Bob Clearmountain & Matt Chamberlain Recording Drums With 2 Mics

Thanks for sharing! I always enjoyed recording with fewer mics, something about it just sounds so raw and organic.
 
Cool for certain types of music, definitely not for any type of progressive playing with multiple toms and cymbals. Imagine telling Daney Carey or Carter Beauford to go with only 2 mics!

I just finished mixing a recording for a track that was recorded with minimal micing. There was a ride cymbal bell/china part that they wanted accented but the engineer couldn't do it without drastically affecting the rest of the kit's sound.

We all have a sound in our head of how good the old records used to sound. But is part of that just nostalgia?

It's like when I watch reruns of 70's shows on HDTV. They didn't look like blurry crap to me then but they sure do now.

I wonder...
 
Thanks for sharing! I always enjoyed recording with fewer mics, something about it just sounds so raw and organic.

My opinion is a little different, I think the setup they were using with two mics lacks in stereo, and stereo recordings are way more organic, like birds chirping and jungle sounds. I agree though that the one mic per drum can be sterile, but mono is just so one dimensional. Maybe if they used two over heads.
 
My opinion is a little different, I think the setup they were using with two mics lacks in stereo, and stereo recordings are way more organic, like birds chirping and jungle sounds. I agree though that the one mic per drum can be sterile, but mono is just so one dimensional. Maybe if they used two over heads.

I do agree with you on the two overheads, for sure. I should have specified what I meant by "fewer mics".
 
Here and now in the 21st century this seems pointless. Its been done already, that standard has been set.

60's recordings 'magnificent'? Not by todays standards. Back then it was a simpler time with a lot less going on aurally. Refreshing, different, not as crowded maybe, but IMO not 'magnificent' by todays standards.

It's art man. People will identify with what the identify, and that's just how it goes. Many could say that, sure, today's recording standards are pretty high, but what's being recorded is crap. Some pre-teen kid today in 50 years will call this era "magnificent".
 
When positional audio was introduced, I really thought it was going to be a huge change in the way we listened to music. Instead, we ended up with stereo tracks with Q-sound or Dolby PL. The only mainstream positional tracks are during movie-credits and a few niche titles. Even the production tools haven't really made it into the consumer space yet, forcing me to leave the comfort of GarageBand just to experiment with >2 dimensions.

Sad.
 
With headphones positional audio is great, as an effect, but on even top quality stereo speakers, if you are not sitting still in the centre of the stereo signal, its pretty much a waste of time. Listening to live music in a Pub or Club, unless the drums are miced, its up to the drummer to get the kit to sound right and place the accents. If thats the recorded sound you want then two or three mics should do it, Its up to the drummer and the engineer to get the sound right rather than the easy option of "Fix it in the mix".

Probably the reason a lot of 60s stuff sounds more organic, for want of a better word, is that most of it was recording a performance rather than a lot of parts recorded cold to a click or backing track. Nothing wrong with either method, just different times different technology.
 
Oftentimes I like older recordings better. A lot of modern recordings sound like they were cut and pasted together and sound really over produced. Older recordings sound a lot more like a performance to me.
 
I like the sound, but I agree about the simple process not allowing flexibility.

I like how the guy from Kush Audio works a stereo mix. Even though his snare and bass drum sound is of the dead variety, what he does with the stereo mix sounds nice. The toms sound nice at about 17 seconds in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2jB3Y-Oy8U
 
I like the sound, but I agree about the simple process not allowing flexibility.

I like how the guy from Kush Audio works a stereo mix. Even though his snare and bass drum sound is of the dead variety, what he does with the stereo mix sounds nice. The toms sound nice at about 17 seconds in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2jB3Y-Oy8U
An excellent post, & a great example of just one aspect of stereo production. If you start with a great sounding kit in a good room, it's amazing what can be done with a stereo soundscape to alter mix perception. Mono precludes much of that wonderful 3 dimension scope, & all achieved without over processing the kit. In other words, you can alter the kit sound significantly whilst still maintaining a fairly natural kit sound, & all with only 3 mic's.

I'm sorry, but I see almost no advantage to mono overhead. To me, it's a significant curtailment for no apparent reason.
 
I'm sorry, but I see almost no advantage to mono overhead. To me, it's a significant curtailment for no apparent reason.

I think the only counters would be phase, expense, and simplicity. I also went to an art gallery last week, and a couple of the exhibits were in pencil, when we all know that paint is far more expressive. ;-)
 
Horrible flat as pancake drum sound.

Matt had some nice lively sounding drums with Tori Amos so it's all deliberate, but still not for me, anyone else agree or am I alone in the wold of boingggggg not thud.
 
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