Why don't you record each cymbal separately?
- Thread starter LBTM
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heshian46
Member
LiberaScientia
Cat Dad
I doubt any studios would have enough mics to do this with my drummer 
It's pretty common practice to close mic rides/chinas/crashes that get used a lot and then automate them in when mixing, though.
It's pretty common practice to close mic rides/chinas/crashes that get used a lot and then automate them in when mixing, though.
- Feb 19, 2012
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I doubt any studios would have enough mics to do this with my drummer
Give us a number!!
LiberaScientia
Cat Dad
I've never counted properly but I think he has about 17/18 cymbals, most of them are weird ass splashes and chinas and various stacksGive us a number!!
Never brings that many to rehearsal (I refuse to help him carry it all to the car ), but he has them all set up at home.could sound good but I think its really impractical when you get into really big kits. Counting from the top of my head, my drummer has 12 cymbals, 4 roto toms, 4 toms, 1 kick, 1 snare. I generally mic his kit up with with 8 mics, dividing up the roto's and the extra floor. i dont mic the hi hat, but i cant imagine trying to get at least 8 more mics in there, and deal with the phase issues, bleed.
plus in the end you'd most likely be just kissing those faders. just get your overheads sounding real good.
plus in the end you'd most likely be just kissing those faders. just get your overheads sounding real good.
I do this when I can. It's good for control and separation but you gotta be careful of bleed. If you aren't careful you can end up with tons of other cymbals and snare in the close mics making them tough to work with. You gotta be careful also that you don't get too close to the cymbals as you'll get a really weird whooshy sound that cannot be fixed after the fact.
I find alot of drummers have their cymbals spread in such a way that 2 mics for overheads will not pick them all up evenly and you'll get requests to turn up a china or splash cymbals in a dense mix with crashes already going.
My favorite thing to do is to have a high mono overhead directly above the snare, use the L and R crash cymbal mics as tighter regular overheads and use the other cymbal close mics to place everything as it was in the room in the stereo spectrum. Each channel gets some treatment if it needs it and then I'll bus the whole lot into one stereo overhead channel and treat that as my overheads. Gives me a best of all worlds situation with a nice neat, tidy set of channels to work with in the mix.
I find alot of drummers have their cymbals spread in such a way that 2 mics for overheads will not pick them all up evenly and you'll get requests to turn up a china or splash cymbals in a dense mix with crashes already going.
My favorite thing to do is to have a high mono overhead directly above the snare, use the L and R crash cymbal mics as tighter regular overheads and use the other cymbal close mics to place everything as it was in the room in the stereo spectrum. Each channel gets some treatment if it needs it and then I'll bus the whole lot into one stereo overhead channel and treat that as my overheads. Gives me a best of all worlds situation with a nice neat, tidy set of channels to work with in the mix.
Uros
Sonic Incision
For faster metal stuff what gives good results is to use 1 mic per every 2 cymbals, and mic separately ones you know the drummer will use a lot (usually china and ride, and a crash or two). If you have enough inputs and mics, add a stereo AB pair, and you're golden.
edit> so if6was9, that mic over snare is something like OH C, i.e. enhanced AB?
I've done that too, but with the mic usually over the cymbals in the center, and just ride its volume when I need those cymbals higher in the mix (most often than not, some rather rarely used splash and crashes tho).
edit> so if6was9, that mic over snare is something like OH C, i.e. enhanced AB?
I've done that too, but with the mic usually over the cymbals in the center, and just ride its volume when I need those cymbals higher in the mix (most often than not, some rather rarely used splash and crashes tho).
Trevoire520
Member
A mic for every individual cymbal is going to get pretty phasey sounding quick. A well placed stereo overhead setup should be able to capture a fairly well balanced image of the cymbals and you can just use spot mic's on any bells/rides/china's that don't cut through enough or might need cranked up for certain sections of the mix.
I use the one over the snare to get an overall kit sound, it's great for getting body out of the snare and usually has very little kick bleeding into it. I saw it on a stone sour recording video and Russ Russell does it sometimes so I decided to try it out and like it. I use that as a mono overhead and the crash L and R's panned out to the sides to pick up the main bulk of the cymbals, all the other spot mics are much quieter in the mix and get brought up for sections where needed.
I try and stick to the 3:1 rule to avoid phase issues. The one above the snare will be much further from the kit than all the other spot mics. If 2 cymbals are very close to each other and I can't get them mics far enough from each other then I don't mic them separately.
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
- Feb 19, 2012
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meanmrmustad
Supreme Member
- Feb 19, 2012
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haha no, one take, one mic for each cymbal. so if a drummer use 1 hihat and 2 cymbals you will use 3 close mics on them.
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
But why?
Because:
1. I don't view drums as several small instruments.
2. Getting everything to gell together would suck (phase).
3. I don't want to deal with the stereo image of something like that.
4. I think spot micing the china,ride, and hats is good enough.
5. Really doing so is making more work than it's worth, just like tuning each chord on a guitar (fuck that too).
But mostly due to number 1. I don't necessarily think recording the cymbals separate from the drums is all that bad an idea although I haven't even tried that.
Trevoire520
Member
crillemannen
Member
I usually use 1mic/2cymbals and then mic up the ride,hihat and splash etc separately just in case i would need it later in the mix. I like separation but i think some guys are overdoing it. Sneap has definitely done it in the passed.
Where it just end up sounding weird. The Overheads can really glue the whole mix together if its mixed good.
Where it just end up sounding weird. The Overheads can really glue the whole mix together if its mixed good.
decoy205
STUCK IN HELL
- Sep 4, 2008
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The overheads glue the drums together. I find the simpler the set up the bigger things can sound and plus its easier from a phase standpoint.
shit I don't even mic the hats sometimes depending on the drummer. They usually cut through WAY more than i need 'em too.
With a really good drummer a ride mic and maybe a china or something can work.
shit I don't even mic the hats sometimes depending on the drummer. They usually cut through WAY more than i need 'em too.
With a really good drummer a ride mic and maybe a china or something can work.
- Feb 19, 2012
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hi-hats always cutting through the mix. the microphone on a hi-hat is just for some presence IMO. you can put a big hi-pass and get away with phase issues.
Loki Laufeyiarson
Member
The mic on the hihat is just so you can crank it during recording in the hope the drummer might not hit it so hard, so it won't dominate the drumsound in the end (in a lot of cases anyway).
