Aside from individual choices on drums, one of my favorite over top overall mics to use is the Rhodes NT1 A mic for a mix I can bring in stereo and broaden the over all sound.
Flipping the top mic polarity is what I always do too. It makes sense physically because if you think about the drum itself, it's membrane is being pushed away from the mic first, aka a negative wavefront (low pressure) hits it first.. and of course the exact opposite for the bottom mic. So yeah, flipping the phase on the top is the way to go. Further more, you can also flip the phase of ALL microphones that point down towards the drumkit, including the overheads. This all makes physically sense and will usually yield in a more coherent drum sound when summed at the bus.
Thanks for the comment! Not even close! Haha any classic recording studio with Vintage Mics would have cost so much more than this! The whole idea of this is show multiple duftend ways to record drums with multiple Mics
It's pretty funny when someone who points 2 AKG414 at the floor (almost 3k right there) and has 2 Neumann's all the way in the back as room mic number 15 and 16 "just in case" just kind of laughs off being told this is maybe a bit too expensive of a setup because vintage mics exist 😂
You don't have to use expensive mics! The video is about the mic placement and how they sound!@@DamienTheCat My favourite room mics for The Fray and Aerosmith albums I did were a pair of SM57's against the wall! They sounded amazing!
Imported the multitracks and set all the close mics and overheads to nominal and all the "room" mics to -20. Sounded fantastic. I barely had to touch anything. These drums were tuned and recorded to perfection. Well done!
Very cool seeing a different approach to recording drums. Yep, that's a lot of room mics - nice having options. It would be interesting to know what kind of drum heads were used and how much muffing was actually used as both of these contribute largely to the sound of the drums. Thanks for sharing.
The drums have a mix of Remo heads, coated Emperors on the tops of toms, clear Ambassadors on the bottoms, coated Powerstroke 3 on the batter side of the kick drum and a Fiberskyn on the reso head with kick drum pillow touching both heads. Snare was Coated vintage Ambassador and clear Ambassador Snare side.
@@sweetwater_studios Thank you for responding, that is helpful. I suspected that Emperors were used on the toms so you confirmed that. It's hard to tell from the video though how much muffling was used on the toms which also changes the sound as well. People like Todd Sucherman of Styx, Dave Weckl and many other pro drummers are using Remo Ambassador heads on tops and bottoms of toms with no muffling for a more open tom sound. I'm more of an ambassador guy myself and I just prefer that more open sound. Thanks for sharing your recording drums process, very interesting.
The legend Jan Erik Kongshaug (ECM Godfather of sound engineering) would have given an appreciative nod regarding microphone placement. Thanks a lot for a brilliant review of a complicated and interesting topic
I got a bunch of cherries out of this session guys! Great communication and solid concepts and logic. Sometimes I need to be reminded to experiment and this session had many great examples with great results. Thanks a bunch!!!
Those drums sound fantastic! It goes to show capturing a great sound at the source is critical and makes a huge difference. That drummer is a beast for real. I am crafting out a percussion room with sennheiser small e906s close mics and e914s as overheads with a Neumann Tlm 102 as a room for now. I thought about trying to make a drum room but I do not see that is possible just yet, because the room is just as critical as the equipment itself.
You both are so great! Thanks for this demonstration of knowledge, experience and art! In this times, everyone have possibilities for digital music production, you show us the difference!
Sean is an incredible engineer and has just given all of you noobs an incredible insight into how important processing different types of room mics is. Jason… hats off to you as well my brother for inputting only what needed to be said and letting Sean speak about what he was doing. That shows a lot of maturity on your part as well as a willingness to learn from a great engineer.. this video should be mandatory to watching for any aspiring engineer. Nicely done on all accounts!
Nick after playing for an hour straight: “Hey guys, are we done yet? My arms are about ready to fall off”. “Oh sorry, we went to lunch. Can you start over?” 😂
What would be the Overhead positioning approach for the following: - Big drumset with 3 rack toms (in typical positions) and two floor toms - On the floor tom side there are a lot of cymbals (ride, big crash, big stack, china) - One crash cymbals sits in the middle of the kit (basically over rack tom 3) - There are a mini stack and a splash directly above toms 1 and 2 - One Crash on the hi-hat side I have my overhead mics (SE8 small diaphragm cardioid) set up with equal distance from the snare center. The one on the floor tom side is a bit further away so it gets lowered. The one on the hi hat side is obviously a lit closer to the snare so it sits significantly higher. Floor tom side mic sits more or less in the middle of all the instruments on that side. Hi hat side mic sits above the outer edge of the crash cymbal. I'm just not sure wether they are too far apart or not far enough and if I should gain match them or not (since floor tom side gets bashed with a lot more sounds than hi hat side). And if they maybe are to close to the drums or not close enough. Hi hat side mic is probably 1 meter above the crash cymbal and floor tom side mic is probably half a meter above the cymbals there. I know it's hard to say without pictures but what are everybody's thoughts on this ? Thanks!
Could you share what you mean by "flip the mix analog on the console" right around 42:30... Are you going thru your mixer to an interface and then back out of the interface into the same channels on the mixer? or are you doing patching between tracking and playback? would love to see a diagram or video of your connections! great video, btw. you guys are getting some great sounds!
Really glad they addressed the lopsidedness of the equidistant mics. I will sometimes see overheads that are much more even in height and I always wondered what drove the less equidistant choice.
