Dude, your shit is criminally underviewed, I hope you blow up at some point, I love your emphasis on holistic listening, sonic texture, and overall vibe. For my own part, what I love about x/y is that it never actually sounds 'wide', the capsules are just too close for that. But what it lacks in "SUCH WIDE SO DRAMA" it makes up for in punch, focus, and total phase coherence. And it strikes a cool balance because it has a mono vibe, but with the depth and 'windowpane' effect of stereo. Keep on keepin' on!
I totally agree! I've learned a lot from this channel. No B.S. Keeps it fun but always thorough and exhaustive too! Great instructor! House of Kush also though too!! You guys really have made the last 7 years of my recording journey worth it because there really are a lot of distractions and misinformation but I have never been given the bum steer by either of you fellows and always feel energized and refreshed with the knowledge that you share. Inspired!
I record the choir. XY approach is the same. I never was happy enough while using AB... Only XY gives me feeling I'm making a kind of photo of the choir. All the image in one shoot.
Got my thumbs up and sub from this vid. Always loved a 3 mic set up as it sounds more natural. Never was happy with my current set up as the floor tom was always too thin sounding, now I know what to try, thank you!
This has become my go-to overhead setup after much trial and error. No phase issues whatsoever and you always get a really strong center image, which makes the drums sound more natural than really wide panning. I had never thought to try moving closer to the floor tom and rotating the XY setup to get better tom balance. I always learn something new in your videos!
Dude, videos like this should have a nobel prize or something... You only need a bassdrum mic and i bet you get a full drum stem. Thank you from the bottom of my gear.
I know I’m two years behind here, and I hadn’t seen one of your videos in a while but all of that - the stereo bar, the graphics on picturing how it splits the stereo image while keeping the snare centered…just the best drum recording video I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot! Going to see if your drum recording courses are still available because you deserve it.
This is a fantastic video. I think the hardest part of recording is understand which things we can "tweak" to change the sound. Breaking this down by height, angle and width is fantastic, since that's a simple enough framework that I can use it to help dial in a specific recording.
Been following you for a while now, I love how you've improved the quality and content of your videos! It's great to see a recording artist fully commited to sharing his knowledge.
I'm a little late to the channel. This channel is a gold mine of incredible and helpful information. Really helps open up several different perceptions for what can be done. Great content, bro.
Great information Ryan! I find especially that the graphics are really helping me to understand the concepts and to clarify them. Saving a lot of headaches when learning how mic a drum set and to get a good basic sound. Sounds excellent to say the least! Hard to believe that there were no additional mics on either the snare or bass drum in the recording. It really shows, at least to me, how important mic placements are.
Thanks for the inspiration. I did this with a pair of sm57 unidyne 3. Sounds so killer on some stoner metal drum tracks. I put a d112 on the batter side by the beater. It really helped to round out the sound by picking up some under snare and lots of attack from the kick drum.
How do you feel about the idea when you Mic everything to not really have overheads but let the overheads really focus on the cymbals? I heard that somewhere and thought it was interesting
When I do expand my drum mics (currently one mono) I will be getting a stereo bar and boom stand and will probably have no choice anyways but to place it in one of these configurations. Very reassuring, wonderful video as always!
I've been recording vocals and midrange instruments a lot over the past few years, but it'll be my first time recording drums on location this weekend. This video has been massively helpful. Thank you!
I've watched a lot of drum recording videos....I'm fairly new at recording drums....and this helped me with overheads like no other video that I've seen! Thanks for providing such great content!
Thank you for this! I’ve been anxious about eventually buying a mic set for my drums, since it can be so overwhelming. I’m going to try this technique with my Zoom H4n, which has an XY pattern.
Dude! I just stumbled upon this technique a couple of weeks ago, trying to get the most of a xy setup. Now it's becoming my go-to OH mic technique! As a long time viewer, great video!!
I think the floor tom isn't as prominent because it's much lower than the high tom (father away from the mic). Raise the floor tom/lower rack and it'll be more even with the wider OH setup
Fantastic. You make the seeming tedium of recording so much more interesting and purposeful. You make the simplest of concepts really CLICK with great audio examples and sharp editing to your videos. Love it!
Having seen and heard how this sounds and how impossible it is to screw up I don't understand why anyone would have their overheads set up any differently. I can't believe I never thought of, or heard of anyone doing this before!
Just wanted to send a huge Thank you for what you do here on RUclips. I have applied some of your drum miking techniques and got some great results! Keep up the great work my friend!
