MC Acoustic Drum Clinic

[digitaldrummer]

on the tom ringing subject , what kind of heads are you using?  have you tried others?   Also try experimenting with the distance and angle of the mic on that drum.   you said you tried tuning --  have you tried tuning the top and bottom heads to the same pitch?  or lowering the bottom head?  or making it tighter?  find out what works best in your room.  Moongel is useful too when nothing else works.

[groverk]

Mike,

Thanks for the info.

As far as the cable goes, thats pretty much how I did the last take. Definate improvement by bypassing the channel strips on the board. I also bought the Mackie just for monitoring.

I did get the ring out of the 1st & 2nd toms, I just need to work on the floor.

I'll try some more mic positioning.

My bottom heads are tuned higher then the tops.

I'm using using Evans EC2's on the toms and coated ambassador on the snare.

Do you recommend something different for the toms ?

I'm also using Evans rings on 10" & 12" toms and Moongel on the snare and floor.

Thanks
Ken

[NickT]

Those are sounding nice. Quit dropping the stick during ring out! 

Nice job....you are getting very close!

Nick

[groverk]

Quit dropping the stick during ring out! 

 

Thanks Nick

Ken

[digitaldrummer]

Hey Ken,

that does sound very good.  are you happy with the sound?  Drum sound is very subjective.  I tend to go for a lot more open/natural sound as opposed to the tighter, muffled sounds -- I think yours is sounding very close to the Roland samples you have probably been using for awhile.      and if that's the sound that you are going for then I'd say you succeeded.  but you sure can't beat real cymbals can you?

I am curious about those EC1/EC2 heads.  I went to the NAMM show when it was here in Austin last year and those really sounded good on their demo drums.  I'm probably going to try them soon.  Right now I have G2 clear on top and Attack clear on bottom.  it's OK but not perfect.  My drums originally had ambassador clear on top and bottom and I liked that sound but I've been experimenting with heads and 6+ years later still haven't found the perfect combo.    Now, on my road kit (a very early Pearl SRX which I confirmed is really a re-badged MRX--6ply maple--kit) loves the coated Attack single ply heads on top and bottom.  I couldn't be happier there.

as for tuning, you might try making the top head a bit tighter than the bottom and see how that sounds for you also.  and also really crank the bottom snare head-I mean tight.  surprisingly it takes bit to choke the bottom head and can really make the snare responsive.

Mike

[groverk]

Hey Mike,

The td-20 has great sounds for Kicks , Toms, & Snares.
The cymbals are just ok.  Thats pretty much what put me over the edge on recording the acoustics. You just can't beat real cymbals.

I'm not sure about the EC2's yet. They're on my Mapex M-series. I might try a few different heads before I'm sure what works best with those drums.

My gig set is a Taye Tour Pro series which I'm crazy about. Definately the best sounding set I've ever had. They have Aquarian Responce 2 's on them. They sound great and hold their tuning pretty good also for moving in and out every weekend.

I'll try your tuning tips also. I always tuned bottoms and tops the same on the toms, but I went to a Thomas Lang clinic a few weeks ago and he mentioned he tunes the bottoms tighter then the tops. So I been trying his way . I'm not sure if thats working for me either. In any event I am getting close to where I want to be. I'm sure I'll be tweaking for the next year. Thanks for the advice.

Ken

[digitaldrummer]

I went to a Thomas Lang clinic a few weeks ago and he mentioned he tunes the bottoms tighter then the tops.

that's interesting.  I'll have to mess round with that myself again.  He definitely gets a good tom sound and he's a friggin monster!  bet that was cool clinic.  I went to a Billy Cobham clinic here a couple weeks ago.  there was only about 30 people there including Billy, the sound guy, Yamaha rep, other staff, etc.  the place did a horrible job promoting the clinic but it sure made for good seats!

Mike

[Cary]

I went to a Thomas Lang clinic a few weeks ago and he mentioned he tunes the bottoms tighter then the tops.

that's interesting.  I'll have to mess round with that myself again.  He definitely gets a good tom sound and he's a friggin monster!  bet that was cool clinic.  I went to a Billy Cobham clinic here a couple weeks ago.  there was only about 30 people there including Billy, the sound guy, Yamaha rep, other staff, etc.  the place did a horrible job promoting the clinic but it sure made for good seats!

Mike

Without a doubt Cobham is my favorite drummer.  I've been a fan of his since the mid seventies.  That must have been great to see him in such a small audience.

Hey Ken... I have a Mapex M kit with the EC2 heads.  How's that for irony...

[Gerk]

I have a single Mapex tom with an ambassador clear head, does that count LOL

Cobham rocks ... I saw a Thomas Lang clinic about a year ago too, that man does things independance wise that just should not be possible, and I love his laid back approac to stuff.

On Warming Up:  "I don't warm up.  The last thing you want before a big gig is the drummer walking around the dressing room and hitting things.  Most of the songs I play live are very simple 4/4 rock type beats, and by the time you're into the first chorus of the first song, you're warm."

On Approach:  "There are only 3 ways to hit a drum.  A single, a double, and a press roll.  Everything else is just a combinaton of those 3 in one way or another."

Mark

[luisma1972]

Great you jumped in RBD. If you just could provide us with some samples it would be great for this thread progress

[groverk]

Not Boring at all RDB,

Thanks for sharing the info.

When I'm happy with my set up I'll post my all my info with some pics of my mic placement.

Ken

[CosmicDolphin]

It's been a while since I mic'd up and recorded a kit but the main thing to get right is the room sound.  If the room isn't good then you're fighting a losing battle  -  I had to record a demo in a practice room once and there was carpet all around the walls and it just sounded dull and lifeless on the recording.  We managed to get some large wooden panels to lean against the walls and it made a real difference, the sound coming through the O/H mics was much more lively and useable, so check out your room first.

The 2nd thing was on the Kick drum in Rock/Pop it tends to be the percussive attack that cuts through the mix so we taped a credit card onto the drum where the beater hit to get more of a click in the attack and gives a sharper more hard hitting kind of sound.

I also think the quality of your overhead mics is really important and you should be using a pair of the best mics you can lay your hands.  The overheads gel everything together ( unless you have a bad room sound ) and I think you can get away with less expensive mics for your snares and toms by getting a sound from the overheads .  That's why lots of engineers use things like SM57's to mic snares, they don't sound great on their own but cut through when mixed with nice sounding overheads.

CosmicDolphin