@mirkomarkovic3438 so, for standard spaced pair? There's the concern of it pulling the snare to one side though, yeah? And maybe that's okay. I'm no expert, and just curious how that is addressed in those scenarios
@@eweesplace equidistand from the snare doesn't mean they can't be at the same hight. As i said it depends on the setup, if he has a wide setup with more toms or cymbals you can get the same height
funny thing that perspective thing.. i'm a drummer, but ALWAYS use audience perspective. I dont produce drum tracks for drummers, but for the audience, the band and the producer. That's my reasoning. And my customers love that.
Nick D'birgilio, one of my favorite drummers! Spock's Beard, but also Big Big Train, both superb underrated prog bands, he also played with Tears for fears live and Genesis in the studio. You should visit Rich Mousers studio , he's recorded and mixed most of the Spock's Beard, Transatlantic and Neal Morse Band records, and mixed the latest Liquid Tension Experiment as well 💪
All my favorite recordings were done on analog tape. In those days you didn’t have the luxury of so many mics due to track limitation. Usually close mics and 2 room mics was all you got. So you would need to really choose carefully how to set them up, what mics, how far you want them, where to point them and with what polar pattern, etc...
Great vid. At the 51:33 mark, the close mics are un muted as certain room mics are playing and the kick sounds punchy but then he presses some buttons after that and the kick/kit loses its bottom end and punch. Whats happening there?
Good show and great course. They are showing how to get at least a 32 channel board filled up with a very small dum kit. If you want to record a whole band.....the engineer must say "sorry, no more channels left, we used them all for the drum kit" LoL.
@@Producelikeapro yes true, amazing to hear all those different room mic options and techniques. I have miced my kit aswell and use very good mics and 500 series preamps and outboard gear. But I don’t have a single room mic, just because I have no space for it. My drum room is a very small room inside a world war 2 bunker from 1941 in Frankfurt/Germany. I wish I would have s bigger room, maybe in the future.
Ahh I like that Nick said he flips the polarity of the snare top, instead of the bottom. I remember seeing a video from Jeremy from Recording Studio Loser, where he likes to keep the initial attack of his drums in the positive polarity, and the snare top is usually negative as the head is going away from the mic. Gives them all a bit more punch since the speakers are pushing towards you and not away. Nice to confirm that method for myself.
Flipping the polarity of the snare top may make it sound more in phase with the overheads (reversing the polarity of the overheads will do the same), however the mics are pointing in the same direction so the snare would actually be inverted. That was one 'old skool' solution some engineers did. These days we can delay the snare slightly to the overheads or some people like to use autoalign software. I hope that helps?
I love this, however, you guys should do another video where you are in a very small room where you are not micing so much of the room. This is great though. I have never seen someone use so many room mics, on axis and off, wild stuff!!
@5:11 not a fan of Hi-Hats...?!? lol who isn't a fan of the main time keeper on the drum kit.. its one of my favorite, and one of the most interesting things about the drum kit..
He's not saying he doesn't like hi hats specifically, it's about how they balance in the drum kit. Bleeding into the snare in particular is a big problem and getting g drummers to have them above the snare enough can be an issue, using darker hats can help too of course!
When I retired from performing, I had to sell my Ludwigs in Order to get some high quality recording equipment,but before I sold it, I spent a week. Sampling my drum set. So now whenever I play my electric kit I can hear my ludwigs haha
These kind of setups always make me wonder if it actually is a benefit. Like the microphone on the floor or the two microphones up in the corner. I am surprised he wasn't like "this microphone will pickup my fart noises as I air drum" "this microphone is outside. It pickups the windowed noise. Then lastly we have this microphone on a drone. It will catch the atmospheric frequency and give a reverb effect."
Schoeps und die 160 er stehen auf meiner Liste zum habe wollen….das Lauten klingt lecker .Warum wird im Studio so wenig Grenzfläche als Kick in benutzt? Von Beyerdynamic gibt es eine kleine hervorragende grenzfläche? Wie wäre es im Raum Kleinmembran Mikrofone zu habe da die gewöhnlich den Raum besser darstellen?🤔 aber interessant 😉 das ev Mikro ist oft unterschätzt
Grenzflächen werden benutzt, vorallem für Metal, weil die sehr clickig und direkt klingen, die "Standard-Kombo" ist Sennheiser E901 und ein Audix D6 (als Kick out). klingt schön fett, aber kontrolliert in die Fresse :). M160 sind richtig geil, leider sind die in den letzten Monaten im Preis deutlich gestiegen :( Kleinmembraner sind tatsächlich eine Gute wahl für Roommics, man muss nur aufpassen, dass die Becken dann nicht zu schrill werden, und mit großmembraner, oder sogar Bändchenmikros hat man deutlich mehr Mitte
@@kristianmarschewski1590 jipp da hast du recht…deswegen war ich froh das mal einer die Schoeps genommen hat,die klingen nicht so überbetont und den Raum bringen die auch hervorragend……suche nach kleiinmembranern ohne Presentzanhebung und gute Raumaulösung😉 hab selbst line Audio cm4
Thx for the video! A very good experience listening to these drums (downloaded files). I'd say, that im working with a drummer from Ukraine who built his own studio in a garage. Bought some unexpensive mics (like B52, B91 and so on). He records himself with an Antelope interface. Well... He doesn't get less good results... Actually I Like this Ukranian recordings more than the sound in this video... Also I recently was recording drums with an RME Fireface UFX III interface (plus an RME XTC). I got a very good result that I like more than the sound of the drums from this videos recording. In my academy years I was using Millenia preamps (16 of them) to record drums and I got an ASTONISHINGLY good result. So, yeah, twas a very helpful video. Thank you again. Guess this video helped me understand (again) that having a lot of expensive mics and equipment doesn't give the one the best result by default. When I saw the console in the video - I was waiting for an extremely good sound, but the more I got into the video the less I liked what I heard. And with every step of the processing, the sound got worse. Twas especially bothersome to hear how high frequecies started popping out in the end of the video. Not trying to be rude. Just analysing. Was listening on Kii Three speakers in an acoustically treated room.