Listening without headphones (I'm on vacation lol) through my phone, whats interesting is I can't hear the stereo field in terms of left right but I can hear clear differences in the tone of the kit. The sound of the ride cymbal in particular has two very different eqs with the different positions
I gotta say, the best mic placement I've ever had was this configuration. The sound of my drums was so good, it looked bigger than it really was needed. But with a few tweaks with the sound guy, it was perfect, and as far as I can go, this will always be my configuration of mics! And this video is so helpful not just for drummers, but also for sound engineers, etc! Thanks for this!
If you want to make it even better, treat yourself to a Wilkinson Audio XY mic clip. Makes setting up the mics on a stereo bar soo so easy and 100% consistent. No wiggling, no slow drifting, no fighting with the adjustment screws. Was one of the best 15$ I've ever spent on audio gear :) They also have ORTF and other clips.
Interesting - the toms were wider coming in the "narrower" position, but the cymbals were narrower. The cymbals were wider in the over the tom, but the rack tom became much more centered. Cool video.
This was really useful. Thanks so much. Those Soyuz 013s are really nice sounding mics. I liked the image best at head height, higher was too compact, and closer seemed overdone. I think I can get what I want using this type of setup. I would just add a kick drum mic, that captures the deeper bass of the kick, and would help to give more of a centered feeling to the kick too. It's nice because I only have four preamp channels. But I do have a cheap but nice sounding pair of SDCs (Line Audio CM4. And I'm just about to buy a Shure Beta 52A after listening to some comparisons of different kick drum mics. But if I add a kick drum mic, I wonder how to best manage the phase relationship between the kick drum mic and overhead pair. Could do it by aligning the peaks in the DAW, I suppose. But engineers must have ways of adjusting mic placement, when mics can't be equidistant. Adjusting position by ear, while mix monitoring on headphones?
THANK YOU for taking the time and effort to explain AND demonstrate exactly what you're talking about. this is a great channel for that reason. keep it up my man :) :)
I just started using this method and I'm sticking with it for a few reasons.#1,less mic stands to futz around with,#2 great for my 3pc bop kit#3,tried the Glyn John's techniche(royal pain to setup).All I need is 3 mic's(bass kick,2xy mic overheads and its quick setup and mixdowns baby!!🗽📼
I’ve really been digging into this topic on my own too. Truthfully I spent years giving minimal thought to overhead mic technique. But xy pencils on a good stand is truly the place to start!
Ive been thinking about experimenting with have an overhead sound from up high capturing more narrow room combined with a lower overhead sound capturing the wider closer sound but then delaying the closer wider sound to be a "reflection" of the narrow farther roomy sound
Approaching drum recording with killer overhead micingg as the baseline and then using additional mics to enhance that already established overhead picture is so important. Overheads should be king and then adjust all other mics distance/phase relationship to the overheads.
Sure Darrin. Let me know how it works out. You’ll want to stay low with the mics which means you may be wider than you want. If so then go over the ride to fine tune the width. Also the xy could possibly mean that ceiling treatment might be able to be concentrated over the pair vs with spaced pair.
One of the most useful drum recording videos I've seen. I'm going to buy the course as you always cover useful things. Out of curiosity when you record a stereo pair do you level match the preamps and record as a stereo track or just record them seperately as two mono tracks?
I record as two mono tracks. I just like to hard pan two tracks and it gives me control if I need to lower one side slightly of the snare isn’t centered. Sometimes it happens! Nobody’s perfect. Also when exporting tracks it’s nice to have a bunch of mini tracks for a song rather than have to group a few stereo tracks and then export the rest as mono.
You, my friend, are a knowledgeable and excellent teacher on recording. I have watched a few vids of you, and am very impressed. I want to start recording my drumming, but I have a large double bass kit, I have low ceilings, and zero equipment for recording. I have been researching what to get that won't cost a fortune as I am just a hobby drummer. But using the overheads, and maybe getting my bass drums and snare mic'd, will hopefully be enough to get a decent recording as I can't really mic a 12 piece kit unless I get some advanced ($$$) gear. I wish I could pick your brain, but your videos will have to do! Awesome stuff, thanks.
Wow! This is an even better video than your previous instruction on how to record acoustic guitar with two cheap mics. And that video was already incredible! Thanks a bunch!
@@creativesoundlabI did the drum course and applied what I've learned yesterday. I have a small space where I can record drums and with a couple of runs I got a great first result! I want to thank you for giving me the confidence to get started from a solid place rather than just messing about. I did get lucky once. I had an old Sony stereo mic with a small wire attached. Due to happenstance it ended up on the floor below the drum stool pointing towards the kick and floor. It was a really nice sound! Kick upfront and warm cymbals, perhaps you'd like to try that too. Kind regards!
