My Mic Sounds Nice, Check 2
Mar 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
Last month, part one of this series explained the different types of mics, polar patterns and basic techniques, but now it's time to discuss some specific recording methods. In any discussion on microphone placement, you're bound to hear about close- and distant-miking. At only a few inches from the source, close-miking naturally focuses on the direct sound and less on the surrounding room acoustics. That is ideal for capturing a fuller, tighter sound with minimal leakage being picked up from other instruments. Together with appropriate polar-pattern selection, this also means that less coloring ambience enters your tracks, possibly making it easier to match up various takes of the same voice or instrument if recorded in different studio environments. Stereo recordings of solo instruments can also benefit from close-miking due to the increased separation.
Backing out anywhere from 10 to 12 inches to several feet or more from the sound source, distant-miking reveals more ambience and depth to the recording. It can also be used to achieve a sense of natural compression because fewer dynamics are picked up. Many times, both close and distant microphones will be used in tandem and later mixed for color and ambience balance. One danger in placing two or more mics on a single source, however, is the risk of phase cancellation. For that, almost every recording engineer will employ the “3-to-1” rule, positioning the most distant microphone at least three times farther from the sound source as the closest mic. In situations where the close microphone is literally an inch or two away from the sound source, the spacing ratio becomes 4-to-1 for the distant microphone.
Note that most close-positioned microphones sound drastically different as they're moved ever so slightly about the source, or as the source moves ever so slightly about the microphone. That is especially true with highly sensitive condensers; as you make the microphone more distant, these variances become less apparent.
Another trait of extreme close-miking is something called the proximity effect. Though the effect typically begins at a distance of about two feet, directional microphones will experience a significant boost in the low-frequency response when a sound source is within an inch or two of its capsule and diaphragm. Many experienced vocalists use that to their advantage as a type of natural dynamic EQ, adding fullness to their voice; it's also used to add punch to amplified guitars and basses. However, the effect detrimentally emphasizes low-frequency breath sounds and causes vocal plosives, such as “p” and “b,” forcing the use of pop filters. And of course, always try to use manufacturer-supplied shockmounts whenever possible and/or practical.
A NICE PIECE OF KIT
Drums can be miked in any number of ways — from a mere pair of overheads to one or two microphones on every single piece within the kit. Regardless of how elaborately you mic a drum kit, though, it's best to keep in mind the golden rule that the kit must act as a whole and not as a sum of individual parts. That is, the sound of the overhead microphones should always be your priority — analogously thought of as a wide-screen image of the kit's overall picture — with spot microphones acting more like close-up shots. Indeed, the close mics are there to accentuate certain frequencies, sharpen the attack and bring focus to the placement of a kit's individual pieces across the stereo sound field of the overheads. With the following advice, I assume you're looking to minimize leakage and have highly present, well-isolated tracks for mixing/remixing.
Starting on kick, place a large-diaphragm dynamic mic inside the drum, aimed just a couple of inches away from the inner head and just slightly off-axis to the beater. If you want a meatier sound with less click, just pull the microphone back a few inches and place it midway in the drumshell, facing more toward one side. I like the Audio-Technica AE2500 ($699; www.audio-technica.com) dual-element cardioid instrument mic for this job, which combines condenser and dynamic capsules into one and can really dig into the low frequencies without blowing under high sound-pressure levels (SPLs). For recording truly fat and funky hip-hop or dubby jazz loops, I've actually brought in a large orchestra bass drum and set it next to the kick so it could ring sympathetically to give more low end, instead of the commonly employed trick of adding a suboscillator to the kick track during mixing.
You can also try augmenting your close-miked sound by additionally placing a nice tube mic around 12 to 14 inches in front of the outside head of the kick. Leakage from the rest of the kit will now become an issue, however, so you'll want to construct a 4- to 5-foot-long drum house (aka tunnel) to isolate the outside microphone of the kick from as much cymbal and snare bleed as you possibly can.
On snare, I like to start with a Shure SM57 ($158; www.shure.com) mounted about 1 to 2 inches above the rim and aimed toward the center of the head. In addition to placing the mic off-axis to the hi-hat, try placing a 6-by-6-inch piece of carpet padding just behind it (cut a slit in it to slide over the mic stand) to provide a tiny bit of added isolation from the hat and cymbals. For the bottom mic, I like to set a condenser relatively close (2 to 3 inches) from the snare with its back to the kick drum and its pattern set to cardioid to minimize bleed from the kick.
Though many engineers will only bottom-mic toms, I prefer to use a close-miked dynamic on the high tom and condensers on the mid and floor toms, each mounted facedown about two to three inches from the top head. That captures more present attacks. Regardless of microphone type, try to save the largest capsule mics for the lowest toms.
You can use dynamic mics on hats if your microphone stash is limited, but I prefer the sound of a cardioid condenser facedown and 2 inches above the hat. Try positioning the mic so that the hi-hat itself is a natural sound barrier between the mic and the snare. Again, use a piece of carpet padding slipped over a spare gooseneck stem or a clothes hanger duct taped to the mic stand for extra isolation from the cymbals sitting right next to the hat.
A misnomer about overheads is that they're only for picking up cymbals. In fact, they're there to capture the overall kit, as well as the room to a certain degree. The overheads are the sound of your drums, so that is where you should use your best studio condensers, equally raised on booms a few feet above the kit and stereo-positioned one left and one right. Use your best preamps as well. Spot-miking the ride with a cardioid studio condenser aimed 45 degrees off-axis to the bell should cut through nicely. A good trick is to put that mic on a slow-release gate during mixing, so it only opens when the drummer is actually playing. Because the ride hardly ever cuts through the overheads, a mic positioned like that will really save you in the mix and let the ride come through loudly. This is also particularly helpful if your drummer sets the ride cymbal lower than the other cymbals because the ride will be overpowered by the crashes.
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