How To Set Up Overhead Mics For Drums
Drum Overhead Techniques For Incredible Sounding Drums
Reading time: 5-7 minutes
I like to think that pulsate overheads capture the bulk of the sound for the kit. This isn't always the instance, as information technology depends on the style and the engineer. But for the most part, the overhead mic placement is where you get the large picture of the kit. And then let'due south talk about a few drum overhead techniques y'all tin can use to get a dandy drum sound.
XY
Setup is pretty well as it sounds, put the mics right next to each over the kit, with ane mic pointing towards one side of the kit, one pointing the other. The almost class a "V" when done right. The big advantage to this method is that the phase correlation betwixt the 2 mics is great. If the 2 mics are summed to mono, such as though a telephone speaker, at that place is little signal loss due to destructive interference. All the same, this miking configuration does not provide a very broad stereo epitome. If you lot're looking for something a bit tighter, this may be the technique for you!
SPACED PAIR
This is probably the most common method for miking overheads. One mic goes above the left side of the kit pointing down, the other goes on the right. Each mic captures the side of the kit that they're on. This gives yous a nice wide image of the kit, however this tin can certainly innovate some stage problems, and some weird panning side effects. You can match the level of the snare in both mics, however your boot pulsate volition cease up of to the side, so volition all the toms. I'll requite you a solution to this afterwards.
ORTF
ORTF is similar to XY, notwithstanding there is a space between the two microphones. Typically, in that location would be about 17 cm between the capsules of each overhead microphone, and they would be angled 110 degrees apart from each other. As you might expect, non quite the phase issues as the spaced pair method, just much wider than the XY pattern. Let's call this a happy medium.
MID SIDE
I'grand going to exist totally honest with y'all, I've never tried mid side on overheads. I've done information technology on room mics and acoustic guitars but not overheads. So I can describe it to you. The "mid" mic is a cardiod mic point directly at the source (probably the snare pulsate). The "Side" mic is a microphone in figure eight pattern, with the forepart and dorsum being both perpendicular to the mid mic. Take the "side" mic, duplicate it, hard pan the original side mic left, hard pan the indistinguishable right, and flip the phase on one side. Put the "mid" channel panned in the eye to cancel the phase issues.
The best office of this technique is that when you sum to mono, the "side" channels cancel each other out (equally they're 180 out of phase) and you just get the "mid" microphone. So the stereo image adapts into a mono paradigm automatically. Absurd! I'1000 going to try this presently and report on my results :)
RECORDERMAN
This is a weird one. One microphone goes about 32 inches higher up the snare and pointing right at it. The other microphone goes right higher up the drummers right shoulder, also pointing right at the snare. You then take a cord or a cable and clench it with the kick pedal against the front kick drum head. Then pull it straight upwardly to the microphone over the snare pulsate. Wrap it over your finger at this indicate, then pull the remainder downwards to the middle of the snare. Hold all that in place. Then motility your finger that was almost the one microphone to the other microphone. Go equally shut as you can, and and so move the other microphone to wear your finger is. Check out this video for a guide: Recorderman Setup.
This technique leaves a gap in the centre of the image for the shut mics, leaves the kick and snare in the eye, gets a good wide prototype, and avoids mono phase issues. Try information technology out!
SIDEWAYS SPACED PAIR
Then this technique is ane of my own, and I don't know what to call it. And then its the Sideways Spaced Pair. Deal with information technology! #trademark
In this technique, we're taking the principles of Recorderman and from Spaced Pair. I want to create the width of a spaced pair, but I like the natural panning of the Recorderman technique. So, take the middle of snare drum and the front of the kicking drum head, and imagine theres a vertical aeroplane, almost a halfway point of the kit. In another perspective, stand directly in front of the kit and imagine a halfway indicate between the left and right, then move to the left and imagine a halfway betoken. Nosotros want to put the overheads equidistance from the mid point. A third way way to look at information technology is only rotating the spaced pair microphones then that the mic to the drummers left is further away from the drummer, and the mic to the correct is closer. And so what does this do? Information technology puts the kick and snare in the centre of the stereo image, and it pans the hats and toms naturally in the overheads. It still has the broad image of spaced pair and helps create a better phase relationship. So its got the best of the Spaced Pair technique and the Recorderman technique. Give it a effort!
Well, there'southward all the drum overhead techniques I employ! There are certainly more than techniques out there, only these are the about common. Permit me know if you have any fancy techniques you'd similar to share!
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Cheers!
Brad
Velveteen Audio
Almost THE AUTHOR:
Brad is the owner/founder of Velveteen Audio. He produces with the duo Towers and plays in his own project called Optics .
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Source: https://www.velveteenaudio.com/blog/2017/1/30/drum-overheads
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