Nice coherent image. Very nice center with the snare like you were talking about in the vid. Widening and narrowing of the sound was really highlighted with your examples. That's what I'm missing is a nice pair of SDC mics. Hope to have some soon so we can do that with them. Thanks for the great video as usual Ryan!
Great and let me know how it works out. This was just the overheads. Add in the close mics and use the planning of what you get with your OH to help you pan the toms etc. then go wider if you want.
No one gonna mention how great that Tegeler Audio Manufaktur Creme sounded on those OHs? Knew it was great on a mix bus but this just proved how versatile it can be! Great video.
I'm a huge proponent of the less is more. I think you without a doubt have proved it with really great sounding drums. Sonically everything feels balanced to me and has a great phase relationship. I don't know if this will work in every style, but, I think for a lot of styles it can. I wish more people used less mics.
super cool technique!! i was wondering if i decide to use this technique but placing the mic stand behind the drummer, do i have to flip the phase or it is good to go as is? 😄😄
I arrived at something vaguely similar in my crappy drum room, I use a pair of KSM137 in "narrow ORTF." It's not a real pattern but I like the image that it gives. I think I saw Ulf does the same thing in one of his videos. I did XY for a while too. And "recorderman" on some past projects. I have come to be mildly passionate about a good set of small diaphragm mics over drums. This video is great it gave me some new ideas I will try. I think George Massenburg did a video of similar concepts about a spaced pair of SDC. The concepts are the same but I think you went a little further in this video.
Creative Sound Lab - curious, do you recall what factors lead to you choosing these vs the other mics in a similar price range; Neumann K184s; Telefunken m60; Beyer mc930; Miktek C5s. Kinda where I’m at. These seem to have a lot of low end, transient detail and impact, and a nice top end, without sounding overly hard or harsh. I’ve been using a pair of 4041s for a long time and they’re really decent mics, but I often find them to be a bit strident. Never an issue where I can’t make a record, but just looking for some new tools. Seems like I always like things that have a bit more of a flattering character such that they sound like a record on the way in. Btw I really appreciate the amazing job you do of exploring recording techniques in detail. So much of what’s out there doesn’t talk about the principles behind mic selection and placement choices. Bravo!! I’ve been at this for many years but continually find useful info on your channel. I wish your channel was around when I started!! Keep up the good work sir!
For beginning youtubers with a low budget or little to no mix experience buying an X-Y portable recorder like a Zoom H4 and using this set of positions gets you off the ground so quickly to making reasonable quality content
Anyone know how to play the fill at 7:31? It sounds like he's doing a double on the bass drum, but even when I slow it down I still don't know what he's doing lol. Anyone wanna help me out with the pattern?
Loving this. I do have 2 questions. When you go from over the rack tom or floor Are the mics directly over the center of the Snare? and in the graphic it showed 33 inch from the top of the kick. Is this measurement correct or did you mean 33inch over the snare?
In the end of the day, if you're trying to achieve a great cymbal sound you put in the axis/line between the ride and hat. If you're trying to achieve better kit/tom sound, you put it in the axis between the rack and floor tom. Narrow / over the rack tom gives you better, fuller and punchier tom sound (as the mics are literally pointing at the centre of each tom) Wide on top of the kick drum, gives you a wider and better cymbal sound (as the mics are pointing at the centre of each cymbal). The mics will have better cymbal definition but also better rejection to the opposite cymbal (hat or ride) and therefore a wider image. I love XY, not only gives a more realistic image of the kit, but the phase coherence makes the shells much punchier and clearer, none of that phase muddiness you get in spaced pair that makes you carve a lot in the mixing stage. If it's too narrow I probably rather open the angle a bit more instead of going ORTF or spaced pair, to keep the phase intact and the snare in the middle. XY feels like a bigger mono.
Producer Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, Good Charlotte) swears by this method and always gets great results. Usually using a stereo Royer SF-24 on overheads. For width, he uses widely spaced room mics.
I wonder if I can pull this off using a stereo Blumlein mic??? Better yet, can you imagine using TWO of these types of mics -- one for this aforementioned overhead technique and the other to be used in front of the kit a meter away in a figure-8 off-axis position as described in your "room mic trick" video???
To do the 'no fail' approach all the way you can go with a stereo mic. There are not that many of them and they're not very well known. I've seen you've got a stereo ribbon mic, I've got a Rode NT-4 which is a lot of fun, and there are some lesser known mics such as the AT4050 ST. It might be a good topic for a video. Love your channel, thank you.