Great! Thanks for sharing! Can you send me the raw tracks of the drums you prefer? Would love to hear them! By the way Antelope make great interfaces and they aren't cheap, we've featured them quite a few times!
I can't figure out one thing: there is something that appears to sound like pre-ringing on snare mics, or maybe one of the two. I hear sound coming before the snare hit. Can anyone explain that please?
With love to see this kind of tutorial in a Home studio situation...... My guess is. Not a lot of people who watch your channel have million dollars studios with live rooms and three thousand dollar mikes...... Still cool to see how the pro's work
Warren, I have followed you for several years. You have helped me, and thank you for all your hard work. When you put out videos like these, they are interesting, but not helpful for my situation. I am sure there there are many others like me. I don't have 30k in microphones. I don't have a big room with thousands of dollars of gear. What I want to see is getting a drum sound in a small basement with 8 foot ceilings with two 8 channels interfaces daisy changed together. I want to know how to record in small rooms with cheaper equipment. How do I make the best of less than idea environments with less than idea gear?
Mic placement is the most important thing here! I’ve done hundreds of videos with one, two or three mics on the kit. I’m assuming you’ve never watched the channel before?
I don't have such a problem with the fact that this is mostly quite an expensive mic collection. Since, for most of these mics, there are more affordable budget, or midrange alternatives. A cheaper alternative to a real U47 FET, is Warm Audio's and they use the even more affordable United 47. The Lauten snare mic isn't that expensive. Alternatives to Beyerdynamic M160s might be the much cheaper GAP R1-A, or maybe Cascade Fatheads with some bass cut and high-end lift. Austrian Audio OC16s are good cheaper alternatives to C414s. Line Audio CM4s are good budget alternatives to the Schoeps CMC6, or Oktava MK012s. A Cheap alternative to the AEA R-88 might be the GAP R1-ST stereo ribbon mic. And there's Warm Audio C-12 clones (& Mojave M-200 tube mic is really nice too). My budget is lower, so I use Beta 52A & JZ Vintage 67 on kick, and on snare ShureSM7b (bottom) & SM57 (top), Audix D4 (floor tom), Audix D2 (rack tom), Line Audio CM4 (overheads) & Austrian Audio OC16 (stereo room, or sometimes toms/snare bottom), GAP R1-A (mono room ribbon, front of kit, on-axis). Planning to get a second R1-A later for stereo. Would like Beyer MCE930 or Soyuz 013s for better overheads.
Warren, I record in Logic Pro and use the AI Drummer’s they have. Because it’s so easy and convenient! However, you once said you sampled your 74’ Ludwig snare. I think 74..? Anyway, I’d basically like to get a recorded sample from your Ludwig snare, any kicks you’ve recorded, overheads etc and substitute the midi files for the midi’s that logic has. All to get a higher quality drum sound with the function of Logics Drummer. Is there a way to do that and can you provide some details and or a video tutorial? I know I’m not the only one that likes the drummer function in Logic but wants to have different samples then what Logic has. Am I making sense :). Any help is appreciated and you are awesome to watch and pay attention to.
Hmm, if you record from the drummer-perspective, don't you reverse the image against the vocals? I never got why people do that. But hey, that's just my view on it. In my head it's the audience that has to listen to the 'performance' in front of them. If you reverse the drums it sounds off, right? The hi-hats f.e are in the wrong spot, they sound more to the left instead of right ,i f I'm looking at a live drum session. It sounds great nonetheless. Does he flip the stereo image in post?
Placing the kit in the right spot in the room is paramount yet totally ignored here Finding the soot were the low end of the floor or kick sound deep and tight is quite easy and frees you from having to compensate with processing
Yes but tgey did not share the importance of finding the optimal spot for the drums or any other instrument in the room is very important and easy to find and can make a huge difference especially on the low end part of the spectrum and save plenty of eq boosting - something worthwhile to share
With a very obviously modern built, symmetrical room such as this, drum placement usually based on many things, typically getting perfect imagery comes first.@@UdiKoomran I have done breakdowns, such as the Sunset Sound drum set up in studio one for instance, where I talk about achieving symmetry and also a mono room placement which brings additional low end to the drum sound
@@Producelikeapro I guess it seems like more mics because all the room mics are stereo pairs. But Hey, if you have pairs of R88’s and 251’s, Use them!! Haha. Those overhead mics sound great. Been tracking drums pretty heavily, I appreciate you touching on this subject again.
What are some of your favourite microphones for recording drums? Share below!
Aside from individual choices on drums, one of my favorite over top overall mics to use is the Rhodes NT1 A mic for a mix I can bring in stereo and broaden the over all sound.
Hmm SM57 LOL
AKG D112
Snare : sennheiser 421 ( from the 60‘s)
i do a lot of live sound, and i like the od5 from austrian audio on snare, because on a huge pa the room fills with a nice midrange, but snappy snare.
