UE 08 SOUND ASSISTANT

1 3
BASIC RULES IN STEREOPHONY
MICROPHONICS
1.1. WHICH BASIC RULES P.3 3.1. TYPES OF P.8
SHOULD BE OBSERVED STEREOPHONY
WHEN MIKING? 3.2. STEREO TECHNIQUES P.8
FOR OVERHEADS
3.3. WHAT IS P.8
MONOCOMPATIBILITY?

MIKING PRO TOOLS -

DRUMS UNIVERSE & TIMELINE
2.1. MIKING A DRUM KIT P.4 4.1. UNIVERSE VIEW P.9
2.2. MIKING A BASS DRUM P.5 4.2. TIMELINE P.9
2.3. MICROPHONE POSITIONS P.5 SELECTIONS
FOR THE SNARE DRUM
2.4. MICROPHONE POSITIONS P.6
FOR HH
2.5. MICROPHONE POSITIONS P.6
FOR TOM TOMS
2.6. MICROPHONE POSITIONS P.7
FOR OVERHEADS FURTHER QUESTIONS
2.7. MIKING THE ROOM P.7 ​FURTHER READING

UE 08 - SOUND ASSISTANT: MIKING DRUMS

 1.1. WHICH BASIC RULES SHOULD BE OBSERVED
WHEN MIKING?

There is an important rule when working with microphones:
FRONT END - You have to start at the front!

Before placing microphones, you must follow the right sequence if you want to get
good results:

1. Capable, level-headed musicians (and technicians)

2. Tuned instruments

3. Good instrument amplifiers

4. A room with suitable acoustics for sound event

or strongly damped

5. The right position in the room

6. Good cabling

7. Good microphones suitable for application

Once these requirements have been met, you can continue onto the equipment.
The most important element is the studio monitors and the room acoustics of the
control room in order to be able to effectively judge all the other elements in the
sound chain.

1. BASIC RULES
IN MICROPHONICS We will now look at the different types of microphone are suitable or standard for
different instruments.
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 2.1. MIKING A DRUMKIT

A drum kit should be thoroughly tuned before it is miked and, if necessary, damped
and/or fitted with appropriate skins.

If you are not an expert yourself, you should leave this task to the drummer or drum
technician. The time and money are well spent when a pro is at work here!

If everything here is harmonious (in the truest sense of the word), each drum is
usually individually miked close up (BD and SD possibly several times) and the ent-
ire drum kit is then additionally recorded with overheads and room microphones in
order to obtain a natural sound.

2. MIKING
DRUMS
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2.2. MIKING A BASS DRUM 2.3. MICROPHONE POSITIONS FOR THE SNARE DRUM
Sizes between 18“ and 24“ Sound pressure up to 140 dB SPL . There is usually a hole
in the resonance skin for damping and miking, except in jazz / classical.
Damping material (blanket, towel) inside the drum absorbs the sound making it
sound drier. The skins can also be dampened.
Standard microphone positions:
1. Close to the skin: direct, dry, lots of impact
2. In the middle of the drum: slightly more volume, slightly less impact
3. In the hole of the resonance skin: lots of volume / subbass, little impact
4. In front of the drum: with room acoustics, natural sound (listener)
5. 1 is often combined with 3 or/and 4
Typical microphones:
• AKG D112 • Audix D4 or D6
• Beyer Dynamics M88 • Shure Beta 52
• ElektroVoice RE20 • Shure Beta 91
A condenser microphone can be used at position 4 or as a boundary surface in the
drum. Be aware: The high sound pressure can short circuit an unsuitable condenser
mike, so check the manufacturer‘s instructions for the sound pressure limit!
Standard size 14“ Metal drum → more aggressive, more overtones than wood Skin
usually white with a rough coat, only relevant for brushes Characteristic snare sound
through snare carpet (wire springs mechanically stretched over the resonance skin)
Standard microphone positions:
1. Micro approx. 5cm over edge, directed to centre
2. Careful: Crosstalk from hi-hat (possibly. supercardioid)
Typical microphones:
• Sennheiser MD441, MD421 • Shure SM57
• Sennheiser MD 409, e606 or e906
Possibly condensor (pre-damping!), e.g. AKG C-414, especially for the support mi-
crophone because this is where most of the high frequencies are generated! When
using the support microphone, check the phase and, if necessary, switch it over on
the mixer or later in the software!
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2.4. MICROPHONE POSITIONS FOR HH 2.5. MICROPHONE POSITIONS FOR TOM TOMS

The hi-hat (HH) has a large frequency range (approx.400Hz to ultrasound). The higher Hanging and standing toms Common sizes 10“, 12“, 13“, 14“, 16“
frequencies in the mix are relevant. Bad tuning is the most noticeable here → maybe mask off at the edge
Therefore, it makes sense to filter out the bass and possibly also the mids during the Use noise gate to cut vibrations (but usually only after recording)
recording at the mixer or at the microphone.

