From the course: Audio Recording Techniques

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,400 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Miking the cymbals

Miking the cymbals

From the course: Audio Recording Techniques

Start my 1-month free trial

Miking the cymbals

There are a few ways to use overhead mics, and the method you choose depends on how live your room is and the sound you're trying to capture. Let's look at the way to use the overhead mics more to capture the sound of the cymbals, rather than the overall kit. Condenser or Ribbon mics are usually used for overheads. The reason is that the cymbals have a lot of short burst of energy, which those types of mics are good at picking up. The overheads you use to pick up the ride and crash cymbals and give you an ambient stereo sound of the drum kit. If you're recording in a very live room, you may want your overheads closer to the kit to reduce the amount of room ambience that's being picked up. That's also the case if you're recording in a room with a low ceiling, since the splash off the ceiling can potentially room the sound. Cymbals are loud, so make sure you switch on the -10 dB pad if you're using condenser mics and select any high-pass filter, since it will help the sound of the…

Contents