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In Reply to: The Shure SM81 and mic'ing drums posted by quantumeffect on January 8, 2005 at 20:31:36:
on January 08, 2005 at 20:31:36 quantumeffect wrote:>>Here is my issue and question. I would like to isolate the snare from the overhead mic’s and I was thinking of close mic’ing the cymbals by mounting the SM81’s upside-down under the cymbals. Do you think it is OK to close mic a percussive instrument with an SM81?<<
Two problems with that idea: #1, the SM81's cardioid polar pattern is not so tight that it wouldn't still pick up a lot of snare drum; and its off axis pickup *is* significantly colored such that you wouldn't like the snare sound that is leaking into it. And #2 (and this I feel is the worse problem), the underside of a cymbal sounds DRAMATICALLY different than the top side, and a cymbal up close sounds DRAMATICALLY different from a cymabl from several feet away. Up close and from the underside you will get a huge amount of clangorous low frequency garbage, exactly the sort of timbre an SM81 is really good at transducing in a not-entirely-flattering manner.In other words, if you try that mic technique it'll sound like shit. Seriously. No disrespect intended, but it just won't work unless you want a real nasty raggedy-ass sounding drumkit...surrounded by gongs.
The other poster who suggested recording drums & cymbals in separate passes has a good idea from a timbral perspective...but as a producer/engineer who did a lot of pop work during the 1980's I can assure you that only the rarest, most musically sensetive & skilled drummers are able to create a compelling, engaging performance via this technique. More often the beat sounds stiff & disjointed.
What might work for you is a combination of manual gain riding on the overhead faders (written as automation data into Cakewalk) so that you don't hear the snare in the overheads except when the cymbals are playing (though this won't work if you're relying on overheads for HiHat pickup also) -- and, if you can cobble together an aux track, a send from the snare track that's used to trigger a replacement sample. It could even be a sample of the same drum he's playing, just without any overhead in that signal.
I would definitely not advocate trying to duck the overheads with the snare signal...though I would suggest you try that just so you can hear why I'm suggesting you not do it!
Good luck.
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Follow Ups
- Re: The Shure SM81 and mic'ing drums - Roscoe East 14:37:31 01/12/05 (0)
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