Overhead mic placement

Let's talk about kits and mics, new and old. What are you using? What do you want? What's the difference?

Moderators: ChrisW, rick, Mark Bassett

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby rick » Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:14 pm

i got told this story by one of the engineers on the stones steel wheel sessions

during the first take of the first song charlie watts
popped through the head on his snare and just got up and walked out of the studio
it had been some times since the stones were talking to each other - keith said
"well thats that we might as well break up the band "

they got a nos calf skin head the same as was on it fed ex from some guy in texas or somewhere and when they were changing the skin all this confetti fell out of the drum

charlie wasnt around and the drum tech didnt know wether to put it back in or not
to be safe they put it back in

when charlie eventually turned up to see they had found a new skin he seemed pretty surprised
and they quizzed him about the confetti
"Oh well the last time we changed the skin was madison square garden in 1968 must have been after the encore on the first night there was confetti everywhere "

"oh so that is the snare you used then "..

"err no... thats my only snare " said charlie
Rick O'Neil
I think we went to different schools together
turtlerockmastering.com
we listen
User avatar
rick
Moderator
Moderator
 
Posts: 3486
Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 8:02 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby ChrisW » Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:51 pm

Good story! Amazing about the confetti.
On a wild tangent....
I once knew a recording engineer who worked on many heavy rock (slightly before 'metal') albums.
On one album he made, the road crew person in charge of scoring the drugs delivered them to the control room and placed them on the console. Just at that point this engineer hit 'recall', all the faders went flying and so did the coke.
Some of it was recovered straight away, but most of it slipped behind the channels, in the cracks.
So the band paid for a day of studio time to have all the desk channels removed and swept for coke.
The engineer said the result was a disgusting blend of 10% coke, 90% fag ash, ancient food crumbs and navel fluff from 10+ years since the desk had last been completely overhauled.
In true Tap fashion. The cleanest salvage was handed over to the band and the indeterminate mix of coke and crap was donated to the band's crew.
Hmmmm....
Back to overheads. :ymblushing:
Whitten
ChrisW
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
 
Posts: 1285
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:01 pm
Location: Hunter

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby Chris H » Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:38 pm

Heard a similar story about the Harrison console DEX brought in from the US. It was straight from Neil Young's studio and one of Dex's engineers told me they cleaned so much white powder of the illicit variety from the console before the install that it was a small miracle it made it through customs.
Chris Hallam.
https://soundcloud.com/hallamsound
Whatever floats your boat.
User avatar
Chris H
Forum Veteran
Forum Veteran
 
Posts: 2319
Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 11:20 am
Location: Off The Planet

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby Drumstruck » Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:37 am

Sounds like the "no food or drinks in the control room" rule doesn't apply there :ymapplause:
Ian Dare
Drumstruck
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
 
Posts: 1589
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2010 12:37 pm
Location: NSW South Coast

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby rick » Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:37 pm

I have never understood the no food no drink rule myself , never seen it in an a studio at the big end of town either

no drinks resting on the console makes sense , but the control room is where we live
a man has to eat and drink - the days are long and the nights even longer

how many of us run the no food /drinks in the control room caper ?

how many of us employee cleaners

show of hands just to derail the thread further me thinks .. !
Rick O'Neil
I think we went to different schools together
turtlerockmastering.com
we listen
User avatar
rick
Moderator
Moderator
 
Posts: 3486
Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 8:02 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby Alastair Reynolds » Thu Jul 21, 2011 3:21 pm

Definitely keep the drinks away from the consoles. when we did the rebuild at 2UE in 2005 , we put in a 1.3 million Dollar Klotz Digital System, 8 consoles and 18 Frames full of DSPs, D/A etc and one of our illustrious presenters knocked a full cup of coffee with lots of sugar into the main fader module in the "Gold Studio" on it's 5th day on Air. Totally rooted the module and switches , took us off air and took 4 days to strip, clean and repair, costing close to $5,000 for new boards and not even a week old. Yes we all need a drink in the studio , but keep it out of the way. Downtime is very expensive.
feel free to un-hijack this thread :)
Alastair Reynolds
Broadcast Radio Engineer
Master of the Dark Arts (Broadcast)
User avatar
Alastair Reynolds
TRM Endorsed
TRM Endorsed
 
Posts: 475
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:51 pm
Location: Sydney

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby ChrisW » Thu Jul 21, 2011 6:53 pm

What about no drummers in the control room?
Whitten
ChrisW
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
 
Posts: 1285
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:01 pm
Location: Hunter

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby AnthonyMF » Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:27 pm

ChrisW wrote:What about no drummers in the control room?


Ha! Pretty sure the couch at the back of the control room is the drummers own private bed :P
Anthony Manning-Franklin
www.MidasTouchStudios.com.au
AnthonyMF
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:07 pm
Location: Perth

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby spandex man » Fri Jul 22, 2011 4:01 am

Ive spilled tea on the SSL before. It still works. Tea was pretty good too.
spandex man
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 69
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:25 am

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby Drumstruck » Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:54 am

ChrisW wrote:What about no drummers in the control room?


The way electronics are progressing you may just see that yet :-s

Back onto overheads - is anyone using a combination of overhead / midhead and underhead? With the vertically layered cymbal setups I'm finding that some cymbals are shielding the others.


How about rear overheads? Anyone using them too?
Ian Dare
Drumstruck
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
 
Posts: 1589
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2010 12:37 pm
Location: NSW South Coast

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby GlennS » Fri Jul 22, 2011 11:05 am

I usually put a mic over or behind the drummer's left shoulder, if that's what you mean by rear overheads. Usually either a 4038 or RCA44. It picks up the whole kit though.
Glenn Santry
HeartBeat Studio

www.myspace.com/glennsantry
GlennS
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 178
Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:37 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby AnthonyMF » Fri Jul 22, 2011 11:53 am

Drumstruck wrote:
ChrisW wrote:What about no drummers in the control room?


The way electronics are progressing you may just see that yet :-s

Back onto overheads - is anyone using a combination of overhead / midhead and underhead? With the vertically layered cymbal setups I'm finding that some cymbals are shielding the others.


How about rear overheads? Anyone using them too?


I'm going with a two underheads(Peluso ribbons), one overhead(414) setup on Sunday. I'll let you know how it goes, and link the resulting recording when it's done.
Anthony Manning-Franklin
www.MidasTouchStudios.com.au
AnthonyMF
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:07 pm
Location: Perth

Re: Overhead mic placement

Postby AnthonyMF » Sun Aug 07, 2011 2:23 pm

Well, as promised in the post above, here's what we ended up with: http://www.reverbnation.com/lovesponge?kick=171378

2 peluso ribbon underhead mics (API 3124), 1 AKG C414 as overhead (Vintech 473), audix i5 on snare (Vintech + DBX 266XL) and a sennheiser 421 on kick (Vintech + DBX 266XL).
Anthony Manning-Franklin
www.MidasTouchStudios.com.au
AnthonyMF
Registered User
Registered User
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:07 pm
Location: Perth

Previous

Return to Recording Drums?

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


cron