snare recording experiment i did!!! try it!

[jesterroot4]

right!

every one seems to mic their snare with

1. 57 ontop!
2. 57 on bottem!

but i experimented a bit and various positions and found....

that if you have a mic on top and a mic about 2cm from the side of the snare, you get a much clearer and nicer sounding metalic crack up in the high region of the eq spectrum. (around 7-8k)

sounds beautiful when miced like this.. you get a luvly crisp sound out of it!

SEXY!

try it, tell me what you think?

p.s. this also realy compliments picalo snares!

 

[slinky_]

Yeah, that´s the way it goes. The further you mic the snare the less you have proximity effect and the sound is brighter BUT you also get more bleed from the hats.

2cm doesn´t sound a bad distance though.

 

[deanbailey]

Out of interest (not laziness), would you mind posting pictures/samples.

 

[jesterroot4]

in fact, i'll put up a video as soon as i can of differant snare micing positions!

any one good any decent tips to prevent bleeding? such as like.. the polistyrine cups over the mics etc..?

 

[deanbailey]

Have you been reading "The Recording Engineers Handbook" by "Bobby Owsinski"
by any chance?

EDIT: check this thread regarding mic bleed: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/316497-hi-hat-snare-mic.html

 

[Tym_ex]

I spent a day in a studio trying different kind of mics and positions on a snare some time ago. I also found it makes quite a big difference where you point the mic at. Rim gives you way more clap for example and I found different mics all have their best positions.

I wouldn't say drum mic placement is as vital as guitar cab mic placement, but it is way more important then a lot of guys think. You see this all the time, engineers that just throw mics on the kit and are happy with that.

 

[jesterroot4]

Have you been reading "The Recording Engineers Handbook" by "Bobby Owsinski"
by any chance?

nope i sure havnt.. i'll look it up, may have to get it..

cheers for the link!

also,
what do you guys think about micing up the high hat too?
in most of my recordings i also mic the high hat seperatly with a very diretional mic aiming at it.

but in most studios i've been to, i've noticed people just use over heads to capture the high hat (as if its 'just another cymbol')

what do you think?

 

[deanbailey]

yeah, some drummers have lots of hat work, like open/closed weird timing patterns. I'd want to make sure i get the details of the hits. But I'll pull it back a bit in the mix to blend with the hats in the OH, but not too much that it doesn't serve its pupose. But thats just me, I'm a little obsessed with the smaller details.

 

[~BURNY~]

Sometimes, micing the shell can be an interesting substitute to bottom micing.

 

[ryanojohn]

I wouldn't say drum mic placement is as vital as guitar cab mic placement,

I disagree entirely... unless you're sound replacing the kit...

 

[Tym_ex]

I disagree entirely... unless you're sound replacing the kit...

Uhm so we are kinda on the same level then or...?

 

[2012]

I, too, dig the sound of the shell.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Just curious about phase issues with the 1 on top & one backed off from the shell method. Are you time aligning afterward?

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

Haha, always with the phase! Do you have dreams where you're running, but one leg is slightly out of sync with the other?

Steve

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I don't use a 57 on the bottom.

 

[joeymusicguy]

i mic the snare top and bottom, and mic the hi hat

i use a beyerdynamic 201 on top, and a audix i5 on bottom

with some work, you can get a usable snare sound in the end, but i usually like to replace thus removing bleed altogether as this is the most important track in my mix. plus i have made a perfect snare sample (to me at least) that is already compressed and mixed so it saves a lot of time just replacing the snare track with that, per-session-unique snare tone on the recording comes from the untouched room mic track (i close mic crashes).

i mic top and bottom snare because you can get some visual information about whats going on in some confusing situations by looking at the bottom track, and just in case we gonna end up using the actual snare in the recording (rarely)

i edit the hi hat track, removing anything that isnt a sound from the hi hat its self. blends just fine if you've got a room track (doesnt sound choppy). manual fades during hi hat open ring outs....

i've only encountered one situation where i needed to trigger the snare because the inconsistency of the playing was pretty bad (mic wouldnt pick up some of the stuff he was doing very well)

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Haha, always with the phase! Do you have dreams where you're running, but one leg is slightly out of sync with the other?

Steve

No, but I dream about well-engineered mixes!

 

[R-Stuur]

I experimented with placing a 57 (with foam wrapped around the front to reduce bleed from hats/toms etc) at the airvent on the snare. Very nice tight snare sound.

 

[TheSweetener]

Funny, just tried it yesterday. The side mic was strangly out of phase with the top mic. 0 and 180 degrees both sounded very thin so I used it as a talkback for the drummer!