Recording - January 2012 - 46

(which will often sound like too much) or on your studio monitors, when you hear the mix in the real world, like in a car or on a computer, the panning almost never seems as wide as you were intending. Playing with space and tone: If you have the luxury of a great open room, always use one or two room mics. They make a much more unique alternative to simply slathering a dry kit in digital reverb, although that is fun too. Of all the drum setups, a multiple mic setup offers the most control for tonal shaping of the kit into the mix. Just like with panning, I recommend that you not be shy or precious—this is why you miked and tracked every

The 3-to-4ish mic setup
This setup can be essentially a variation on the Glyn Johns setup, or just about any other of the historic setups Mr. Stamler talks about in his article (see page 28), and most of the time we just file it under “vintage”. Aside from being practical in situations when all you have are 3–4 inputs, it also yields great results for Jazz, classic RnB, Indie and Punk Rock, and any style where you want to treat the kit itself as one instrument as opposed to a large collection of smaller instruments. Whether you are sticking with the strict placement of the Johns method

even artificially replace an element in the mix. And even though the kick and snare are still on their own, their (intended) bleed into the overheads will also be more noticeable, so even only tweaking their tracks too much may sound odd or unnatural in the mix. Vibe over perfection: Of course the fact that the kit is taken as a whole is part of this method’s appeal and as such the kit should be pre-tweaked and tuned to fit the vibe and sound of the track. The kit could be open, boomy and unmuffled, or small and tight in a slappy room—just have a sound in mind first! Knowing the songs and arrangement beforehand will help. One of the biggest mistakes I find when tracking this way is a client who wants a big vintage wide open drum sound in a large “wet” room, who then proceeds to be disappointed that said vibe gets lost once they layer on 5 dense guitar tracks, keyboards and such.

piece of the kit in the first place—you wanted the control, so use it! Eq and compression can be dangerous, but that is half the fun! Could less be more? Having said that, however, the reverse is also true—just because you miked everything up does not mean you have to use it. The outer kick mic may sound great by itself, as might the top snare mic. The biggest mic that I typically see engineers foregoing is the hi-hat mic, since the hat tends to bleed mercilessly into every other mic anyway. Of course, once you get past that point and move into dropping the tom mics and just going with their sound in the overheads, then it’s time to consider...
46
RECORDING JANUARY 2012

or not, most setups such as this will typically include one to two overhead mics with a kick and/or a snare mic for reinforcement. When mixing this setup you will be treating the drums as one stereo or even mono instrument. Your choices will be limited to the width of the kit’s image, and you’ll find that either A) the kick and snare drive the song with subtle reinforcement from the overheads, or B) the complete opposite is true. The sum is greater than its parts! In this setup, the sound and tuning of the drums is even more important than when miking up each kit piece individually, as there are little to no options to fix, to re-eq, tweak or

Placement and mic-style choices Kick, snare and toms: Mic choices for kick, snare, and toms (if you mike toms at all) remain similar to those in other miking setups. Overheads: It’s the overhead mic choice and their placement that is key in this configuration. Again, small- or large-diaphragm mics are the most appropriate depending on your needs and taste, but more importantly, how do you set them up? Of course the Johns method with its adjacent planes is one option. A simple X/Y mic setup (mics pointing at each other at a 90 degree angle) works well here and offers a nice tight phase-



Recording - January 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2012

Recording - January 2012
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
2011 AES Convention Report
“How I Like To Record My Drums”
Neumann KH 120 A Monitors
Mojave Audio MA-300 Multi-Pattern Tube Condenser Microphone
Recording Drums—Then and Now
Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 1: What Is Good?
Drumming and Drummers and Mics—Oh My!
Mixing Live Drum Tracks
Arturia Analog Experience: The Laboratory 49
Readers’ Tapes
Advertiser Index
iOS Music Tools: Analog Synthesis on iOS
2011 Annual Index
Fade Out
Recording - January 2012 - intro
Recording - January 2012 - Recording - January 2012
Recording - January 2012 - Cover2
Recording - January 2012 - 1
Recording - January 2012 - Fade In
Recording - January 2012 - 3
Recording - January 2012 - Contents
Recording - January 2012 - 5
Recording - January 2012 - Talkback
Recording - January 2012 - 7
Recording - January 2012 - Fast Forward
Recording - January 2012 - 9
Recording - January 2012 - 2011 AES Convention Report
Recording - January 2012 - 11
Recording - January 2012 - 12
Recording - January 2012 - 13
Recording - January 2012 - 14
Recording - January 2012 - 15
Recording - January 2012 - 16
Recording - January 2012 - 17
Recording - January 2012 - “How I Like To Record My Drums”
Recording - January 2012 - 19
Recording - January 2012 - 20
Recording - January 2012 - 21
Recording - January 2012 - 22
Recording - January 2012 - 23
Recording - January 2012 - Neumann KH 120 A Monitors
Recording - January 2012 - 25
Recording - January 2012 - Mojave Audio MA-300 Multi-Pattern Tube Condenser Microphone
Recording - January 2012 - 27
Recording - January 2012 - Recording Drums—Then and Now
Recording - January 2012 - 29
Recording - January 2012 - 30
Recording - January 2012 - 31
Recording - January 2012 - 32
Recording - January 2012 - 33
Recording - January 2012 - 34
Recording - January 2012 - 35
Recording - January 2012 - 36
Recording - January 2012 - 37
Recording - January 2012 - Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 1: What Is Good?
Recording - January 2012 - 39
Recording - January 2012 - Drumming and Drummers and Mics—Oh My!
Recording - January 2012 - 41
Recording - January 2012 - 42
Recording - January 2012 - 43
Recording - January 2012 - 44
Recording - January 2012 - 45
Recording - January 2012 - 46
Recording - January 2012 - 47
Recording - January 2012 - Mixing Live Drum Tracks
Recording - January 2012 - 49
Recording - January 2012 - 50
Recording - January 2012 - 51
Recording - January 2012 - 52
Recording - January 2012 - 53
Recording - January 2012 - 54
Recording - January 2012 - 55
Recording - January 2012 - Arturia Analog Experience: The Laboratory 49
Recording - January 2012 - 57
Recording - January 2012 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - January 2012 - Advertiser Index
Recording - January 2012 - iOS Music Tools: Analog Synthesis on iOS
Recording - January 2012 - 61
Recording - January 2012 - 62
Recording - January 2012 - 63
Recording - January 2012 - 64
Recording - January 2012 - 65
Recording - January 2012 - 66
Recording - January 2012 - 67
Recording - January 2012 - 68
Recording - January 2012 - 69
Recording - January 2012 - 2011 Annual Index
Recording - January 2012 - 71
Recording - January 2012 - Fade Out
Recording - January 2012 - Cover3
Recording - January 2012 - Cover4
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