Flipping the top mic polarity is what I always do too. It makes sense physically because if you think about the drum itself, it's membrane is being pushed away from the mic first, aka a negative wavefront (low pressure) hits it first.. and of course the exact opposite for the bottom mic. So yeah, flipping the phase on the top is the way to go. Further more, you can also flip the phase of ALL microphones that point down towards the drumkit, including the overheads. This all makes physically sense and will usually yield in a more coherent drum sound when summed at the bus.
Thanks a million Nick, that was indeed a masterclass, great stuff. Big thanks to the PLAP team
Glad you enjoyed it
This has got to be the most expensive drum recording session ever.
Thanks for the comment! Not even close! Haha any classic recording studio with Vintage Mics would have cost so much more than this! The whole idea of this is show multiple duftend ways to record drums with multiple Mics
Any old established recording studio would have many hundreds of thoursands more mics! These are all new off the shelf mics
It's pretty funny when someone who points 2 AKG414 at the floor (almost 3k right there) and has 2 Neumann's all the way in the back as room mic number 15 and 16 "just in case" just kind of laughs off being told this is maybe a bit too expensive of a setup because vintage mics exist 😂
Definitely lol😂
You don't have to use expensive mics! The video is about the mic placement and how they sound!@@DamienTheCat My favourite room mics for The Fray and Aerosmith albums I did were a pair of SM57's against the wall! They sounded amazing!
Thank you so much for putting this together Warren! You Rock!
My pleasure!
Imported the multitracks and set all the close mics and overheads to nominal and all the "room" mics to -20. Sounded fantastic. I barely had to touch anything. These drums were tuned and recorded to perfection. Well done!
Thanks ever so much
I always enjoy Nick's playing and sounds. Glad to get some awesome samples!
Me too! Marvellous drummer!
I'm overwhelmed by the sound!
Marvellous
As a bass player can i just say WHAT A GROOVE!! Awesome informative stuff!!!!
Thanks ever so much!
Very cool seeing a different approach to recording drums. Yep, that's a lot of room mics - nice having options. It would be interesting to know what kind of drum heads were used and how much muffing was actually used as both of these contribute largely to the sound of the drums. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting point! Thanks for sharing that Tom!
The drums have a mix of Remo heads, coated Emperors on the tops of toms, clear Ambassadors on the bottoms, coated Powerstroke 3 on the batter side of the kick drum and a Fiberskyn on the reso head with kick drum pillow touching both heads. Snare was Coated vintage Ambassador and clear Ambassador Snare side.
@@sweetwater_studios Thank you for responding, that is helpful. I suspected that Emperors were used on the toms so you confirmed that. It's hard to tell from the video though how much muffling was used on the toms which also changes the sound as well. People like Todd Sucherman of Styx, Dave Weckl and many other pro drummers are using Remo Ambassador heads on tops and bottoms of toms with no muffling for a more open tom sound. I'm more of an ambassador guy myself and I just prefer that more open sound. Thanks for sharing your recording drums process, very interesting.
These are the videos I love to watch! Had to try a live stream after watching it!
Glad you like them!
The legend Jan Erik Kongshaug (ECM Godfather of sound engineering) would have given an appreciative nod regarding microphone placement. Thanks a lot for a brilliant review of a complicated and interesting topic
Thanks ever so much! I really appreciate it
THAT WATER BOTTLE!!!! ON $$$$$$ NEVE!!! Love it!
Absolutely superb content!
Glad you think so! Thanks ever so much
I got a bunch of cherries out of this session guys! Great communication and solid concepts and logic. Sometimes I need to be reminded to experiment and this session had many great examples with great results. Thanks a bunch!!!
Hi Mark, Thanks ever so much!
Great video! Most important takeaway…Nick is a badass player 🤜
Haha yes! Indeed!
Those drums sound fantastic! It goes to show capturing a great sound at the source is critical and makes a huge difference. That drummer is a beast for real. I am crafting out a percussion room with sennheiser small e906s close mics and e914s as overheads with a Neumann Tlm 102 as a room for now. I thought about trying to make a drum room but I do not see that is possible just yet, because the room is just as critical as the equipment itself.
Kick: Avantone Mondo, Snare: SM57, OH: pair of Se7, toms: t.bone CD55, room: t.bone SC1100.
Thanks for sharing!
You both are so great! Thanks for this demonstration of knowledge, experience and art! In this times, everyone have possibilities for digital music production, you show us the difference!
Thanks ever so much! I really appreciate it
Marvellous video
Thanks ever so much!
Love it!
Thanks!!
Sean is an incredible engineer and has just given all of you noobs an incredible insight into how important processing different types of room mics is. Jason… hats off to you as well my brother for inputting only what needed to be said and letting Sean speak about what he was doing. That shows a lot of maturity on your part as well as a willingness to learn from a great engineer.. this video should be mandatory to watching for any aspiring engineer. Nicely done on all accounts!
One of the best learning vids I've seen for drums... very informative. Nice job Warren.
Thanks ever so much!
Nick after playing for an hour straight: “Hey guys, are we done yet? My arms are about ready to fall off”. “Oh sorry, we went to lunch. Can you start over?” 😂
Haha he did an amazing job!
@@Producelikeapro i what to know how to mix song in Alternate Version no video how to do that on UA-cam
“I wish I would have played guitar”
Rofl😂
Those drums sound fantastic!