Yeah, those mics are XY I believe. That's a super fast way to set up and get moving quick. I also use this technique with the AEA R88 which is two ribbons inside at the same angle we used here.
Thanks again for these amazing videos. I've got a pair of stereo ribbons from bash audio (RM BIV-1). Still finding out how to use them at their best. I've also got a stereo bar, but my concerns about that is that the ribbons get sound from both sides of the mic, and there is no way to change that setting. I'm a total rookie in this and, again, every help will be much appreciated. Thank you
I actually already use the overhead placement over the ride directed at the snare. I prefer the tighter/narrower sound. Gives panned guitars more space. May play with the rotation next time.
Maybe using routing and a mono conversion plugin you can separate the low end of the kit to mono and centre it in the mix? I suppose just watching phase then would be vital. Thanks
Ryan, I have an idea for a video. What about the sound differences between matching and non-matching stereo pairs? There is no video on the sound comparison. Do they really sound so different or are the capsules close enough to get away with? Like a pair on non-matching akg c?14's (or/and) some small diaphrams on overheads or other sources.. This would be very interesting. Keep up the good work brotha! Thanks for all the helpful vids! SERIOUSLY!!!
What I can’t see is if the XY mics are placed right over the snare or over the kick drum or somewhere in the middle of both, let’s say above the kick pedal. It would be nice to know if this position affects and how much. Example Position XY over drummers head Position XY over kick drum Or somewhere in the middle Regards from Mexico Nesthor
Great stuff here. Can you follow this video up with how you would complement these overheads with the addition of a 3rd or 4th mic? (Avoiding obvious Weathervane and Glenn Johns stuff of course, haha.)
Dude, your shit is criminally underviewed, I hope you blow up at some point, I love your emphasis on holistic listening, sonic texture, and overall vibe. For my own part, what I love about x/y is that it never actually sounds 'wide', the capsules are just too close for that. But what it lacks in "SUCH WIDE SO DRAMA" it makes up for in punch, focus, and total phase coherence. And it strikes a cool balance because it has a mono vibe, but with the depth and 'windowpane' effect of stereo.
Keep on keepin' on!
Wow, thanks for such a cool comment.
my two favorite audio channels, Mix Jesus and Locs-4-Drums, meet in this comment. My life is complete.
I also bought Ryan's drum course and it's worth way more than the $17.
I totally agree! I've learned a lot from this channel. No B.S. Keeps it fun but always thorough and exhaustive too! Great instructor! House of Kush also though too!! You guys really have made the last 7 years of my recording journey worth it because there really are a lot of distractions and misinformation but I have never been given the bum steer by either of you fellows and always feel energized and refreshed with the knowledge that you share. Inspired!
I record the choir. XY approach is the same. I never was happy enough while using AB... Only XY gives me feeling I'm making a kind of photo of the choir. All the image in one shoot.
This is without a doubt, one of the best videos I've ever watched about recording drums.
Thanks so much!
Got my thumbs up and sub from this vid. Always loved a 3 mic set up as it sounds more natural. Never was happy with my current set up as the floor tom was always too thin sounding, now I know what to try, thank you!
@@GrooveIsNow where/what is the third mic?
This has become my go-to overhead setup after much trial and error. No phase issues whatsoever and you always get a really strong center image, which makes the drums sound more natural than really wide panning. I had never thought to try moving closer to the floor tom and rotating the XY setup to get better tom balance. I always learn something new in your videos!
Thanks John. You can use all three or just one of the methods to get the sound.
Dude, videos like this should have a nobel prize or something... You only need a bassdrum mic and i bet you get a full drum stem. Thank you from the bottom of my gear.
It never ceases to amaze me what can be done with 1 or 2 mics, a well-tuned kit, and some judicious processing. Great ideas here.
Thanks Philip and glad you liked the video!
Great natural sounding kit
I know I’m two years behind here, and I hadn’t seen one of your videos in a while but all of that - the stereo bar, the graphics on picturing how it splits the stereo image while keeping the snare centered…just the best drum recording video I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot! Going to see if your drum recording courses are still available because you deserve it.
That's recording engineering.
Thanks! I worked hard on this one!
You have your room and kit dialed in! Tuning Sounds killer!!
This is a fantastic video.
I think the hardest part of recording is understand which things we can "tweak" to change the sound. Breaking this down by height, angle and width is fantastic, since that's a simple enough framework that I can use it to help dial in a specific recording.
