Hi Hat Micing techniques!

[bluesguy]

looks like the km84 in next to impossible to get ahold of these days unless you have $1000.00. Though it sounds like quite the condenser mic!! I think I could acheive the same goal with a different condenser mic. What do you think about having ONE overhead to just use as like a room mic?? Let me know! Thank You!
bluesguy

[Kris75]

So how does this sound then, do the foam ect. one mic on kick, one mic on hi hat, one mic on snare (I usually have it about 5 to 6 inches away from the snare usually on the side of it for better tone) and one over head mic. So far in the journey drums seem to be the most CRUCIAL part of the mix. They make or break your overall sound quality. What does everyone think of this set up?? Or should I just forget the hi hat and use TWO overheads?? I was also thinking of the possiblilities of duplication snare tracks, ect. and panning one to the right and one to the left! you guys are GOOD with drums!! Let me know some expert opinions! Thank You again EVERYONE!
bluesguy

Umm, This is by no means standard but maybe you should read up on this and then maybe do a google search about it. Having your Snare mic 5 to 6 inches away is one of the main reasons you are getting such bad HH bleed. Some of the info you will find will not matter to you, and some will. Experiment. But you should learn the basic idea first.
Hope you find some useful info.

[ejwells]

In direct response to your question about miking a hi hat, I use an AKG 451. I place it about 6 inches from the top cymbal, and point it slightly away from the snare.
Some bleed is to be expected, so don't fret too much about it.

I tend to EQ alot of the snare out of the high hat mike after the fact.

Much of the hi hat comes from the overheads anyway, so a little of the direct mike goes a long way.
Often times I wind up not using it at all.

This notion about using sound replacer and triggers is all well and good, but why even bother with acoustic drums in the first place then?

I use:
Stero pair of 414's overhead
D112 in the kick
RE20 outside of the kick
57 top of snare
57 bottom of snare
451 hi hat
MD421s on the toms
pair of TLM103s in the room.

I run my snare and kick through either an Avalon or UA pre, the rest are either through the Octopre, or the 002 pres.

[lemix]

OK bluesguy,
What's your real name anyway ?
Having a room mic instead of a overhead greatly depends on what your room sounds like..
More precisely..listening to that mic in that song and what the drummer plays ..will dictate if that is a better choice, than a single, strategically placed overhead.
Kind of same goes for your problem HH.
Is it really important for mixing flexibility to have one of your 4 mics to be a High Hat ?
In that song ?
I've recorded many tunes without any HH mic. And did some with an extra HH overdub !
good luck,

[bluesguy]

Wow Ill check out the link on the snare drum micing. Thats really interesting because months and months back I asked "whats a good way to get a good snare drum sound?" and EVERYONE chimed in and said have it towards the side of the snare drum and have it like 4 to 6 inches away. I tried it and it really did do a GREAT job! They said that method captured the hit, the springs resonating on the bottom, and the shell. lol. The worst thing is that I have only 4 channels to work with. So it sounds like ONE overhead, One Snare Drum, One kick and then ONE on either Hi Hat or Use that as an overhead as well. MAN I am glad you guys all have been giving me this advice through out the day! One more question I might ask is what do you guys think about duplicating Drum tracks (like the overhead) and panning one towards the right and the other towards the left?? I heard a lot about doing this in another thread. Do any of YOU do this at all?? Thanx!
By the way Lenox my name is Jeff! Thanx Again!
Jeff

[Ben B]

The first thing you need to get good isolation on the snare track is a drummer who knows how to play well. I record so many bad drummers, who smash away at their high hat and cymbals, but hit the snare like a wuss. "Snare authority" really helps a lot.

Next, you need to understand polar patterns in mics. Find out where your mic's rejection angle is, and for maximum isolation, point the rejection of the mic at whatever you DON'T want the mic to pick up. Don't worry if the front of the mic is not pointed exactly toward the sound source when you do this. Consider the fact that you can be as much as 90 degrees "off" in pointing the front of a cardioid mic and only lose about 5-6 dB of pickup. But if you're 90 degrees off in pointing the rejection, you'll be getting about 15dB more leakage.

Having said that, sometimes you'll get better results using patterns other than pure cardioid. A hypercardioid or supercardioid mic will allow you to aim the rejection at the unwanted sound sources, while maintaining a logical on-axis placement for the sound source in front of the mic. For example, you can point a Beta 57 (hypercardioid) toward the snare, but angle it so that the high hat is about 120 degrees off axis. Other unwanted cymbals might also be able to fall within its "cone" of rejection.

Another helpful tool is to get the snare mic further away from the high hat, physically. The leakage obeys the inverse square law, pretty much. The farther away you can get the mic, the better. Sometimes I get better isolation on a snare track by placing the mic on the other side of the drum (not the high hat side), sliding the boom of the stand through spaces between toms.

Also, blending in a bottom snare mic helps, since the next result of the top mic (with some hat leakage) and the bottom mic (with very little hat leakage) results in a more well-isolated snare.

Ben B

[bluesguy]

Wow those AKG C 414's look like some great mics! But man your talking at lease $1200.00 to buy a couple. I just dont have that kind of money right now. Do you think you could acheive a similar goal with a couple of different brand condenser mics?? there pretty decent. Let me know! Thank You!
bluesguy

[rockrev]

The best budget overheads would be a pair of MXL 603's. They sound amazing, and at $199 a pair, well, who can top that?! Trust me, I use them all the time. The 603's are no joke.

rockrev

[lemix]

that's cool Jeff..and my name is "lemix"
As far as duplicating the overhead..
try and see if that's what you like. I'd rather use an ambiance effect ( dare I say > reverb plug-in.. )
And again..if that HH giving you trouble, why micing it at all ?
Kik/Snr/OH, OH will possibly cover all you need in the 4 channels you have.

happy tooling,
andrew

[bluesguy]

Great Great Great man!! That is great!! I can afford that! Thank you so much I will check those out right now!! Thanx Again!
Jeff