Kick mic. Phase reversal?

[Steady Freddy]

While browsing some different recording techniques on the Internet it would appear that many reverse the phase on the kick drum mic.

Is this a common practice and do you recording dudes "in the know" do this?

Thanks in advance.

[Les Ismore]

Its common. You need to try it, it may not sound as good. Common is- in phase on top of snare, reverse on the bottom of snare. Same theroy can be applied to bass drum. You can run a mic out of phase/reversed by swithching the leads on the mic cable. Make sure that cable is labled/marked so you can't miss it.

[Steady Freddy]

Hey Les,

Thanks for the info. Yes, as I understand it you just swap the #1 and #3 pins on one end of the cable. My kick sounds a little thin so I'm thinking the mic is out of phase due to the direction it's pointed.

[drumtechdad]

This is usually done when both the batter and reso are miked. One of those has to be reversed relative to the other. Usually the reso mic is normal and the batter reversed.

If you are using a single mic and if you have a handy way to reverse phase (some mixers let you throw a switch) it's definitely worth experimenting with either way. It can make a big difference.

[JIM_fear]

If the mic is out of phase, you could also try to reposition it until it is back in phase rather than reversing it.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

It really depends on how you mic the rest of your kit. If you think there is a phase issue, try flipping the phase on the target track to see if it sounds 'fuller' with the swapped phase. It's important to listen to all the drums mics when doing this, not just the one you think is giving you a problem. Many preamps and mixers offer a phase switch. If you are recording to a computer, your software may allow you to do this on a per track basis.

[Skitch]

Great topic!


Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

http://www.youtube.com/drummermikemccraw
http://www.myspace.com/drummermikemccraw

[Steady Freddy]

****I had posted this in the General section under recording drums, but thought I'd post it here as well.****

I found a neat little adapter today at Sam Ash to change the phase on XLR cables. It's made by Hosa. The part number is GXX-195. The Sam Ash SKU number is HGXX-195XX.

It plugs into the XLR cable and costs $10.50.

Seems like an easy way to go and you don't have to dedicate a XLR cable to be phased reversed

[ermghoti]

Given that almost everybody in the world is recording to a digital format, I'd advise fooling around with phase reversal in the DAW, during mixing, unless it's so bad you can't get a decent sound in the room, which would be rare.

[Steady Freddy]

I'm recording using a Boss BR1600 machine. It has eight mic inputs and I haven't been able to figure out if there's phase reversal per track.

I miced the snare top and bottom today and used the adapter on the mic on the reso side and that worked out OK.

I did get some bleed into the bottom mic from the kick so I have to play around with positioning. The snare sounded a lot better miced top and bottom. Im using SM57s. Beta 52 on kick, but I'm not shure (cough) if I like it. I have a D112 on the way.

I'm still trying to get sound. It's coming, but there's a ways to go..

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

I did get some bleed into the bottom mic from the kick so I have to play around with positioning.

Try using a high pass filter on the bottom snare mic. You may still get the high frequency bleed from the kick, but you can at least cut the boom out. Personally I like a little bleed- helps with an organic sound.