Been following you for a while now, I love how you've improved the quality and content of your videos! It's great to see a recording artist fully commited to sharing his knowledge.
I'm a little late to the channel. This channel is a gold mine of incredible and helpful information. Really helps open up several different perceptions for what can be done. Great content, bro.
Brilliant organic tone ... probably all they used at Motown...sounds great
I bought the course, it's great and I highly recommend it guys, it's worth 100 times more than the price. Thanks!!
Thank you Robert!
Great information Ryan! I find especially that the graphics are really helping me to understand the concepts and to clarify them. Saving a lot of headaches when learning how mic a drum set and to get a good basic sound. Sounds excellent to say the least! Hard to believe that there were no additional mics on either the snare or bass drum in the recording. It really shows, at least to me, how important mic placements are.
Thanks for the inspiration. I did this with a pair of sm57 unidyne 3. Sounds so killer on some stoner metal drum tracks. I put a d112 on the batter side by the beater. It really helped to round out the sound by picking up some under snare and lots of attack from the kick drum.
How do you feel about the idea when you Mic everything to not really have overheads but let the overheads really focus on the cymbals? I heard that somewhere and thought it was interesting
When I do expand my drum mics (currently one mono) I will be getting a stereo bar and boom stand and will probably have no choice anyways but to place it in one of these configurations. Very reassuring, wonderful video as always!
I've been recording vocals and midrange instruments a lot over the past few years, but it'll be my first time recording drums on location this weekend. This video has been massively helpful. Thank you!
You are SOOO good with this stuff, excellent video, thank you!
I've watched a lot of drum recording videos....I'm fairly new at recording drums....and this helped me with overheads like no other video that I've seen! Thanks for providing such great content!
Found this video, liked it a lot. Would love a video where you use a third mic for getting some low end.
Another great video. I'm especially psyched that this can sound good without an outboard compressor, although the compressor sounds good too.
Yes totally. I developed it to be like the black t-shirt. It always works.
Thank you for this! I’ve been anxious about eventually buying a mic set for my drums, since it can be so overwhelming. I’m going to try this technique with my Zoom H4n, which has an XY pattern.
Nice. Yeah just experiment and you’ll find the right sound.
Dude! I just stumbled upon this technique a couple of weeks ago, trying to get the most of a xy setup. Now it's becoming my go-to OH mic technique!
As a long time viewer, great video!!
I think the floor tom isn't as prominent because it's much lower than the high tom (father away from the mic). Raise the floor tom/lower rack and it'll be more even with the wider OH setup
Fantastic. You make the seeming tedium of recording so much more interesting and purposeful. You make the simplest of concepts really CLICK with great audio examples and sharp editing to your videos. Love it!
Thanks! I work hard at it.
Having seen and heard how this sounds and how impossible it is to screw up I don't understand why anyone would have their overheads set up any differently. I can't believe I never thought of, or heard of anyone doing this before!
Absolutely stellar demo! You've made it super clear how to approach the technique. No B.S. here folks! Take note.
Just wanted to send a huge Thank you for what you do here on RUclips. I have applied some of your drum miking techniques and got some great results! Keep up the great work my friend!
Thanks and glad you got a lot of of my videos!
@@creativesoundlab Oh? Wanted to ask if you have a Patreon?
I fight with people all the time over this. You can get excellent drums with an overhead pair, kik mic and a room mic. Great job!
Listening without headphones (I'm on vacation lol) through my phone, whats interesting is I can't hear the stereo field in terms of left right but I can hear clear differences in the tone of the kit. The sound of the ride cymbal in particular has two very different eqs with the different positions
Sounds great! Will try that on a 4 track for a Black Metal project. Thanks for the ino!
I gotta say, the best mic placement I've ever had was this configuration. The sound of my drums was so good, it looked bigger than it really was needed. But with a few tweaks with the sound guy, it was perfect, and as far as I can go, this will always be my configuration of mics! And this video is so helpful not just for drummers, but also for sound engineers, etc! Thanks for this!
Glad this video was helpful!
Have you tryd the Soyuz 013 without the pad on overheads?
Very, very practical info in here. Thanks so much for such a great video! This is great for showing all sorts of tradeoffs we should know about. 🙂
You weren't kidding man that's a great drum sound
Thanks so much! The compression really helps to give it that sound.
I really can't get enough of your videos. SO INTERESTING!
Thanks so much! What should I make a video about next?
If you want to make it even better, treat yourself to a Wilkinson Audio XY mic clip. Makes setting up the mics on a stereo bar soo so easy and 100% consistent. No wiggling, no slow drifting, no fighting with the adjustment screws. Was one of the best 15$ I've ever spent on audio gear :) They also have ORTF and other clips.
