OH schools of thought, what\'s yours?

Ok, I was always taught that you should roll off all the low end on your OH tracks, I do so going to disc. (some pro's subscribe to this theory...Tony Visconti I believe to be one) but lately I'm not so sure that's such a good idea ...for me anyway. I know that a lot of people use 2 REALLY hot **** mics for OH's (not necessarily small capsule mics either) and don't roll off everything like I have been doing. I guess to get a kit as one stereo instrument sound, and then just supplement it by the other close mics as needed. I haven't been 100% satisfied with my drum sounds, My drums sounds are not bad, @ par with what other studio's in my area are doing. Maybe it's my tiny room, I try to rationalize that by thinking "your close micing anyway so it shouldn't be that big a deal, & no room mics" Anyway I can't do much about that cause I don't have anymore room. A lot of people only track drums to analog, I know I have a shortage of really good drummers come threw my door (well almost none... no Tommy Lee's here) but I'm sure I can be doing something more to help things along. I want more PUNCH! Let's hear what school of thought you guys use for OH's and does anyone here track drums to tape first? If so, what format. Thanx ( I hope this doesn't start any type of a war )

If I roll off the lows on my overheads, I don't do it until mix, and not always then. It just depends on the song - for a cleaner, pop sound, then I do roll them off, but for some harder edge stuff, I only roll off at about 100hz instead of something higher. For tracking, I only have the option of going to protools, so that's what I use, although I always run my overheads through our Neve 1272 pres. I usually use AKG 414s or Neumann KM184s, sometimes RODE NT2s. I have occasionally tracked kits in mono (only one overhead) for effect, and almost always get at least one room mic, usually 2. As I said, when mixing, I use some sort of low end rolloff - the amount depends on the tune, and also how the sound affects the snare. I usually try to leave the overheads out of the mix until the pre-chorus or chorus for pop stuff (which means you need a great hat and snare sound) - and I almost always add some sort of compression on the overheads - the bombfactory LA2A is great for this. Of course, there's always exceptions. I've done some pretty odd stuff on some sessions, where perfect stereo rockin' drums weren't the sound the producer wanted, but the stuff I mentioned is probably what I do 90% of the time. I'm interested to hear what others are doing - keep em' coming!

If you haven't checked it out yet, go to recording.org and search for a thread called "overhead phase" and check out recorderman's method for overhead placememnt. You'll get that extra punch youre looking for...As for tape, I do ocassionally track a duplicate set of drum tracks to 1/2"-16. Although most "serious" cats would say that that format is of marginal use, I've found that it can lend a very warm character to the end result - mine is outfitted with SR NR, and I keep it in tip top shape. It slaves nicely to PT, so only rarely does phasing become an issue...

Here's my general drum plan. Overheads are either a Shure VP-88 stereo mic and an AKG C4000B room mic (in omni mode) or one AKG 414 overhead (in cardiod mode) and two room mics, 414's, sometimes C4000B's or AudioTechnica 4033a's. These are run through TL Audio C-1 valve pre/compressors with no eq straight to a Mackie HDR 24/96. (We use PT for editing and file transfer from other sutdios.) I never eq anything when recording. I work with mic choice, placement, preamp and instrument selection, tunings, room acoustics, etc., to get the sound my client and I are looking for. When I mix, I start with overheads and room mics, getting the best, full drum sound I can, and then add what else is needed. generaly next is the kick drum mics, then snare, toms, etc. Subscribing to the "less is more" theory, often I do not use the recorded tom mics, as I get a good tom sound with a nice natural imaging with the overhead and room mics. (Opposite to that theory, it is not unusual for me to track 12+ channels on a 4 or 5 piece kit and end up using only 4 or 5 of them. Drums sound is more than just the sum of it's parts, it is the overall sound of the kit as it interacts with itself. Sympathetic rings on a properly tuned kit enhanse the sound of each individual drum, and capturing this tone is the key to a big, full sounding drum kit IMHO. You can check out these sounds on the listen page of our website. Hope this is helpful.

I think the left overhead in the above discription gets hit...alot. Two sticks above where I play my snare is about level with my forehead. I rarely track drums in total mono. I have either two verheads and one room mic, or the opposite. I find One room mic (in Omni mode) gives a great feel and focus to the room, without dilluting the stero image. when using one OH and two room mics, it gives a more spacious but intimate feel to the kit. Again, I never use any eq on anything when I track. It's about capturing the entire kit sound, not jsut the individual parts.

We use the 4033a often for room mics as well as kick drum and overheads. they are a very useful mic, and well worth having in your collection.

Don't be afraid to experiment.I recently got a really good kick sound by not using the kick track.There was plenty of kick on the snare/hat(SM 57) and sole overhead(KM 184) mics. It all depends on the room. Another thing that works often for me is using delay on drum tracks. Just a hint(for example with a triple note feel) can really open up and drive a track. A good recent example is the song 'Slow Dance Blues' on Jimmie Vaughan's last record. 'When the Levee Breaks' is an other famous example(I guess it's a 'natural' room echo there.) Vastapol

Ive used recorderman's method many times since he told me about it and it just plain works. Perfectly. Every time. Don't get me wrong - there are other ways of doing it - since I started with this method, though, I haven't been searching for a different way because I don't need one, unless the track were to call for that Bonham kind of sound...I certainly thought that the two-drumstick figure was out of whack and that that mic would get hit. Ive now done approx. 30 sessions with different drummers using this setup, and have never had a mic hit. Never. Try it - it only takes 2 seconds to set up - you will not be dissapointed.

"3. Fine tune the placement by using a mic cable and measuring the distance from the center of the Kick to each of these mics is also equidistant from the kick and snare." Could somebody explain this in english?? This makes absolutely no sense to me. Where is the center of the kick? The middle of the batter head, the middle of the resonant head, or is he talking about the middle of the shell on the top of the drum? What about the exact middle of the drum inside the shell?? Somebody please re-word this in an easy way to understand. What measurements are supposed to be equidistant??