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live drumcircle recording


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never did a hippy drumcircle, but i did work as soundtechnician for a south korean show on tour in Europe called "dulsori binari".

Which is all about drums, big drum, small drum, all sizes and shapes...so i´m pretty experienced when it comes to mic´ing drums.

 

Give each drum a seperate mic, i like the SM57 for Djembe´s, dont point the mic towards the center, position it on a stand next to the djembe and aim for the border of the drum, there the soundwaves roll off. Place it as close as possible (yet min 2cm) so you dont have to give the mic too much gain and to prevent reverb and harmonic effects if you are playing indoor.

 

Second thing you can try is placing an Sm91 in the center of the drumcircle, the SM91 is a perfect allround mic, one of my favs actually, and placing this one in the center ( very subtle mixed in, almost not hearable) will make the instruments sound less isolated from each other, it can give a nice ambient feeling.

 

Third thing is taking a second SM91 and placing this inside the bassdrum, so in the bass you take the highs by using an SM57 at the side of the instrument, and the lows by placing a mic inside it in the back.

 

This setup would be my perfect playground to start compressing, sidechaining and EQing on my girlfr....i mean mixing desk...

 

fourth thing you should try is just experiment alot.

 

EQ: only pull frequencies, dont push anything, search between the range of 200-600 Hz, and a lowcut to prevent unnecessary harmonies and feedback if you re playing it live on speakers.

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Not a big drum circle, but one of 4 people.

 

If it's truly a circle, an omni right in the center would be best in my opinion. Drum circles have a loose, wild feel probably not best served by close miking the drums.

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never did a hippy drumcircle, but i did work as soundtechnician for a south korean show on tour in Europe called "dulsori binari".

Which is all about drums, big drum, small drum, all sizes and shapes...so i´m pretty experienced when it comes to mic´ing drums.

 

Give each drum a seperate mic, i like the SM57 for Djembe´s, dont point the mic towards the center, position it on a stand next to the djembe and aim for the border of the drum, there the soundwaves roll off. Place it as close as possible (yet min 2cm) so you dont have to give the mic too much gain and to prevent reverb and harmonic effects if you are playing indoor.

 

Second thing you can try is placing an Sm91 in the center of the drumcircle, the SM91 is a perfect allround mic, one of my favs actually, and placing this one in the center ( very subtle mixed in, almost not hearable) will make the instruments sound less isolated from each other, it can give a nice ambient feeling.

 

Third thing is taking a second SM91 and placing this inside the bassdrum, so in the bass you take the highs by using an SM57 at the side of the instrument, and the lows by placing a mic inside it in the back.

 

This setup would be my perfect playground to start compressing, sidechaining and EQing on my girlfr....i mean mixing desk...

 

fourth thing you should try is just experiment alot.

 

EQ: only pull frequencies, dont push anything, search between the range of 200-600 Hz, and a lowcut to prevent unnecessary harmonies and feedback if you re playing it live on speakers.

Don't have that many mics, put an omni (stereo) in the center last night.

Had the wrong gain set though, those things are louder then I thought, so I got overage.

16 people with all different types of percussion intstuments, some are quite talented music students...

....only recorded about a minute though.. <_<

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