I just went online to look at this clip...
Fkn Genius. Thx.
Interesting - the toms were wider coming in the "narrower" position, but the cymbals were narrower. The cymbals were wider in the over the tom, but the rack tom became much more centered. Cool video.
This was really useful. Thanks so much. Those Soyuz 013s are really nice sounding mics. I liked the image best at head height, higher was too compact, and closer seemed overdone. I think I can get what I want using this type of setup. I would just add a kick drum mic, that captures the deeper bass of the kick, and would help to give more of a centered feeling to the kick too. It's nice because I only have four preamp channels. But I do have a cheap but nice sounding pair of SDCs (Line Audio CM4. And I'm just about to buy a Shure Beta 52A after listening to some comparisons of different kick drum mics. But if I add a kick drum mic, I wonder how to best manage the phase relationship between the kick drum mic and overhead pair. Could do it by aligning the peaks in the DAW, I suppose. But engineers must have ways of adjusting mic placement, when mics can't be equidistant. Adjusting position by ear, while mix monitoring on headphones?
Just so you know, I watched this full screen, lying in bed on my back, with my laptop sitting on the end of my nose.
ditto
X-Y also works on string quartets, but I did it on drums when I didn't have enough mics and I sold it for its "mono compatibility ".
Ah good point.
THANK YOU for taking the time and effort to explain AND demonstrate exactly what you're talking about. this is a great channel for that reason. keep it up my man :) :)
I just started using this method and I'm sticking with it for a few reasons.#1,less mic stands to futz around with,#2 great for my 3pc bop kit#3,tried the Glyn John's techniche(royal pain to setup).All I need is 3 mic's(bass kick,2xy mic overheads and its quick setup and mixdowns baby!!🗽📼
I’ve really been digging into this topic on my own too. Truthfully I spent years giving minimal thought to overhead mic technique. But xy pencils on a good stand is truly the place to start!
Nice. Let me know if you check this out!
Ive been thinking about experimenting with have an overhead sound from up high capturing more narrow room combined with a lower overhead sound capturing the wider closer sound but then delaying the closer wider sound to be a "reflection" of the narrow farther roomy sound
Approaching drum recording with killer overhead micingg as the baseline and then using additional mics to enhance that already established overhead picture is so important. Overheads should be king and then adjust all other mics distance/phase relationship to the overheads.
Your drum kit sounds amazing from every angle
wow thanks so much for this - gonna try it tonight, really excited!
This is brilliant. My room has a short ceiling height and full mics get messy with phase and bleed. Definately worth a try! Thank you.
Sure Darrin. Let me know how it works out. You’ll want to stay low with the mics which means you may be wider than you want. If so then go over the ride to fine tune the width. Also the xy could possibly mean that ceiling treatment might be able to be concentrated over the pair vs with spaced pair.
One of the most useful drum recording videos I've seen. I'm going to buy the course as you always cover useful things. Out of curiosity when you record a stereo pair do you level match the preamps and record as a stereo track or just record them seperately as two mono tracks?
I record as two mono tracks. I just like to hard pan two tracks and it gives me control if I need to lower one side slightly of the snare isn’t centered. Sometimes it happens! Nobody’s perfect. Also when exporting tracks it’s nice to have a bunch of mini tracks for a song rather than have to group a few stereo tracks and then export the rest as mono.
You, my friend, are a knowledgeable and excellent teacher on recording. I have watched a few vids of you, and am very impressed. I want to start recording my drumming, but I have a large double bass kit, I have low ceilings, and zero equipment for recording. I have been researching what to get that won't cost a fortune as I am just a hobby drummer. But using the overheads, and maybe getting my bass drums and snare mic'd, will hopefully be enough to get a decent recording as I can't really mic a 12 piece kit unless I get some advanced ($$$) gear. I wish I could pick your brain, but your videos will have to do! Awesome stuff, thanks.
This is great! Such a useful reference to revisit as needed.
This was mind blowing, thank you for sharing this great advice. Was curious are the mics you’re using tube or FET?
Wow! This is an even better video than your previous instruction on how to record acoustic guitar with two cheap mics. And that video was already incredible! Thanks a bunch!
Thanks so much! I’ve done a lot of testing for the videos and my courses so there’s a lot to talk about.
