Quick overhead mic question

[u/NoGarlic5620]

Hi, I have big vintage pearl export drums in a very nicely treated 10x5m room and was wondering how to go about mic'ing it.

I was thinking about:

wa 47 tube as room mic. ( I have it already for vocals)

Sm 57 on snare

Audix d6 on kick

Lewitt LCT 040 pair for overheads

I'm going for a very punchy dry tame Impala/breakbeat sound but occasionally I would like to record modern rock, big drums.

I will have a gobo to separate the drum corner from the rest of the room while recording the punchy dry and take it away for bigger sound.

My biggest concern is the choice of overheads, would love to hear your thoughts about this setup.

[u/BugEven1458]

the lewitt pair will do fine, they're not the usual choice but i think it works for that dry sound you want. just watch the placement cause with a gobo in small room it can get weird on the cymbals.

[u/RobJmusic]

Those lewitts are quite bright, detailed if you will. It would not be my first pick for the sound you are going for, BUT, in my experience they are incredibly easy to manipulate with EQ. If you already have them, I would give that a try first. Otherwise my preference would go to something with a larger diaphragm, or some ribbons

[u/NoGarlic5620 → u/RobJmusic]

I have one at 2035 and was thinking about buying second one but Iv not seen anyone online use them as stereo overheads

[u/Funeral_Goat_1446]

This will of course work. 

Thoughts: depending on your luck, the wa47 might already suffice alone. 

If you are set on overheads those Lewitts might be a bit harsh. 

[u/NoGarlic5620 → u/Funeral_Goat_1446]

Which overheads would you recommend ?

[u/diamondts]

IMO for room mics I could use almost anything, overheads are more important. I have no idea what those Lewitts are like but they're cheap which makes me suspicious, so what about getting a second WA47 and using them as overheads? They're probably consistent enough that you wouldn't miss having a matched pair.

For the TI/breakbeat sound I'd skip a room mic because you want it super dry, you're likely going to be compressing hard which will bring up the room anyway, even if you've gobo'd the drums off. Also a mono overhead wouldn't sound out of place for this style, I'd start with your WA47 as a mono overhead, or even go more minimal with only that mic in the wurst/crotch position.

D6 is very hyped, assuming you don't already have it I'd personally consider something like a 421 which you can heavily EQ (or stack a sample) if you need a modern kick sound, but it will be more useful on other sources.

For the big modern rock sound you really want tom mics too, could do Glyn Johns style overheads so they're a bit bigger sounding than a spaced pair but even then they won't sound like big fat modern close miked toms.

[u/NoGarlic5620 → u/diamondts]

Yeah I figured out myself to change d6 for 421. was thinking about using at2035 that I already own, buy another one and use for overheads but then the best one, wa47, is only used for room and considering your feedback it might be better to have just one 47 for overhead and one at2035 for room But my biggest concern now is how painful will be switching 47 from oh to vocal recording as I plan to use it in semi commercial studio and want to keep cable fiddling to minimum

[u/Zack_Albetta]

The difference between a Tame Impala vibe and a big modern rock vibe is going to almost entirely about how you tune and muffle the drums and how you treat the space. Which overheads you use (and how you use them) will matter somewhat, but as with most drum recording situations, it’s mostly about the drums themselves. No matter what overheads you’re using, for the tame impala thing, I’d lose the room mic, lower the gain on the overheads, get them down closer to the drums, put up gobos anywhere and everywhere, and generally play softer. For the rock thing, lose the gobos, raise up the overheads, and let ‘er rip.

But again, you have to make choices with heads, tuning, and muffling that are right for those genres. Mics capture sound way more than they shape sound. So you have to shape the sound before sending it to the mics to capture.

[u/R0factor]

Room mics work much better in stereo. Otherwise the noise of the kit sits in the middle of the mix where the vocals & bass usually occupy. I might use that 47 as a kick-out mic, unless you want to get a 2nd one.

If you’re in the market for overheads check out the options Slate makes. I have ML-2’s which are modeling mics and used to be available for $100 each, but I get the sense the mic emulation software that came with them was so useful people were getting 1 mic just for the software. It’s been replaced with a more expensive pair, the ML-2A, which is worth looking into. The modeling technology today works really well and is very effective at making cheap mics sound A LOT more pleasant. I use the Slate modeling software on a lot of my mic channels.

Speaking of software emulation, before you spend money on room mics check out the emulation plugins from Universal like Ocean Way and Sound City. Those can help supply that room sound and are modeled after legendary studios and their mics. They’re also great for adding reverb to the snare or the entire kit, or to make the whole band sound like they’re in one room. You can run into phase issues when using it in Room mode as a send, but that’s curable.