Glad you like them!
Nice to see I'm not alone in going with the m160 on hihats. Love that sound.
And obviously Nick is one of the greatest drummers out there.
I L:OVE the M160!
Nick de Virgilio, such a great drummer!!!
Wonderful drummer and great guy!
@@Producelikeapro for sure!
@@pablovazquez8386marvellous
D112 on kick, SM57 or Audix i5 on snare, Audix D2 & D4 on toms and Rode NT5 matched pair for overheads. Pretty standard stuff, but works really well.
Marvellous! Thanks for sharing
This is so good! Inspiring.
Thanks ever so much
Amazing content as always!!! Love it 👊🧡👍
Thank you 🙌
42:19. Perhaps the best pause screen of all time
What would be the Overhead positioning approach for the following:
- Big drumset with 3 rack toms (in typical positions) and two floor toms
- On the floor tom side there are a lot of cymbals (ride, big crash, big stack, china)
- One crash cymbals sits in the middle of the kit (basically over rack tom 3)
- There are a mini stack and a splash directly above toms 1 and 2
- One Crash on the hi-hat side
I have my overhead mics (SE8 small diaphragm cardioid) set up with equal distance from the snare center. The one on the floor tom side is a bit further away so it gets lowered. The one on the hi hat side is obviously a lit closer to the snare so it sits significantly higher. Floor tom side mic sits more or less in the middle of all the instruments on that side. Hi hat side mic sits above the outer edge of the crash cymbal.
I'm just not sure wether they are too far apart or not far enough and if I should gain match them or not (since floor tom side gets bashed with a lot more sounds than hi hat side). And if they maybe are to close to the drums or not close enough. Hi hat side mic is probably 1 meter above the crash cymbal and floor tom side mic is probably half a meter above the cymbals there.
I know it's hard to say without pictures but what are everybody's thoughts on this ?
Thanks!
Great video
Thanks ever so much!
NDV such an amazing drummer listen to him on Big Big Train
Yes, wonderful drummer and great guy!
Could you share what you mean by "flip the mix analog on the console" right around 42:30... Are you going thru your mixer to an interface and then back out of the interface into the same channels on the mixer? or are you doing patching between tracking and playback? would love to see a diagram or video of your connections! great video, btw. you guys are getting some great sounds!
Good video, the one thing I would have changed is the tom sound. They need to ring alittle, they sound like dead boxes. Everything else is great.
Absolutely! Tune the drums how you hear them
Really glad they addressed the lopsidedness of the equidistant mics. I will sometimes see overheads that are much more even in height and I always wondered what drove the less equidistant choice.
Depends on the drummers setup, but most of the time they are not lopsided
@mirkomarkovic3438 so, for standard spaced pair? There's the concern of it pulling the snare to one side though, yeah? And maybe that's okay. I'm no expert, and just curious how that is addressed in those scenarios
@@eweesplace equidistand from the snare doesn't mean they can't be at the same hight. As i said it depends on the setup, if he has a wide setup with more toms or cymbals you can get the same height
@mirkomarkovic3438 totally makes sense, thx.
great video, awesome info and gear working towards that...
Thanks ever so much
Incredible to watch! Man that TG1 sounds so damn cool the way it is compressing
Marvellous!
Love Chandler!
funny thing that perspective thing.. i'm a drummer, but ALWAYS use audience perspective. I dont produce drum tracks for drummers, but for the audience, the band and the producer. That's my reasoning. And my customers love that.
great tutorial! thanks!
Thanks ever so much
That XPressor is killer!!! 🔥🔥🔥
Pretty awesome!
Nick D'birgilio, one of my favorite drummers! Spock's Beard, but also Big Big Train, both superb underrated prog bands, he also played with Tears for fears live and Genesis in the studio. You should visit Rich Mousers studio , he's recorded and mixed most of the Spock's Beard, Transatlantic and Neal Morse Band records, and mixed the latest Liquid Tension Experiment as well 💪
Somehow I didn't even know the 545s were around! I've never seen one. Looks like I'm going to have to go buy a few of them.
Aha! Yes, there’s been a renewed interest since people found out they were used extensively to mic drums on the first few Van Halen albums!
without the proximity effect of Cardioids,
i tend to boost the low end.
... then you learn it leaves more space for Kick & Floor Toms.
All my favorite recordings were done on analog tape. In those days you didn’t have the luxury of so many mics due to track limitation. Usually close mics and 2 room mics was all you got. So you would need to really choose carefully how to set them up, what mics, how far you want them, where to point them and with what polar pattern, etc...
Great vid. At the 51:33 mark, the close mics are un muted as certain room mics are playing and the kick sounds punchy but then he presses some buttons after that and the kick/kit loses its bottom end and punch. Whats happening there?
He’s playing the parallel processing then adds close Mics then blends. Might be best to rewatch. All about getting the balance between the elements
Parallel processing brought up all the low end, super compressed, then it's blended in lower. I suggest you download the tracks and hear for yourself
Exactly! It was the same mics, however they were crushed so the low end was exaggerated@@thesongacademy5017
What monitor speakers were you guys using? I didn't notice you switching much.
You can never have enough room mics
Haha very true!
Whenever I track drums in untreated rooms, I need zero room mics xD
Do you not baffle tight to the kit to prevent excessive bleed?@@LeChapeauMusic
@@Producelikeapro not on the OHs :)
Good show and great course. They are showing how to get at least a 32 channel board filled up with a very small dum kit. If you want to record a whole band.....the engineer must say "sorry, no more channels left, we used them all for the drum kit" LoL.