@@creativesoundlabI did the drum course and applied what I've learned yesterday. I have a small space where I can record drums and with a couple of runs I got a great first result! I want to thank you for giving me the confidence to get started from a solid place rather than just messing about. I did get lucky once. I had an old Sony stereo mic with a small wire attached. Due to happenstance it ended up on the floor below the drum stool pointing towards the kick and floor. It was a really nice sound! Kick upfront and warm cymbals, perhaps you'd like to try that too. Kind regards!
This was excellent, really appreciated the graphics too.
Díky!
Remarkably good. Now to try and test out this technique on my next song. I might add one under the snare for a bit of flavour, just to see.
Nice! Let me know how it turns out!
Have been watching your videos and using many of your tips for the past 2 years! And they get better and better! Thanks for sharing your knowledge 🙂🙂
Any foreseeable problems with adding a third kick-drum dedicated mic?
"The kick will sit wherever it wants" :-) Good one!!!
Nice coherent image. Very nice center with the snare like you were talking about in the vid. Widening and narrowing of the sound was really highlighted with your examples. That's what I'm missing is a nice pair of SDC mics. Hope to have some soon so we can do that with them. Thanks for the great video as usual Ryan!
Thanks Paul!
Gonna use this at a session I'm doing soon for a quick demo but add in kick and snare mics , thanks bud from birmingham uk
Great and let me know how it works out. This was just the overheads. Add in the close mics and use the planning of what you get with your OH to help you pan the toms etc. then go wider if you want.
Thanks Ryan this is definitely a idea I will have to do and one less mic stand needed for my drums setup looks like a winner all round
This is a great video. You should make one about how to record dry drums and get them to have depth.
No one gonna mention how great that Tegeler Audio Manufaktur Creme sounded on those OHs? Knew it was great on a mix bus but this just proved how versatile it can be! Great video.
Very happy with the sound I get with one mic but am definitely going to give this a go, thank you Ryan!
Very cool glad this inspired you!
I'm a huge proponent of the less is more. I think you without a doubt have proved it with really great sounding drums. Sonically everything feels balanced to me and has a great phase relationship. I don't know if this will work in every style, but, I think for a lot of styles it can. I wish more people used less mics.
Hello! Your videos are absolutely great. Thank you for doing them. I’m learning so much. My question is are the Soyuz mics tube or FET?
dude! another great video! makes me want tot try XY on overheads (always use spaced pair, ortf or blumlein)
Yeah Frank, totally. You could actually use these ideas as long as you have a stereo bar that lets you move both mics together.
This is seriously invaluable information. Thank you SO much.
Your welcome Cole and glad it helped!
Great tutorial, thanks for the tip. I'm excited to try this out in the studio.
Sweet let me know how it works out.
super cool technique!! i was wondering if i decide to use this technique but placing the mic stand behind the drummer, do i have to flip the phase or it is good to go as is? 😄😄
Very useful information. Nice video. Thanks !
I arrived at something vaguely similar in my crappy drum room, I use a pair of KSM137 in "narrow ORTF." It's not a real pattern but I like the image that it gives. I think I saw Ulf does the same thing in one of his videos. I did XY for a while too. And "recorderman" on some past projects. I have come to be mildly passionate about a good set of small diaphragm mics over drums. This video is great it gave me some new ideas I will try. I think George Massenburg did a video of similar concepts about a spaced pair of SDC. The concepts are the same but I think you went a little further in this video.
Great video!! This is the second video of yours where the Soyuz mics have pretty much blown me away. Dammit. Now I’m gonna have to go buy a pair.
Haha yeah those 013s are great. I don’t know why they sound so big either.
Creative Sound Lab - curious, do you recall what factors lead to you choosing these vs the other mics in a similar price range; Neumann K184s; Telefunken m60; Beyer mc930; Miktek C5s. Kinda where I’m at. These seem to have a lot of low end, transient detail and impact, and a nice top end, without sounding overly hard or harsh. I’ve been using a pair of 4041s for a long time and they’re really decent mics, but I often find them to be a bit strident. Never an issue where I can’t make a record, but just looking for some new tools. Seems like I always like things that have a bit more of a flattering character such that they sound like a record on the way in.
Btw I really appreciate the amazing job you do of exploring recording techniques in detail. So much of what’s out there doesn’t talk about the principles behind mic selection and placement choices. Bravo!! I’ve been at this for many years but continually find useful info on your channel. I wish your channel was around when I started!! Keep up the good work sir!
Also you can change the degree of the mics from each other... 90 degree vs other
Ryan, thank you for what you do.
