LinuxMusicians

...it's a good predicament.

okay, so i'm going to start recording a new project, and a friend is going to let me use his museum-quality RCA 44-bx. he just got it (and paid a fortune). it sounds unbelievably gorgeous, but i don't want to be the one who beaks it, right?

i only have an m-audio audiophile 24/96 card in my box (only 2 ch input), so when i start with the drums, it'll be only a few mics, mixed to stereo before it hits my soundcard.

my big question is, how close can i get this mic SAFELY? (my CAD condenser as an OH looking at my snare, a 57 on snare close, and the RCA a few feet away, looking at the kit as if you were sitting on the floor, facing the drummer, a few feet back. i also plan on sticking a wind screen in front of it.

no disrespect intended, but please don't answer this if you don't have first-hand experience with this mic - i don't want to guess, and i don't want to mess this microphone up - thanks

Ribbon mics have high SPL tollerances so you probably don't have to worry about that. But they don't take kindly to wind or impacts. A sideways orientation can sometimes bypass wind issues. But you are right to be cautious and careful. If it was any other mic you could probably get away with an outdoor light cover, the metal frame ones to keep rocks from breaking lights. They're quite common on military bases. Put the mic inside and cover with a womans nylon to mitigate some of the wind issues, without too much trauma on the recorded sound.

You don't need to take any special precautions when using a ribbon as an overhead (ie, not close-miked on a drum), except of course make sure any phantom-power on your mixer is off.

But do note what will affect the sound you get from your overheads, moreso than mic choice even, is the sound of your room, and the drum tuning. If you've got a room with nasty slap echoes, or the drums aren't tuned to minimize ringing overtunes (especially on toms), or the drums have lousy heads, you'll get really poor results. Recording a drumkit is one of the hardest things to do well, and I spend about an hour just tuning a kit.

j_e_f_f_g wrote:Recording a drumkit is one of the hardest things to do well,.

that's why I use one of those:

thanks fellas,
new heads, and the room sounds beautiful - recorded there before - very Zeppeliny... apart from the customary puff of air from the kick drum, there won't be any wind, as such. so 3 or 4 feet from the kit oughta be okay?

ps, i always liked my cad, but in a taste-test, the rca made it sound like a tie-clip mic in contrast

Capoeira wrote:I use one of those

What are you using for hihat? And what is generating the drum sounds?

j_e_f_f_g wrote:

Capoeira wrote:I use one of those

What are you using for hihat? And what is generating the drum sounds?

ohhh that's not my kit, but the highhat is obviously the most left pad.
I use my kit with hydrogen over midi

zzzxyz wrote:3 or 4 feet

Fine.

I experimented with a bunch of mics for overhead drums, including a few Beyer ribbons. But I always liked the AKG C414 best.

What really surprised me is how little difference I heard between the Shure sm57 and Neumann u87 close-miked on toms.

Capoeira wrote:highhat is the left pad.

I worked with a drummer who used Roland pads, but still used real cymbals and hihat. I can't imagine a pad being very playable as a hihat.

I use my kit with hydrogen over midi

And you like that? Last time i tried hydrogen, I found it uninspiring for drums. Does it allow for multi-sampling (at different velocities), 32-bit mixing, and round-robin triggering?

j_e_f_f_g wrote:

Capoeira wrote:highhat is the left pad.

I worked with a drummer who used Roland pads, but still used real cymbals and hihat. I can't imagine a pad being very playable as a hihat.

I'm not a real drummer, can't compare to the real thing but I use one of those for hihat/cymbals which react more like the real thing: http://www.newcastledrum.co.uk/4220-101 ... at-pad.jpg
there are even special hihat pads: http://www.derringers.com.au/product_im ... 0_zoom.jpg

j_e_f_f_g wrote:
And you like that? Last time i tried hydrogen, I found it uninspiring for drums. Does it allow for multi-sampling (at different velocities), 32-bit mixing, and round-robin triggering?

multisampling depends on the drumkit.....those default ones are not realy usable.
32-bit mixing I don't know and I don't know what that round-robin triggering is