😂
Haha well of course showing a multitude of micing techniques iOS going to require that! Better than just showing 0ne way to record drums!
@@Producelikeapro yes true, amazing to hear all those different room mic options and techniques. I have miced my kit aswell and use very good mics and 500 series preamps and outboard gear. But I don’t have a single room mic, just because I have no space for it. My drum room is a very small room inside a world war 2 bunker from 1941 in Frankfurt/Germany. I wish I would have s bigger room, maybe in the future.
Ahh I like that Nick said he flips the polarity of the snare top, instead of the bottom. I remember seeing a video from Jeremy from Recording Studio Loser, where he likes to keep the initial attack of his drums in the positive polarity, and the snare top is usually negative as the head is going away from the mic. Gives them all a bit more punch since the speakers are pushing towards you and not away. Nice to confirm that method for myself.
🤯👍
Some people flip the overheads for the same effect.
Flipping the polarity of the snare top may make it sound more in phase with the overheads (reversing the polarity of the overheads will do the same), however the mics are pointing in the same direction so the snare would actually be inverted. That was one 'old skool' solution some engineers did. These days we can delay the snare slightly to the overheads or some people like to use autoalign software. I hope that helps?
Indeed Sixstring!
I love 545s on snare
Agreed 100%!
thank you heaps!!
I love this, however, you guys should do another video where you are in a very small room where you are not micing so much of the room. This is great though. I have never seen someone use so many room mics, on axis and off, wild stuff!!
I have a lot of videos using one mic, two mics, three etc in my small studios live room!
Excellent
@5:11 not a fan of Hi-Hats...?!? lol who isn't a fan of the main time keeper on the drum kit.. its one of my favorite, and one of the most interesting things about the drum kit..
He's not saying he doesn't like hi hats specifically, it's about how they balance in the drum kit. Bleeding into the snare in particular is a big problem and getting g drummers to have them above the snare enough can be an issue, using darker hats can help too of course!
Great Video!!!
Glad you enjoyed it
mics and drums are cool and all.... but can somebody tell me about these lights hanging off the mic stands?? I need some of those in my life!
Haha I can't! Sean would know! Sean?
When I retired from performing, I had to sell my Ludwigs in Order to get some high quality recording equipment,but before I sold it, I spent a week. Sampling my drum set. So now whenever I play my electric kit I can hear my ludwigs haha
excellent
Thanks ever so much
These kind of setups always make me wonder if it actually is a benefit. Like the microphone on the floor or the two microphones up in the corner. I am surprised he wasn't like "this microphone will pickup my fart noises as I air drum"
"this microphone is outside. It pickups the windowed noise. Then lastly we have this microphone on a drone. It will catch the atmospheric frequency and give a reverb effect."
Schoeps und die 160 er stehen auf meiner Liste zum habe wollen….das Lauten klingt lecker .Warum wird im Studio so wenig Grenzfläche als Kick in benutzt? Von Beyerdynamic gibt es eine kleine hervorragende grenzfläche? Wie wäre es im Raum Kleinmembran Mikrofone zu habe da die gewöhnlich den Raum besser darstellen?🤔 aber interessant 😉 das ev Mikro ist oft unterschätzt
Grenzflächen werden benutzt, vorallem für Metal, weil die sehr clickig und direkt klingen, die "Standard-Kombo" ist Sennheiser E901 und ein Audix D6 (als Kick out). klingt schön fett, aber kontrolliert in die Fresse :).
M160 sind richtig geil, leider sind die in den letzten Monaten im Preis deutlich gestiegen :(
Kleinmembraner sind tatsächlich eine Gute wahl für Roommics, man muss nur aufpassen, dass die Becken dann nicht zu schrill werden, und mit großmembraner, oder sogar Bändchenmikros hat man deutlich mehr Mitte
@@kristianmarschewski1590 jipp da hast du recht…deswegen war ich froh das mal einer die Schoeps genommen hat,die klingen nicht so überbetont und den Raum bringen die auch hervorragend……suche nach kleiinmembranern ohne Presentzanhebung und gute Raumaulösung😉 hab selbst line Audio cm4
True schau dir vielleicht mal die kleinmembraner von austrian audio an, die könnten dir gefallen
I learned from this Masterclass that to get a good room sound you need to be rich
Haha not at all! You can use different more affordable Mics! It’s the placement that matters! And of course the room!
My big room sound for the Fray and Aerosmith albums was a pair of SM57s! $99 each!
Feeling a bit insecure about my Audix drum mic set at the moment. Thanks guys! hahah ;P Thanks for the video.
Haha I love Audio Mics!
Thx for the video!
A very good experience listening to these drums (downloaded files).
I'd say, that im working with a drummer from Ukraine who built his own studio in a garage. Bought some unexpensive mics (like B52, B91 and so on). He records himself with an Antelope interface. Well... He doesn't get less good results... Actually I Like this Ukranian recordings more than the sound in this video...
Also I recently was recording drums with an RME Fireface UFX III interface (plus an RME XTC). I got a very good result that I like more than the sound of the drums from this videos recording.
In my academy years I was using Millenia preamps (16 of them) to record drums and I got an ASTONISHINGLY good result.
So, yeah, twas a very helpful video. Thank you again. Guess this video helped me understand (again) that having a lot of expensive mics and equipment doesn't give the one the best result by default.
