New OH setup - mind giving it a listen?

[liv_rong]

For a while now Ive been wanting to try spaced pair as the x/y setup Ive been using forever is lacking and causing some phase issues.

I basically split the kit down the middle of the snare(if looking from an overhead view) and positioned the mic's accordingly. I have them 24" apart right now, that's just how it worked out. The left OH is beyond the kit so I angled it a bit so it wasnt just facing straight down to the floor. It looks odd but I think it sounds better than what I was doing before.

To my ears I can still hear a lot of what should be in the left speaker coming through in the right speaker. I switched phase on both channels and heard no difference and if I switch to mono the snare still seems center to me. 32% is where I landed on the panning of them.

So, this may be what it is, unless you guys have any other ideas.

This is raw tracks, just panning and level adjustments. Also no tom mics, just overheads, kick and snare mics. just fumbling around some different things to get an idea on spacing and such.

[vomitHatSteve]

That sounds pretty good. Toms cut through pretty well, which is good.

[liv_rong]

Thanks for listening. That means it should sound better with the toms miced.

[Lt. Bob]

sounds fairly balanced to me ..... maybe a bit tilted to the right but not much

[JD01]

That sounds great to me, Liv. The kick and snare might be every so slightly off to the right and the hi-hat very close to the centre.

Sounds like you've got a really good sound there to work with though - must be very easy to mix that

[liv_rong]

Thanks guys!

[rayc]

Until the kick & cymbals came in I was bothered by the lean to the right but after that all was fine.
The old psych fan in me would like the left cymbal a little wider.

[liv_rong]

I guess the way my drums are set up fuck with the balance, but they all can’t be perfect. The snare is in the middle of the overheads and that’s gotta be that way. I don’t want to set up my drums just to have a better recording because my drums are set for me to be comfortable. This seems to be pretty good though. One thing I realized is though the snare is perfectly in the middle of the overheads, the heights are off by what looks to be 2-3 inches. I don’t know how much of a difference that will make but I’ll be making adjustments accordingly.

[WhiskeyJack]

I think it sounds really good. I feel a slight lean to the right but nothing that is going to ever stick out like a sore thumb once you get other elements jammed in there.

Weird question, does your room have low ceilings? like around 7 or 8 foot high ceilings?

[liv_rong]

I think it sounds really good. I feel a slight lean to the right but nothing that is going to ever stick out like a sore thumb once you get other elements jammed in there.

Weird question, does your room have low ceilings? like around 7 or 8 foot high ceilings?

Yeah dude, low. I don’t remember that exact height but I think around 7’. Then I have the drums on a 4-5” riser then the 4” cloud above them really squeezes things tight. Works ok though with all the treatment. I’d probably be better off micing each cymbal and pan accordingly. But I don’t have enough inputs or mics for all that lol.

[WhiskeyJack]

I think it sounds really good. I feel a slight lean to the right but nothing that is going to ever stick out like a sore thumb once you get other elements jammed in there.

Weird question, does your room have low ceilings? like around 7 or 8 foot high ceilings?

Yeah dude, low. I don’t remember that exact height but I think around 7’. Then I have the drums on a 4-5” riser then the 4” cloud above them really squeezes things tight. Works ok though with all the treatment. I’d probably be better off micing each cymbal and pan accordingly. But I don’t have enough inputs or mics for all that lol.

I think if you were to mic each cymbal the post stuff would get mind numbingly tedious and sort of unnecessary.

Your low ceiling is a bit of an inspiration. My shit room has a very low ceiling and after hearing the sounds you can get i am not that worried about the potential of what i could do with mine any more. i have minimal treatment in there right now but after i get the basement baseboard up and electrical panel closed in the music room is next on the facelift hit list.

Thanks for sharing liv.

[Greg_L]

Don't think of the snare as the "center" of your kit. It's not, but it can be without you having to move things around.

You need to draw an imaginary line from the center of your kick drum through the center of your snare. That's the centerline of your kit if you want those pieces centered in your stereo image. It will obviously be a diagonal line, which will put one overhead kind of to your right behind the kit, and the other mic up in front to your left. This still gives you a nice spread and keeps the kick and snare centered. And make sure both mics are equidistant from the snare.

[liv_rong]

You need to draw an imaginary line from the center of your kick drum through the center of your snare. That's the centerline of your kit if you want those pieces centered in your stereo image. It will obviously be a diagonal line, which will put one overhead kind of to your right behind the kit, and the other mic up in front to your left. This still gives you a nice spread and keeps the kick and snare centered. And make sure both mics are equidistant from the snare.

I know of this method but my thinking was since I have so many cymbals and shit that if I put the right overhead behind me then those cymbals wouldnt be as loud as the others. I guess maybe I could fuck around with levels when mixing though as well.

I think what i have now is ok, but im going to try the other way too now just to be sure.

This is what I have now, drawing is not to scale and sucks lol. The red dots are where I have the overheads now.