Advice for Building a Mismatched Studio Drum Kit

[seenoevil II]

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-671452496 ... 99e2a72133

Here's a demo I did today as a proof of concept. 4 Mic set up. SM57 on batter snare, MXL Drum cube on kick in the port, 2 relatively low overheads pencil mics.

Pretty pleased. Could be better for sure. But it's a start, and considering that I didn't do jack shit to the room it's not too shabby.

[TagoMago]

That sounds excellent to me!

The balance between all the components of the kit is brilliant, so your mic positioning and playing dynamics are spot on imho. I can’t imagine getting a better result, maybe only some extra compression on the overheads or something? But that really is a perfect example of making the kick / snare / hats / crash combo really work. The playing is exactly right for the track and also for the gear you’re using. Nice one!

Btw, my ‘good’ mics probably are only budget unbranded versions of MXLs, and a few random things like an AKG kick mic or a 57 or a D19 or something. My favourite mic is a Radio Shack PZM from the 1990s, I’ve done whole albums with just that mic alone, drums and vocals included. Lo-fi albums, granted, but I did them. I sold all my decent mics off to fund a move to another country a few years ago but don’t miss any. I don’t have any posh stuff now. I’d bet your worst mic is waaaayyy better than my best.

[marqueemoon]

Yeah, that is a fitting drum sound for that musical vibe.

I had not heard of the Drum Cube. Kick micing is the most consistently frustrating for me. I only have one channel for it, and finding the right mix of beater click and resonance is challenging.

[seenoevil II]

Yeah, that is a fitting drum sound for that musical vibe.

I had not heard of the Drum Cube. Kick micing is the most consistently frustrating for me. I only have one channel for it, and finding the right mix of beater click and resonance is challenging.

Thanks! I'm pretty pleased.

So the Drum Cube was (is? IDK) a large diaphragm condenser MXL was making in 2013ish. It's EQ's with a lot of low end, but it's also a pretty serviceable all-rounder. I've used it many times for vocals (in fact, I'm worried that moisture exposure killed one of them). I got mine as a "stupid deal of the day" ten years ago. I want to say they were $150-200ish.

My only tip is parallel or blended compression for kick to get more beater in the mix. Make a compressor with insane ratio, low threshold, big make up gain, and most importantly, late attack (at least 15 milliseconds). Once it sounds ridiculously thwappy and gross, blend it into your OG kick to add that attack (you may well have known all about this).

[marqueemoon]

Yeah, that is a fitting drum sound for that musical vibe.

I had not heard of the Drum Cube. Kick micing is the most consistently frustrating for me. I only have one channel for it, and finding the right mix of beater click and resonance is challenging.

Thanks! I'm pretty pleased.

So the Drum Cube was (is? IDK) a large diaphragm condenser MXL was making in 2013ish. It's EQ's with a lot of low end, but it's also a pretty serviceable all-rounder. I've used it many times for vocals (in fact, I'm worried that moisture exposure killed one of them). I got mine as a "stupid deal of the day" ten years ago. I want to say they were $150-200ish.

My only tip is parallel or blended compression for kick to get more beater in the mix. Make a compressor with insane ratio, low threshold, big make up gain, and most importantly, late attack (at least 15 milliseconds). Once it sounds ridiculously thwappy and gross, blend it into your OG kick to add that attack (you may well have known all about this).

That’s a good tip. In my head this sound like it would be similar to the kick sound on Interpol’s Turn On The Bright Lights.

My general approach is to get as much of the overall drum sound from the overheads as possible and use the close mic on the kick to fill out the low end.

I kind of hate the mic inside the port hole, but often putting the mic outside the resonant head lacks definition.

My usual go-tos are an RE20 or my Pacific Pro Audio LD-1 (a cheap but decent LDC that has a switchable pad).

I got a Cloudlifter this year and have been loving what it does with the RE20 on vocals, so maybe that plus the RE20 on the reso head is the magic combo with some help from your tip.