THE Cymbal Micing Technique For Ultimate Clarity And Control - Recording Metal Drums
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 พ.ย. 2019
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Obtaining a decent cymbal sound is challenging in heavy music. Many consider it one of the most challenging things to get right in the mix.
Turn your overheads up to hear more cymbal detail and you're often bombarded by a screeching hi-hat and a snare that pokes through too much.
Turn your overheads down to compensate for your overly loud hi-hat and all of a sudden your china and softer crash hits become non-existent.
The truth is the solution to this has absolutely nothing to do with mixing.
It has everything to do with micing your cymbals right in the first place.
This was something I struggled with for years (it was more like an obsession) and was never able to crack the code until I learned how to properly mic cymbals for the heavier genres of music.
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Awesome video. I'm the exact same way, I mix a lot of rock / metal bands live (usually record them as well) I've always gone with the approach of "cymbal mic" besides, usually in metal recording you end up using samples on the snare and sometimes toms. I'm a big fan of under mic'ing cymbals as well
Dude, this is so fucking gold, dude. I was struggling so hard with putting my OH"s on the xy axis and putting them out front and behind me and in-between this thing and that... JUST MIC EACH CYMBAL!!! EASY!!! Thanks for the tips, man!! Only thing I still do is I ALWAYS make sure every cymbal mic is still equidistant from the snare cuz in my thinking there's ALWAYS gonna be some snare in the "overheads"/ cymbal mics. But, I'm not a mixer, so yeah, what do I know!
Awesome. I'm a drummer recording a heavy song and not getting enough cymbals without getting too much snare and hats using xy overheads.
Awesome brotha!!! Thanx!!!! 🎼
THANK YOU!
Interesting. I've never really heard of this using this method before. Pretty cool. I always thought that using a traditional overhead setup was important because it provides a big part of your overall snare sound, as well as toms too. I was always under the impression that the drum close mics were only a part of your sound and that the OH's provided the whole picture, in a sense. I guess my biggest gripe with this setup would be that I'd have to use more mics/tracks for this method. I guess it could be worth it though, if it gives you more control in the end.
Yes, traditional overhead methods are great for capturing a stereo image of the entire kit. I use a traditional spaced pair whenever I'm working on indie rock or any other non-metal genre.
This method is common in modern metal because it offers maximum control. The drummer will almost always ask for a louder china or ride and it's good to have thr flexibility to do that. The trick with this method is to heavily filter the overheads in the mix and to get the overall blend of the drum sound from the room mic.
It does require more mics. It's the only area of production where I prefer to use more than less in the microphone department. Luckily the extra mics don't have to be expensive. You can use almost anything on the ride/hats/china and extra inputs come pretty cheap these days.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for another video. When you process your cymbal mics (EQ and dynamics), do you process them individually or all together through a bus? Also, how do you pan them?
Thanks for watching man! I generally use an LCR approach with cymbals. Once in a while I'll pan the ride and hat in around 70% L and R. Check out this video where I go through my overhead mixing process: th-cam.com/video/KI7gUCFp1pk/w-d-xo.html.
Great video! Earned a sub from me. What did you think of using ribbon mics for this? I like using some active ribbons (a bit brighter than traditional designs but still buttery smooth) as my overheads because I can really push the high EQ for a razor sharp cut without it getting harsh. I'm thinking the figure 8 pickup pattern would help isolate the cymbals in this case? Anything to help keep the hi hat out of the other mics!!
I'm a fan of either cardiod or hypercardiod patterns for my cymbal mics..the more directional the better. I have had good luck with using ribbons on my hats, ride and as a pair of room mics. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes!
Thanks , what is the cheapest mic to record one Sabian thin stage crash please? I want to record on an alesis dm8 pro and add a metal crash with a mic
I'm a huge fan of the Samson C02. You can pick a pair of them up for around $120 and they're killer. I've been using them for 15 years.
Nice
Do you have to worry about the mics being in phase, or does it not matter because they're not really picking up anything else?
I've never had a problem with phase while micing cymbals. Just be sure they're not TOO close to the cymbals when recording a hard-hitting drummer.
@@FrightboxRecording awesome! thank you, im gonna try this out!
im just video hopping seeing how far the mics are from the cymbals
I’ve found you mic the hat so that you can send it to the drummers phones hot so they don’t bash it then you can also use the hat mic in the mix. 😂
That's a great idea!
So, honestly, this technique has changed my approach completely -But, in some of your other videos I have noticed that you often use many room mics, hallways mics, mics up high... What have you found the most useful so far?? Honestly, I did a pair of stereo rooms and I actually found that to be a little much for my productions. One mono room in conjunction with the cymbal spot mics works for me...
I experiment a lot with room mics, but honestly all you need are one or two to get the job done. I'm a huge fan of close-micing my cymbals and using either a mono room or a simple, stereo pair. Everything else is icing on top...of the icing..on top of the cake.
@@FrightboxRecording Agreed! 1 or 2 is all that's needed! And, honestly, my man... I'm even contemplating going without any -I'm getting soo much ambience from my cymbal mics, even one room mic is a little over-kill sometimes... Thanks for responding! Cheers!
Man... I can't get a good sound lol.. I will try this
if you keep the mic towards the edge of the cymbals wouldn’t you get a wavvy sound when the cymbal goes up and down?
Cause i tried it that way and figured the bow of the cymbal is the best place to put it. i think (don’t quote me) its because the freq. of the top and the bottom are slightly different so you hear 1 tone when the cymbal goes up and another when it is neutral, idrk much but that’s what i’ve found though your type of mic oh placement
That can happen if the mic is too close. For bigger cymbals I keep the mic 12-18" above it and have never had a problem.
@@FrightboxRecording hahah, that explains alot, i play a 26” cymbal 😂
@@siank_ Year-old reply...but what you're hearing is the Doppler effect. Same reason a train horn sounds like it's ascending in pitch when it's coming towards you and descending in pitch when moving away from you.
Now to figure out how to translate this to superior drummer 3 🤣
Panning?
You've gotta be highpassing the piss out of those cymbal mics because each one of those cymbal mics is a different distance from the snare... no?? Otherwise, the sound of the snare is going to be hitting each of those mics at a different time...
Presents Cymbal mic technique. No audio at all showing it. :/
Check it out here! th-cam.com/video/KI7gUCFp1pk/w-d-xo.html
They will all be ditched in Pro Tools drum replacement later anyway!
Hell no! Replacing cymbals is sacrilege...unless the source cymbal sound REALLY sucks, At that point you might as well just program drums.
@@FrightboxRecording it is indeed, but that doesn't mean it isn't done, and usually very badly! When you mic cymbals that closely how do you avoid the inevitable phasing that occurs as the cymbals moves on its stand after it has been struck? That movement could easily and add subtract 25% of the cymbal to mic distance which is bound to add phase effects. S
@@redtapemusic As long as I don't go any closer than around 6", I've never have any issues with phase at all. I think one of the tricks with this technique is to not be shy with the high pass filter in the mix on your cymbal tracks. The cymbals will sound thin in isolation, but the entire drum sound really comes together when you blend in a room mic or two.