For beginning youtubers with a low budget or little to no mix experience buying an X-Y portable recorder like a Zoom H4 and using this set of positions gets you off the ground so quickly to making reasonable quality content
Anyone know how to play the fill at 7:31? It sounds like he's doing a double on the bass drum, but even when I slow it down I still don't know what he's doing lol. Anyone wanna help me out with the pattern?
i think its "bass-bass floortom snare bass"
Such a great video man! Thanks very much, love your work!
Great video, thank you, subscribed. Would you typically still use kick, snare and tom mics with this setup?
Loving this. I do have 2 questions. When you go from over the rack tom or floor Are the mics directly over the center of the Snare? and in the graphic it showed 33 inch from the top of the kick. Is this measurement correct or did you mean 33inch over the snare?
That was fantastic. You have such a great way of explaining things man 🙏
In the end of the day, if you're trying to achieve a great cymbal sound you put in the axis/line between the ride and hat.
If you're trying to achieve better kit/tom sound, you put it in the axis between the rack and floor tom.
Narrow / over the rack tom gives you better, fuller and punchier tom sound (as the mics are literally pointing at the centre of each tom)
Wide on top of the kick drum, gives you a wider and better cymbal sound (as the mics are pointing at the centre of each cymbal).
The mics will have better cymbal definition but also better rejection to the opposite cymbal (hat or ride) and therefore a wider image.
I love XY, not only gives a more realistic image of the kit, but the phase coherence makes the shells much punchier and clearer, none of that phase muddiness you get in spaced pair that makes you carve a lot in the mixing stage.
If it's too narrow I probably rather open the angle a bit more instead of going ORTF or spaced pair, to keep the phase intact and the snare in the middle.
XY feels like a bigger mono.
Producer Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, Good Charlotte) swears by this method and always gets great results. Usually using a stereo Royer SF-24 on overheads. For width, he uses widely spaced room mics.
This is just so helpful and invaluable information. Thanks !!!
I wonder if I can pull this off using a stereo Blumlein mic??? Better yet, can you imagine using TWO of these types of mics -- one for this aforementioned overhead technique and the other to be used in front of the kit a meter away in a figure-8 off-axis position as described in your "room mic trick" video???
Yep Blumlein works great with this.
To do the 'no fail' approach all the way you can go with a stereo mic. There are not that many of them and they're not very well known. I've seen you've got a stereo ribbon mic, I've got a Rode NT-4 which is a lot of fun, and there are some lesser known mics such as the AT4050 ST. It might be a good topic for a video. Love your channel, thank you.
Yeah, those mics are XY I believe. That's a super fast way to set up and get moving quick. I also use this technique with the AEA R88 which is two ribbons inside at the same angle we used here.
Thanks again for these amazing videos. I've got a pair of stereo ribbons from bash audio (RM BIV-1). Still finding out how to use them at their best. I've also got a stereo bar, but my concerns about that is that the ribbons get sound from both sides of the mic, and there is no way to change that setting. I'm a total rookie in this and, again, every help will be much appreciated.
Thank you
I actually already use the overhead placement over the ride directed at the snare. I prefer the tighter/narrower sound. Gives panned guitars more space. May play with the rotation next time.
Maybe using routing and a mono conversion plugin you can separate the low end of the kit to mono and centre it in the mix? I suppose just watching phase then would be vital. Thanks
Incredible information. Clear and precise!
Wow this is incredible advice, great video as always Ryan
Good shit, man. Gotta love that drummer tongue too. I probably had to work harder on getting rid of that than my actual drumming technique.
Yeah totally. I can’t get rid of the tongue no matter how hard I try.
Could you please write what is the model of the microphones? Thank you
Ryan, I have an idea for a video. What about the sound differences between matching and non-matching stereo pairs? There is no video on the sound comparison. Do they really sound so different or are the capsules close enough to get away with? Like a pair on non-matching akg c?14's (or/and) some small diaphrams on overheads or other sources.. This would be very interesting. Keep up the good work brotha! Thanks for all the helpful vids! SERIOUSLY!!!
What I can’t see is if the XY mics are placed right over the snare or over the kick drum or somewhere in the middle of both, let’s say above the kick pedal. It would be nice to know if this position affects and how much.
Example
Position XY over drummers head
Position XY over kick drum
Or somewhere in the middle
Regards from Mexico
Nesthor
Great stuff here. Can you follow this video up with how you would complement these overheads with the addition of a 3rd or 4th mic? (Avoiding obvious Weathervane and Glenn Johns stuff of course, haha.)
Most likely just the close mics. For this I would have a hard time knowing where to put an additional overhead.
I just bought the course. Thanks for the help
Thank you man!