Drums Under Microphones

devonc97

Member
I've really wanted to investigate the differences between internal and external microphones and wondered if anyone on DW has had experience with both, and maybe some sound samples? I might be going out on a limb for that. Also, what are the characteristics that make an ideal live drum sound (from an engineer's perspective) different than an ideal studio sound? I.e.; head sustain, volume, overall "tone" (musical note) versus just front-end stick attack
 
Inside mic-ing of a drum is trickier than outside mic-ing.
Mic placement is more important due to the tone from the resonant head and the increased attack from the batter head that is picked up by the mic. Tuning is also critical.
Often mic-s that are inside of drums are "gated" to help control the overtones.
Drums with no bottom heads or, "concert toms" work well with inside mic-s.
 
Sounds good or at least normal in a kick drum, but in the other drums it needs a lot of EQ to take away the small-room-without-furniture/basketball bounce overtones. It can sound really quite good though. But you need to process the results more heavily than with external mics. They do have the advantage of less spill though too.
 
And processing (EQ) = phasing, and phasing = things sounding more different in different rooms and systems.

Mics inside a drum are more difficult to move. Moving mics to get a good sound without processing is a good thing.

Live mic techniques favor dynamic mics with cardioid patterns to reduce bleed and positional phase. Close mics reduce bleed but have the effect of increased lows and less openness because of the increased transient from proximity.

Studio mic techniques favor more sensitive mics that can pick up soft sounds as well as the dynamic ambiance and punch without sounding harsh. The rumble of the floor as well as the squeaks and rattles of the seat are more evident with large studio condenser mics, but you hear the breathy sounds of very lightly played toms much better.

A mix of both allows studio mics to capture most sounds and also allows the close mics to fill in the transient details, but using lots of mics at different distances makes for phase issues that need to be compensated for and it often loses some air even with good technique. This is because the tailings of a sound will not always be in phase even if the initial transient is.

Ideal live and studio drum sound is too subjective.
When I see a rock show in a giant space, I hear mostly stick slap and fundamental. I wish I heard more overtones.

If I were allowed to experiment in such a situation, I might try using larger drums tightened higher so the overtones would last longer within the transient tone before the residual sustain. Matching the size of the drum with the tension should balance the overtones with the stick smack and the transient round tone and lessen the residual sustain, making for a more articulate, round and much less insipidly clean presentation.
But then, I prefer a noisy drum.
 
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All I know about inside mics on toms is that I'm not a fan of Thomas Lang's sound with them (basketball bounce indeed), and they simply must be interrupting a noticeable portion of the drum's air flow.

https://youtu.be/4kMmRszHghg?t=313

On the album I did last year we had B-Band Ukko transducers in the toms, and they're very small and stick on to the inside of the shell with adhesive, so that wouldn't make an appreciable difference to the air flow. Of course, the air isn't really going anywhere for the most part anyway, it's just changes in pressure.

And processing (EQ) = phasing, and phasing = things sounding more different in different rooms and systems.

Mics inside a drum are more difficult to move. Moving mics to get a good sound without processing is a good thing.

Live mic techniques favor dynamic mics with cardioid patterns to reduce bleed and positional phase. Close mics reduce bleed but have the effect of increased lows and less openness because of the increased transient from proximity.

Studio mic techniques favor more sensitive mics that can pick up soft sounds as well as the dynamic ambiance and punch without sounding harsh. The rumble of the floor as well as the squeaks and rattles of the seat are more evident with large studio condenser mics, but you hear the breathy sounds of very lightly played toms much better.

A mix of both allows studio mics to capture most sounds and also allows the close mics to fill in the transient details, but using lots of mics at different distances makes for phase issues that need to be compensated for and it often loses some air even with good technique. This is because the tailings of a sound will not always be in phase even if the initial transient is.

Ideal live and studio drum sound is too subjective.
When I see a rock show in a giant space, I hear mostly stick slap and fundamental. I wish I heard more overtones.

If I were allowed to experiment in such a situation, I might try using larger drums tightened higher so the overtones would last longer within the transient tone before the residual sustain. Matching the size of the drum with the tension should balance the overtones with the stick smack and the transient round tone and lessen the residual sustain, making for a more articulate, round and much less insipidly clean presentation.
But then, I prefer a noisy drum.

It's very much context-dependent isn't it. I think the lack of overtones you're describing has more to do with gating (a necessity in a loud and live setting in my experience) than with tuning.
 
Every time that I have placed a mic inside of a drum with two heads, I was faced with a challenge when I tried to EQ the mic.
 
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