57s on snare and 3 toms, 52 on kick, and AT 822 (x/y) stereo overhead, all fed into 18i20 (focusrite) then into macbook and logic pro x.

​

 

top secret tip - mic toms from the bottom

 

what mic is that for the overhead ?

nice set up by the way.. kit looks a bit vintage, what is it ?

 

I might give that a try but it is counter intuative. Since you need to isolate the mic input with a gate as the first step in mixing, it occurs to me that the mic would be much further from the striking head, and so you'd get a lot more bleed to deal with in the gate threshold. What exactly are the benefits of this way of micing. In the picture the mic is very close to the striking area so it gets maximum focused area, and minimum bleed from other drums. This only make sense if you know about mixing. But I am listening. Make a believer out of me.

 

That is an Audio technica AT-822 Stereo mic. It was manufactured as a DAT machine mic. It was recommended to me by a counter person at Guitar Center decades ago for this purpose. It records well for overheads. So that is actually 2 mics in one case. It is an X/Y configuration stereo mic. Has 2 channel leads coming from it. I do have pencil condenser mics I can use if I want the x/y overheads to be spread out. This has pretty decent stereo spread for overheads. I have some recent recordings I have done with this.

Tama Rockstar kit. Sabian AAx Dark crashes, and Kustom Steve Gadd ride.

 

One thing I have found from my recordings is that the hyhat side is not represented well in the mix. I have 1 channel left on the rack mounted preamp so I want to put a mic there, mostly for the rotos. The hyhat comes through very well in the mixes, and so does the crashes. That is the AT-822. The rotos not so much. I am thinking to put my rode nt2a on that side, but I want to focus on the rotos, so I might try a 58 because you can aim it (per se). I would be iming it at the rotos witht he hyhat in the background. Angled at the hyhat with the rotos in between.

 

The rode would probably pick up the crash on that side of the kit and amplify it over the other side making it lopsided. That is why I am thinking a focused 58.

 

I am also going to move the china onto it's own stand and move it back. It's in the way of my ride like it shows in the pic.

 

In case you didn't notice, that is a piece of felt on the china. I am experimenting on taming the long release of the china. Might leave it full sheet (felt) or I might try trimming it down to find the right amount of mute. It's not bad with the full felt sheet on it. I have it recorded.

 

I would like to hear this in action \m/

 

yeah throw up some crashin' and bashin' clips
while you're at it ,sample some one shots so the world can have the @kooper kit...

didn't notice the felt... interesting idea.. looks really odd in the pic,
have heard of tea towels on the skins, never would have guessed

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 2, 2018

Nice kit man
There is no problem or any rule not to place the mics above the felts and basedrum inside the hole or from behind. Only for the snare you may use a second mic for the bottom (spiral carpet)

In fact I have never seen a studio setup with mics from beyond. So, your setup is totally ok.​

Just don't place the mics too near (10 to 15 cm away horizontally) to the felt as higher frequencies develop a little further away.
ATM if you record, the snare and toms most likely sound a little dull, position the mics 15cm further away will make them sound brighter.

But I bet you'll make the tooth fillings of your familiy tremble

 

Last edited: Aug 1, 2018

Something i think would improve your sound a lot is and XLR extension cable for the overhead.
OK, it won't sound better, but it is the only improvement I know enough to say.

 

it obviously depends on many factors, you need to try and judge yourself,
not trying to persuade you, just encourage to try unconventional ways,
I can tell you why it works at least for me (with different mics though) very well:

1) reso heads produce tone, this way you capture tone, and you can get "click" from overheads very easily (OHs are often low-cut and usually bit boosted on highs anyway, which helps even more)
2) kick drum is captured same way basically (especially when no hole is cut in kick reso head), so there is no reason why it should sound bad
3) having mics in the bottom, there's MUCH less bleed, because the drums are blocking all other sound sources
4) placing mics at very close distance (around 1-2cm) and in the center, you get surprisingly lot of "warm punch"
5) similar technique is used on individual cymbal miking, again because of such placement prevents lots of bleed from other sources
6) here's one of my recent "almost-unmixed" drum cover video:

 

I like the part about the tone. I actually have some video and multi-track audio with plugins applied. I have a "before and after" video embedded in a site page so we can hear the dif the plugins made. It's just a little test I did since I am just getting setup. Not serious playing. I will be doing serious tracking soon. SOme of you people who said they want to hear some of this have your profiles blocked. So I would ask you to send me a PM here.

 

If it doesn't sound better, what is the improvement?

 

Had a listen and it's impressive! Both productions and performance! Color me a fan!

 

Last edited: Aug 2, 2018

May you break all the room parallels, if there are ?
(for removing room's stationary flutter echos due to parallel surfaces)

 

@tzzsmk oh almost forgot that was you.. you are damn good man...I remember watching some of your other covers..

you have too many cymbals tho..

 

Opinions may vary