Standard microphone positions: Standard microphone positions:

1. Mike about 10 cm above open hi-hat (more highs at the edge) 1. As with snare drum from above
2. Position with reference to crosstalk from the snare 2. Careful: Crosstalk from snare, neighbouring toms
(more distance, more crosstalk!)

Typical microphones: Typical microphones:

• Sennheiser MKH40 • Sennheiser MD421, MD409, e606, e906
• Neumann KM184 • Shure SM57
• Schoeps CMC-6 with MK-4 capsule • Beyerdynamic M201
• AKG C-1000 S
• dpa 4011-TL
• (generally small membrane capacitor)

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2.6. MICROPHONE POSITIONS FOR OVERHEADS 2.7. MIKING THE ROOM

Overhead microphones is generally used on the cymbals, but also for recording the
entire drum kit.
A stereophonic technique is typically used in the studio; in a live situation, the
cymbals are more likely to by individually recorded in mono. Stereo makes no sense
here, because the monitors are usually too far apart.
In certain circumstances support microphones are also used for recording individual
cymbals in the studio e.g. if less room acoustic is desired or individual cymbals cannot
be recorded loudly enough in stereo.
Room microphones can be a very important part of drum recording.
They reproduce the entire drum set and make the remaining components sound like
a complete entity.
Usually a powerful and three-dimensional sound image is achieved through extreme
post-production of the room signals, which in this form is difficult to simulate with
artificial reverb.

Typical microphones:
• Sennheiser MKH40 • AKG C-1000 S
• Neumann KM184 • AKG C-391-B, C-451-B
• Schoeps CMC-6 with MK-4 capsule • Neumann TLM 103, U87

As with the hi-hat, condenser microphones are usually used. If you want a natural,
impulsive sound, a small-diaphragm microphone tends to be used. For a more tonally
„coloured“ recording with softer impulses, large-diaphragm microphones are also
suitable.
In both cases so-called stereo pairs are used to avoid microphone-related sound
differences between the two stereo channels. Even in a live situation identical
microphones are used.

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3.1. TYPES OF STEREOPHONY 3.2. STEREO TECHNIQUES FOR OVERHEADS

Stereophony refers to the techniques that use two or more sound sources to create 1. AB TECHNIQUE (transit-time stereophony)
the spatial sound impression of natural hearing with level differences or differences • Capsule distance 20 - 80 cm
in the transit time of the loudspeaker signals. • No opening angle of the capsules relative to each other
There are 3 basic different types of stereophony which produce the stereo effect with • Transit-time differences predominate
differences in the transit time and volume (level differences). • The procedure is not monocompatible.

Level difference 2. XY TECHNIQUE (intensity or coincidence stereophony)

or coincidence • No capsule distance (capsules on top of each other or side by side)
stereophony • Opening angle 90 - 110 degrees
• XY stereo, • Volume differences predominate
M/S stereo, • The procedure is monocompatible.
Blumlein stereo
3. ORTF TECHNIQUE (equivalence stereophony)
Transit-time • Capsule distance: 17cm
stereophony • Opening angle: 110 degrees
• Small AB stereo, • Axis angle: 96 degrees
large AB stereo • Level ratio: 60.6%, transit time 39.4%
• The procedure is conditionally monocompatible.
Equivalence
stereophony 3.3. WHAT IS MONOCOMPATIBILITY?
(mixed procedure)
• ORTF stereo, There are significantly more stereophonic techniques in- Monocompatibility refers to the coherence of both stereo channels when summed
NOS stereo cluding the surround-miking procedure etc. to mono. The measure of monocompatibility is the degree of correlation.

3. STEREOPHONY
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 4.1. UNIVERSE VIEW

The universe view is displayed in the edit window above the tracks pane and provides
an overview of the entire Pro Tools session.

In universe view, audio, MIDI, and video clips in tracks are represented by horizontal
lines with the same colours as the clips in the tracks. Each audio track is displayed
at the same height, regardless of the number of channels. In addition, tracks with
automation, controller or playlist tracks are displayed with increasing height for each
track.
As auxiliary input, master faders and VCA master tracks do not contain audio or MIDI
clips, they are displayed as empty areas in the universe view.

4.2. TIMELINE SELECTIONS

If the timeline to edit selection link option is deactivated, you can make selections in
the timeline that differ from the edit selections.
When the timeline and edit selection are linked, each edit selection is mirrored in the
timeline, and each timeline selection is mirrored across all tracks as an edit selection.

4. PROTOOLS –
UNIVERSE & TIMELINE
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FURTHER QUESTIONS

What different frequency ranges are there on a drum kit?

How does the proximity effect work?

Pressure gradient receivers concluded?

FURTHER READING

ONLINE:

www.sengpielaudio.com
www.wikipedia.org
http://akmedia.digidesign.com/support/docs/
Pro_Tools_12_1_ Reference_Guide_86169.pdf