When I saw the console in the video - I was waiting for an extremely good sound, but the more I got into the video the less I liked what I heard. And with every step of the processing, the sound got worse. Twas especially bothersome to hear how high frequecies started popping out in the end of the video.
Not trying to be rude. Just analysing.
Was listening on Kii Three speakers in an acoustically treated room.
Great! Thanks for sharing! Can you send me the raw tracks of the drums you prefer? Would love to hear them! By the way Antelope make great interfaces and they aren't cheap, we've featured them quite a few times!
“We have never used this mic before” - lmao there’s nothing but drum stick dust ALL over the mic 😂😂 I love it
We just put it up that day! It came out, that day! Haha Nick had been recording with it that day! So yes, there was drum stick dust on it. Haha
Yes the Lauten snare mic came out a couple of weeks ago LOL! No way they could have used it for any period of time before
Yes!! We got it that day!!@@sixstringalliance4417
What's the measurements of the room mic ratio to the overheads mics?
DUDE!!! Mad props/ points for the Topo on the console!! 👊🏼🤘🏻😅
I can't figure out one thing: there is something that appears to sound like pre-ringing on snare mics, or maybe one of the two. I hear sound coming before the snare hit. Can anyone explain that please?
There sure are a bunch of mics on that set. Sheesh!
Yes, download the multitracks and listen to them in any combination you like!
With love to see this kind of tutorial in a Home studio situation...... My guess is.
Not a lot of people who watch your channel have million dollars studios with live rooms and three thousand dollar mikes...... Still cool to see how the pro's work
Of course! I have a lot of one mic, two mic etc videos! Most of my mic reviews use very simple drum recording set ups!
Warren, I have followed you for several years. You have helped me, and thank you for all your hard work. When you put out videos like these, they are interesting, but not helpful for my situation. I am sure there there are many others like me. I don't have 30k in microphones. I don't have a big room with thousands of dollars of gear. What I want to see is getting a drum sound in a small basement with 8 foot ceilings with two 8 channels interfaces daisy changed together. I want to know how to record in small rooms with cheaper equipment. How do I make the best of less than idea environments with less than idea gear?
Fascinating Video, but closer to £100k in microphines by my Maths... wow !
Mic placement is the most important thing here! I’ve done hundreds of videos with one, two or three mics on the kit. I’m assuming you’ve never watched the channel before?
@@garethpepin6167there’s lots of videos with just one mic, even less than $300 Mics on drums we’ve done
If this was at Sunset Sound for instabnce it would probably be closer to 500k worth of mics! Vintage Neumann U47's, 67's, 251's etc@@garethpepin6167
Nothing compared to old schoool studios mic collection@@garethpepin6167
I don't have such a problem with the fact that this is mostly quite an expensive mic collection. Since, for most of these mics, there are more affordable budget, or midrange alternatives. A cheaper alternative to a real U47 FET, is Warm Audio's and they use the even more affordable United 47. The Lauten snare mic isn't that expensive. Alternatives to Beyerdynamic M160s might be the much cheaper GAP R1-A, or maybe Cascade Fatheads with some bass cut and high-end lift. Austrian Audio OC16s are good cheaper alternatives to C414s. Line Audio CM4s are good budget alternatives to the Schoeps CMC6, or Oktava MK012s. A Cheap alternative to the AEA R-88 might be the GAP R1-ST stereo ribbon mic. And there's Warm Audio C-12 clones (& Mojave M-200 tube mic is really nice too). My budget is lower, so I use Beta 52A & JZ Vintage 67 on kick, and on snare ShureSM7b (bottom) & SM57 (top), Audix D4 (floor tom), Audix D2 (rack tom), Line Audio CM4 (overheads) & Austrian Audio OC16 (stereo room, or sometimes toms/snare bottom), GAP R1-A (mono room ribbon, front of kit, on-axis). Planning to get a second R1-A later for stereo. Would like Beyer MCE930 or Soyuz 013s for better overheads.
That is a lot of microphones😀😀😀😊😊
Warren, I record in Logic Pro and use the AI Drummer’s they have. Because it’s so easy and convenient! However, you once said you sampled your 74’ Ludwig snare. I think 74..? Anyway, I’d basically like to get a recorded sample from your Ludwig snare, any kicks you’ve recorded, overheads etc and substitute the midi files for the midi’s that logic has. All to get a higher quality drum sound with the function of Logics Drummer.
Is there a way to do that and can you provide some details and or a video tutorial? I know I’m not the only one that likes the drummer function in Logic but wants to have different samples then what Logic has.
Am I making sense :). Any help is appreciated and you are awesome to watch and pay attention to.
Here's a link to my free drums samples and more! producelikeapro.lpages.co/plap-free-stuff-without-trial/
Appreciate the link and appreciate you. Thank you!!
You're very welcome!@@Pickles-s5k
i have the opposite haircut, short on top and long on the sides, can i still get a good sound?
Can you get a great sound with a Mullet? Good question! Sounds like you’ve got a Billy Ray Cyrus haircut! Go country!
