Recording - January 2015 - 17

cardioids, or a Blumlein Pair positioning
for ribbons. Both of these techniques
require that the pair of mics are as close
together as they can be (stacked vertically), with capsules at 90 degrees to one
another.
Another useful 2-channel technique is
the wide spaced pair. Whereas with the
stereo mic, since the capsules are coincident (or at least as coincident as is physically possible), phase is not an issue, with
a wide spaced pair, make sure you abide
by The 3 to 1 Rule-your mics must be
three times farther apart than the distance
from any mic to a sound source. Wide
spaced pairs can be placed in any distance and elevation relationship to the
drum kit you can imagine. I have come to
really like ribbon mics for this application,

Though I'm perfectly well aware of the
potential for hearing damage that accompanies high sound pressure level, I have
to admit that for me, "hearing" with my
body is an important (and pleasurable!)
aspect of engineering. There's a subwoofer in my control room; I'm absolutely certain that my work wouldn't be as
good without it. So, with the idea in mind
that we want to translate not just the
sound of the drums, but the feel of them
as well, let's proceed.
If you want drums to translate well in a
recording, you have to know the essential
nature of their acoustic sound-you have
to know how they feel close up. In 1962
or 1963, Norman Smith would have chosen the Coles mics and their relatively
close proximity to the sound sources for a

Keep it in phase
When there's more than one microphone in a setup, signal coherency/phase
becomes an important consideration-this
subject is a book unto itself. Simply put, in
order to convey maximum power of the
recorded image of an acoustic source,
sound must travel an equal distance from
the source into multiple microphones collecting the sound. With a drum kit, where
there may be more than a dozen individual sound sources, this is a very tall (impossible) order, so we do the best we can.
Remember that "room sound" isn't just a
result of multiple pathways between source
and microphone (e.g. reverb), but that due
to the speed of sound, it just takes longer for
the shortest path from a source to directly
reach a distant mic than it does for it to
By Bruce Kaphan

Get the most out of the mics you own and capture great drum sounds
but condensers are equally valid-just
watch out that they don't sound too
splashy. If your intent is to have the drums
centered in your mix, then the most important consideration in placing a wide
spaced pair is to position the mics in such
a way that with the left mic panned hard
left and the right mic panned hard right,
you hear a kick drum that's centered in
your mix.
Feel the low end
Giving away my age, back when I was
a kid, for a brief period of time "The Deaf
Club" was a phenomenon in San
Francisco. Herb Caen wrote in his daily
San Francisco Chronicle column, Have A
Weird Day, August 13, 1979: "I don't
know about you, but I find it slightly
bizarre that The Deaf Club at 530
Valencia-indeed a social hangout for
deaf people-features punk rock groups,
such as Zen, Off, The Pink Section, Blow
Driers and Mutants. 'The louder the better!' beams Edward Juaregui, executive
director of Deaf Self Help. 'We all like to
dance, and we can feel the vibrations.'
How about the neighbors? 'Oh,' continued Edward, 'They're going crazy. They
keep calling the cops, complaining the
noise is deafening. Isn't that rich?'."
My point is that though our ears are our
most significant auditory sensors, we
don't just hear with our ears, we sense
vibration with our bodies. Especially in
an era where track and channel count is
essentially unlimited, when recording
instruments like drums that produce a lot
of sound pressure and/or low-frequency
information, you must also "listen" with
your body.

variety of reasons. Part of his reasoning
would likely have been that he knew that
The Beatles had a reputation for having a
powerful "live" sound, and Norman
Smith's experience in the studio had
taught him that one aspect of capturing a
powerful sound was to place the mics relatively close to the source. Anyone who
has used a Coles STC4038 knows their
low frequency response is absolutely
amazing-so powerful! And their high
frequency response is very detailed and
natural sounding. This is why even more
than 50 years later, the 4038 is still a
popular choice for drum overhead or distant miking.

directly reach a close mic-utilizing simultaneous close and distant miking, technically
we're already horribly out of phase. But it
sounds good because it sounds natural-
most of the sound in the real world exhibits
very complicated phase relationships.
Be aware of the 3 To 1 Rule when placing mics, use common sense to set the polarity (often called "phase" even though it technically isn't) on your preamps once your
mics are in position, learn the telltale sound
of phase cancellation, check your stereo mix
against a mono version of your mix to make
sure you don't lose power by going to
mono, and learn to use a phase meter or
plug-in. Be aware of losing loudness when
RECORDING January 2015

Recording - January 2015

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