Tracking funk beds, looking for suggestions...

[Amo Audio]

Hi guys,

I'm tracking a really great 12 piece funk band next week at my school's studio and I'm just looking for some suggestions or ideas. I am so used to tracking rock drums so I'd like some fresh ideas more suited towards funk. I want to get a really tight punchy sound that will sit well in a busy mix. I have a lot of good mics and gear at my disposal so it has potential to sound really great.

I was thinking of miking the kit xy to keep the stereo image natural, maybe with some km184's and I was wondering about putting an re20 on the kick. Snare I was planning on doing the old 57 on the top, beta 58 on the bottom, but I'd love suggestions. Toms, hihat, etc. ideas are welcome!

Thanks,
-Adam Biggs

[timc]

Don't over isolate the sounds... the bleed can be part of that funky jelly.

[Amo Audio]

Thanks timc,

I forgot to mention, I'm probably only going to keep drums, bass DI, and horns from the bed session. all the other percussion guitar etc. I'm going to overdub.

I was thinking of miking the horns xy with a pair of NTK's, but i've also heard of people getting a good sound off the reflection of a wall. I'll be putting the horns in a good sized iso booth with a big window, so I had another idea of putting a blumlein stereo pair between them and the window to pick up the direct and the reflections (maybe 414's, or Rode K2's if there's 2 available). Anybody have any advice on this?

Thanks again

[lemix]

Amo Audio,
IMHO you are in for trouble by micing the glass. What are the dimension of that iso booth ?
I'd totally reverse the setup..put the drums in there, mic it close. That is so "funk like"
The horn section need air to mix and develop their balance. Put them in the biggest room. Again, just my opinion, I'd put up individual spot mices for the horns, and a room mic.
good luck,

[minister]

i'd be prepared with things like electricians tape, cloths, paper towels and extra padding for putting on the snare, in the kick...to get things drier or duller. i also have extra hi hats around, like some micros for fun 'n funky stuff. if the guy is a pro, he'll tune his kit. if his kit is out of tune, don't be shy, ask him to tune it. (i always have a spare set of heads too.)

i have 184's and i use them all the time as overheads...but that is only becasue that is what i have once i've miked the kit. they can sound pretty good in the right pre, but they are little too closed, narrow and a teensy bit edgy on cymbals. don't get me wrong, they are great mics and i have done some great recordings with them. they just woulnd't be my first choice for funk.

the re20 might be fun, but maybe if you had an AE2500 dual element, or even a senn 421. you could augment the re20 with a condenser to get the point of the beater and leave the re20 for the oomph. play with distance...some people even mic the shell in funk. off center gives you more skin, closer can give warmth, while moving back can emphasize the point.

if you mic the bottom of the snare. try reversing the polarity on that mic.

421's are great on toms..i'd put that re20 on the floor tom. for hi hat, some smooth condenser...akg 451...

if you went totally old school, a la funk bros. you could get away with three mics, one nice big diaphragm about 2-3 feet back for the kick, an sm57 or the like behind the drummer righrt about 3-4 feet and pointing towards the toms and another behind on the left pointing towards the snare. this gives you that old motown sound.

for brass, i'd use ribbons for sure.

[Iain Graham]

I've just got a great Trumpet tone by putting an RE20 right on the bell. Not inside it, but pretty close. I also used AKG's The Tube on tenor and alto sax and got a great sound. 4 or 5 inches from the bell.

It was a funk-horn-type session on a traditional Irish album.....figure that one out.

For over heads, I use 184s as well, but only because I don't have something else to use. A pair of 414s or 87s would be my usual choice. They might not suit a funk vibe tho. Love a 184 on hats. 421s on toms. Try a 414 under the snare as well. Pad it to -20 and put it in hyper (cancels the kick a bit). I've fallen in love with an Audix i5 on snare top as well. All the snap, none of the low mid 57 thing. I just don't like that.

In kick, I use a beta 91 inside and either a 441 or The Tube outside the drum. The mic outside gets all the low mid from the drum, the 91 gets the sub and click. If you get the phase right. I'm personally not a fan of the RE20 on kick. An M88 might be a good try for your session though.

Have fun, and just try it. An assistant might be an idea if your experimenting though. Even if it's only to move mics while you listen.

Iain

[studiojimi]

several buckets of popeyes chicken is a must

pioneer if you can't get the popeyes

wings will do.

and a big butt bag of pork rinds and i think you will be surprised and your yield of real deal funk

later when the energy get low break out some sock-it-to -me cake and a gallon of red belly wash just to flush the stuff into submission
it's all about vibe baby

[studiojimi]

and another thing

if you must have soda

7 up, SPRITE OR TEEM not pepsi or coke

[minister]

thinking again about it, your x-y could work as a closely spaced coincident array, which would be idiomatic to funk. the spaced pair facing away from each other is a much bigger image and here you have to remember your 3:1 rule. but i think you are on with a smaller image for funk. ... but don't be afraid to spot mic the cymbals instead...

for fun, if the room is decent sized put a distant pair up, blumlein, and use the room instead of digital. and for a really interesting sound (for cool funk) stick a boundary PZM mic 20 feet in front of the set on the floor. in mixdown, use this as verb, snare verb, kit verb. squash the piss out of it or gate it. you can get some mean drum ambience with that. hell, dirty that up, if you want. once i used my common area as my "chamber" for a heavy metal thing, recorded simultaneously to the rest of the tracks. no digital verb. sounded great. big concrete space.

here's a trick: on that "chamber" or boundary mic, put a compressor on it, maybe 4:1 with at least 6dB reduction (i like more) and key in the snare (pre fader) so that the room gets out of the way when the snare comes in.

[Amo Audio]

Great stuff! Just what I was looking for!

I just got back from a packed show these guys put on at a pretty happening venue here in Vancouver, That and all this stuff for me to try has me pumped for this session next week! I have a couple people who wanted to assist for me and I swindled a 12 hour studio block so I'm going to experiment as much as I possibly can without killing the vibe.

About the blumlein off the glass thing, what if I used a couple of the portable wooden diffusers the studio has instead? I want the brass section to be tight and relatively dry, but not 2" from your face dry. The early reflection thing seemed to sound like it would give me that space, but I guess I won't know till I try... The iso booth wouldn't be very good for drums, It's kind of a longish triangle that has high ceilings but its too narrow for a drumkit.

love the ideas for tracking the reverb! Keep em coming!