Do you have a track list
Kick In - Shure Beta 52a
Kick Out - United Fet 47
Snare top - Lauten Snare Mic
Snare Bottom - Shure 545
High Hat - Beyerdynamic M160
Rack Tom - DPA 4011
Floor Tom - DPA 4011
Overhead Hat - Schoeps CMC-6 MK4
Overhead Ride - Schoeps CMC-6 MK4
Off Axis Blumlein - AEA R88
Off Axis Pair - Telefunken 251
Off Axis Far Pair - AKG 414 XLS
On Axis Blumlein - AEA R88a
On Axis Pair - Telefunken C12
Boundry Pair - Earthworks QTC 40
Dynamic Pair - Electro-voice 635
Far Mid Hight - Mojave MA-37
Far High Hight - Neumann M149
Vocal Mic - Telefunken U47 - 1176
Seem like everybody has there own favorite mic'ing and placement
The room mics alone are worth over 50 grand. Oh, there might be more, I don't know, I can't see through my tears.
You don't have to buy the same mics! Haha You can use the positioning though!
Maybe you have covered it already, but I would like to see micing options under £1000.
Yes! We’ve done lots of drum recording with one mic, two or even three Mics!
those stands to hold pencil condensers
If you've got them use them!
Hmm, if you record from the drummer-perspective, don't you reverse the image against the vocals?
I never got why people do that. But hey, that's just my view on it. In my head it's the audience that has to listen to the 'performance' in front of them. If you reverse the drums it sounds off, right?
The hi-hats f.e are in the wrong spot, they sound more to the left instead of right ,i f I'm looking at a live drum session. It sounds great nonetheless. Does he flip the stereo image in post?
Can you give us a track list.
Kick In - Shure Beta 52a
Kick Out - United Fet 47
Snare top - Lauten Snare Mic
Snare Bottom - Shure 545
High Hat - Beyerdynamic M160
Rack Tom - DPA 4011
Floor Tom - DPA 4011
Overhead Hat - Schoeps CMC-6 MK4
Overhead Ride - Schoeps CMC-6 MK4
Off Axis Blumlein - AEA R88
Off Axis Pair - Telefunken 251
Off Axis Far Pair - AKG 414 XLS
On Axis Blumlein - AEA R88a
On Axis Pair - Telefunken C12
Boundry Pair - Earthworks QTC 40
Dynamic Pair - Electro-voice 635
Far Mid Hight - Mojave MA-37
Far High Hight - Neumann M149
Vocal Mic - Telefunken U47 - 1176
Can you tell us where you used the compressor for parallel compression. Which set of room mics you use the parallel compression on.
I’ll take one of each please…
How much? Oh.
Glyn johns has entered the chat… 😂
BIG LIKE FROM "ISRAEL" !!
Henry Hart works at Sweetwater now?
I imagine that's a joke? However I have no idea who Henry Hart is!
@@Producelikeapro he's from the shoe 'Henry Danger'. Find a picture or a video clip and you'll instantly get it!😅😅
How many mics should we use for this?
yes.
Thats alot of room mic's, 🤖🛸
Yes! As a demo it shows multiple ways of micing and you can use any combination of Mics you want to use
Super top🫶🏾
I think they need more mics.
Haha it is a demo of multiple ways to record drums! You can blend any combination you like!
Lol. I’ve heard 3 mic set up sound just as good going thru my Clarett with slate plug ins. But this is fun to watch. All the gear I can’t afford.
Fantastic! Please send to me at warren@producelikeapor.com! Would love to hear them!
Man. Thats a lot of room mics.
Yes! All done to demo how the different variations will sound!
The drummers amazing playing makes it hard for me to focus on the actual masterclass 😅
That's a quality problem
Placing the kit in the right spot in the room is paramount yet totally ignored here
Finding the soot were the low end of the floor or kick sound deep and tight is quite easy and frees you from having to compensate with processing
They’ve recorded drums in that room many, many times and that is definitely the optimal spot.
Yes but tgey did not share the importance of finding the optimal spot for the drums or any other instrument in the room is very important and easy to find and can make a huge difference especially on the low end part of the spectrum and save plenty of eq boosting - something worthwhile to share
With a very obviously modern built, symmetrical room such as this, drum placement usually based on many things, typically getting perfect imagery comes first.@@UdiKoomran I have done breakdowns, such as the Sunset Sound drum set up in studio one for instance, where I talk about achieving symmetry and also a mono room placement which brings additional low end to the drum sound
in the beginning of the video, Shawn talks about how the sound of the kit in the room is more important than any mic technique, or processing...
Yeah, I heard that too@@dustinthiessen
a few more room mics and then we'll have it
Haha indeed! For educational purposes I wanted them to show MANY room micing options!
@@Producelikeapro absolutely. Those tom mics are incredible
Absolutely!@@Kevinbabbmusic
That tall drink next to the console is trouble😮😅😢
Those two guys would be kicked out of my studio. Putting a soft- drink right beside the mixing desk like that.
- How many room mics do we put?
- Yes
Indeed! Any pair can be used for a desired sound. That’s the beauty of recording in a big room and being able to showcase different micing techniques
Those M160's definitely don't look "matched" lol.
That is also an insane amount of mics.
You probably don't use 50% of those mics in the mix.
Exactly! The idea of doing a recording Drums masterclass was to show off multiple ways of recording!
Also, I will overdo it and then pick and choose on the final mix
Better to have and not use than to not have!
Haben ist besser als brauchen 😉🙃
@@Producelikeapro I guess it seems like more mics because all the room mics are stereo pairs. But Hey, if you have pairs of R88’s and 251’s, Use them!! Haha. Those overhead mics sound great. Been tracking drums pretty heavily, I appreciate you touching on this subject again.