Friday, 2 January 2004 - 10:49 PM CST

Im having trouble getting the toms to stand out in my drum mix. Any suggestions?

Saturday, 3 January 2004 - 11:12 AM CST

nick-
one way that ive had success when dealing with this problem is to stick an "MS" microphone,or two microphones in an "MS" pattern, strategically behind the drummer. The "MS" or mid-side technique involves two capsules: one cardiod or hypercardiod aimed directly at the source and one figure 8 aimed 90 degrees from the source. Typically the side capsule is phase reversed at the console. I found a great article on this technique and copied the beef of it for you here:
Mid Side technique employs two microphones aimed directly at the sound source. The Mid mic can be of any pattern, but is most often of a cardioid or hyper cardioid design. The Side mic is a bi-directional or figure eight pattern. What gives M/S stereo its flexibility and mono compatibility is the sum and difference matrix. The M/S matrix takes the sum information M + S, and sends it to the left channel, and the difference information M - S, and sends it to the right channel. When the left and right signals are combined, (M + S) + (M - S) = 2M, the sum is M information only. If the M/S signals are recorded discreetly (without going through the matrix) the signals can be matrixed in post, and the relative gain of the two signals can be adjusted to provide varying degrees of stereo width. When stereo recording techniques are used in large reverberant spaces, mono summing often results in objectionable amounts of "room sound" versus program material. When MS recordings are summed, Side information (most of the reverberant signal) is completely canceled, not added.
I hope this helped you with your problem.
thanks,
Nathan A. Trumble -http://c.a.production.tripod.com

Monday, 12 January 2004 - 11:19 AM CST

wow. thats deep bro. what planet are you from?

Wednesday, 5 May 2004 - 10:55 PM CDT

How do you dial in your eq for your kick drum to get that metal click sound like you did with EIGHTYSICK?

Thursday, 6 May 2004 - 3:33 PM CDT

dave-
it depends on the kick drum, beater, skin, mics, mic positions, compression, and eq. i really couldnt explain a certain metal eq setting, because it varies so much. the rest of your mix also determines how much "click" will come through. remember to build and fill pockets in your eq when you are building a mix. hope this helps.

Thursday, 6 May 2004 - 10:01 PM CDT

Well just some basic questions about the kick drum. Would you like cut the mids and turn up the low mids, and add some low into it. The add some high for the click. I understand how to compress it and so on. I just never understood how to dail it in perfect.

Thursday, 6 May 2004 - 11:21 PM CDT

dave-
only cut your mids if they sound either boxy or cardboardlike. usually, i cut about 3-6db and sweep from 480-630 Hz until this disappears. be careful when adding your low mids and lows also. i like to cut in frequency instead of add. if you find yourself adding these a lot, try repositioning your mic or mics and using different placement and combinations. sometimes to really push it over the edge in the mix, i mult the kick and squash the hell out of the second one right before it stars to lose attack. i then add this squashed second kick underneath the original and stop attenuating when i start to hear it.(ala a typical rock vocal setup). good luck brotha. experimentation=the key