Roy Mayorga: How I Got Stone Sour Studio Drum Sounds (mic run through etc)

[James-Doolan]

Is that common, to use that 3rd shell mic alongside the usual snare top and bottom?

Yup from what i believe its common enough on pro recordings. Used to capture the tone from the shell itself apparently it gives a nice "crack" character and is a more realistic snare sound a lot of people prefer it to a snare bottom mic and just mic top and shell but i have yet to mic or mix a snare like that myself id love to try it though

 

[Ermz]

I'm no huge fan of snare bottom myself, so on the next record I'll most likely try it. A bit perplexed as to how to treat the phase relationship between the two mics though. Seems like it'd be more of a 90 degrees out of phase thing rather than top/bottom's 180 thing which is easy to reverse.

 

[James-Doolan]

I'm no huge fan of snare bottom myself, so on the next record I'll most likely try it. A bit perplexed as to how to treat the phase relationship between the two mics though. Seems like it'd be more of a 90 degrees out of phase thing rather than top/bottom's 180 thing which is easy to reverse.

Yea a phase correction tool might come in handy but as always id be using my ears maybe the phase interaction would add to the sound id like to see how it plays out next time i mic a kit il try it for sure

 

[MetalSound]

http://www.uaudio.com/products/software/ibp/index.html
this thing is pretty useful for that although i never used it except for some special fx.

 

[Erik Monsonis]

I find it really retarded to use 27 high end mics and skin changes each few takes... It can't sound good enough for the effort taken and money spent IMO...

 

[Melodeath]

441 and U87 under the snare? I'm confused because he said "on the batter side, underneath the snare drum itself," which doesn't really make sense

 

[James-Doolan]

441 and U87 under the snare? I'm confused because he said "on the batter side, underneath the snare drum itself," which doesn't really make sense

Batter side of the kick

 

[Ermz]

I find it really retarded to use 27 high end mics and skin changes each few takes... It can't sound good enough for the effort taken and money spent IMO...

It's the only real way to make a raw drum recording worthwhile.

Without the great mics you are compromising what you capture and would get better results overlaying samples where a good chain has been used.

Without changing skins every song or so you don't get the consistency to compete with productions that are heavily sample replaced.

There really is no 'in-between' with drums. Either you go all out and get the best raw sound that you can, or you go in there just hoping to capture great OHs and passable drums, to be overlaid later.

 

[::XeS::]

I find it really retarded to use 27 high end mics and skin changes each few takes... It can't sound good enough for the effort taken and money spent IMO...

I can't get the point. If I would be in a studio like that, with all those mics, why I don't have to try different mics or experiment different techniques, expecially if the band pays?
If you record a band that doesn't have money problem, do you say them "no no no...I only use 6 mics because I'll replace everything so you'll pay me 100$ instead of 20000$!"?
If someone has a limited budget it's ok to don't experiment at all....but with these big bands I think it's a good thing if they try different solutions and techniques, because it's the awesome aspect of this work.

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Lol @ U67 on toms...

U87 is most common I agree but why not?

 

[Line666]

U87 is most common I agree but why not?

I wasn't disparaging the idea, far from it, its just the glorious excess of it all I find amusing, there's a years wages worth of microphones in that room at least and he's just tossing them around like its nothing, what wouldn't we all give for that sort of access to gear of that caliber.

 

[AStudio]

Im sure the natural kit was great but on the teaser song they released "Mission Statement" it sounds straight up Randy Staub replacement/parallel comp'd to buggery (and im not saying that is a bad thing at all).

Im not even sure if he is mixing this release, just the snare for me sounds like Staub. The only thing that doesn't sound like Staub is the top end, not as open as Nickelback for instance.

 

[~BURNY~]

"Dude sorry I just hit your 4000$ mic with my stick... Repeatedly..."

"Hey no biggie, your drums will be sample replaced anyway... Dickhead..."

"...I heard that..."

 

[Erik Monsonis]

@Ermz: Yeah, but whats the point about doing all of that if they're gonna sample replace it later like Staub does?
@XeS: Well, in my honest opinion I don't think it's necessary to spend 20K on an album recording, so to me it makes the whole process silly. "Yeah, let's spend 20K on a recording because we have 20K and we don't know what to do with the money". And then the album ends up sounding just like any other average album...
Of course I'd love to have the opportunity to do it, I'm not talking from the AR point of view, just a general outsider point of view. All I say is that it's not necessary to spend a shitload of money just to record drums, especially if they're gonna sample replace it later...

 

[::XeS::]

Yeah of course... but in these cases there is a budget so they know how they can spend. I think from an engineer point of view you should always try to experiment and try to get the best sound possible at the source, using samples only if it's necessary. If there is the budget, personally, I would try

 

[Djabthrash]

@Owen : dude your avatar is EPIC

 

[Trevoire520]

I'm no huge fan of snare bottom myself, so on the next record I'll most likely try it. A bit perplexed as to how to treat the phase relationship between the two mics though. Seems like it'd be more of a 90 degrees out of phase thing rather than top/bottom's 180 thing which is easy to reverse.

It's something I've done a couple of times. You get a nice crack sound but you've really got to be careful with the spill from the hat and kick as the shell doesn't give you as much volume as a top/bottom mic.

For phasing I just time adjust the top bottom and side so that they line up.

 

[PhilR]

Using a single mic for kick batter/snare bottom seems like a cool idea. I've tried using a batter mic on kick before but positioning is a complete pain with full-size mics. I wonder if the mic was figure-8...

 

[Djabthrash]

Part 1 :

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuURqoJyN6A&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

 

[Ermz]

Randy seems like he pulled a sick mix on this one. Listening on the monitors, the lows are insane.

@Dandelium: He may rely a lot on blending rather than outright replacement, we don't know. The better the raw kit sound, the better the blend sounds, the better the drums in the OHs and Rooms sound too. As Xes said, that experimentation is half the adventure of this work. I mean that is engineering at its heart, at its best.