Recording Recipes: Drums

[dagosto]

There's also the old story of Neil Pert taping a PZM to his chest to get the sound that he was hearing.

[Jared Kubokawa]

Damn SorenP I was totally saving that one, seriously.

I love it. "Hear what they drummer hears," they say. I reply, "Why would I want to hear crap?" And I play drums.

Anyways, man, I have to find another. I'm bone dry. You're right, I'll have to go home and dig through old notebooks...

[SorenP]

haha didn't mean to steal your glory there

I'll try and find some other interesting tricks. you're next!

[Jared Kubokawa]

Hey no prob Soren. Well, Agosto mentioned Neal Pert taping a PZM to his chest and you mentioned micing behind the drummer, so to culminate the two: Have you guys ever put PZM's behind the drummer to "hear what they hear."

Even weirder one I thought of: Use a 4’ square of 1/4” plywood with two holes for hanging from ceilings, and hang in front of or behind a drum set for a very nice overall sound, with no need for close mics except perhaps a kick mic when the PZM is behind the drummer’s head. Using this “one-mic” technique also cuts down on phase problems, and I think that cymbals sound much better with this method compared to using a pair of overheads plus close mics.

[Nubus]

I actully used two pzm to the left and right of the kit a couple weeks back. they were super bright sounding so i wouldnt make them my only mics, but the added the stereo kit effect i wanted that my mono overhead doesnt get. those were on the walls.

my favorite use for a pzm so far has been on the floor basically right under the snare, nearest the kick. intention was to get a little attack from the bass drum (theres no hole in front) and a little snare bottom. mixed in with the rest of the kit mics is one of the clearest sounds we got.

[Jared Kubokawa]

That's a great place for a PZM Nubus, damn, why didn't I think of that! Did it pick up much of the "click" or "squeek" of the kick pedal or hat stand? (hoo-ray for onomatopoeia) Did you do much eq-ing on it?

I'll have to try it. Sounds cool.

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by dagosto

There's also the old story of Neil Pert taping a PZM to his chest to get the sound that he was hearing.

I've heard Albini does this too. In a pinch, you can also use a practice guitar amp (8" speaker) as a kick mic, or (as I like to do), blend it with the normal kick mic signal. It makes it sound a bit fatter, but not flubby.