thing about Superior 2!

i have two examples aswell..

none metal: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/644974/sitmpresetself.mp3

Metal: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/644974/11drums.mp3

i posted my presets in the Superior 2 presets forum aswell:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/8817868-post118.html

 

[amarshism]

i think the room sounds are insanely important for getting a nice big drum sound out of sd2

its great for people who dont have a nice big drum room, or are doing stuff from home to be able to control every aspect of the room and drum bleed

 

[Therion_Prime]

This is the sound of my default preset:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/704796/Space_drums.mp3

Edit:

To demonstrate the importance of ambience, here's the track without ambient mics:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/704796/Space_drums_wo_ambience.mp3

.... and here ONLY the ambient mics alone (the main AMB bus plus a second bus parallel compressed) :
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/704796/Space_drums_only_ambience.mp3

 

[-Loco-]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/970663/DaturaDrums Smashed.mp3

Old drum preset. Using Rogers wood.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/970663/SectionedBlast.mp3

Newer, with blast using the piccolo pitched down.

Might sound like ass out of context, but kicks ass in context .


I tend to bring them down/solo/mute on and off just to see how it's affecting. Not too much snare though, especially bottom because when i parallel comp weird shit can happen that can fuck up the snare. I add a splash of reverb to it afterwards too.