| Home recording and general music post from the archived Yabb Recording Website Message Board. Some of the info here may be outdated but many of the audio recording and home studio tips are still good. Note: The only tags I made and attempt to convert are italics, bold, center and underline. So if you see some gibberish surrounded by brackets, just ignore it.
Recording Website Archived Yabb board Post
Febuary 2001 Yabb Message Board Archive
Subject: Drum OH - Spaced vs. XY??
by MadRambler | 03/08/01 at 23:40:06
Anyone have a preference for drum overheads? I'll be using a pair of AKG 414TLIIs. XY or spaced?
Inquiring minds want to know...:)
Subject: Re: Drum OH - Spaced vs. XY??
by ds | 03/09/01 at 11:28:11
I like the sound of spaced mics better. I walk around while the drummer's playing and find the spot I like the best and stick the mic there. Then I do the same thing with the other. I guess a major part of it is the room you're in.
Subject: Re: Drum OH - Spaced vs. XY??
by BananaHead | 03/10/01 at 22:16:10
414s can sound pretty good as overheads. How you put them up depends on the song and what sound you like. Try XY if it's a fast song that you want real tight sounding. Try spaced if it's a slower song where you want a wider image. Just make sure they are the same distance from the snare. Use a tape measure. Or just try mono, it's the best choice sometimes.
Subject: Re: Drum OH - Spaced vs. XY??
by Dolphin | 03/13/01 at 00:10:52
I like to have the O.H. mics spaced apart too. As Bananahead mentioned,I too,try to position them so the snare falls somewhere in the middle.
This might mean one mic may be a little higher than the other.It was also mentioned to check the mix in mono.This is also important to ensure that there's no funky phase stuff happening.
I usually try to aim the mics so the crash cymbals are coming in a little off-axis and more of the toms and snare are being picked up.This is only my preference of course.There's always enough cymbal bleed from the other mics.
Subject: Re: Drum OH - Spaced vs. XY??
by DanG | 03/13/01 at 08:07:16
Personally, I prefer spaced. It seems to be a more realistic drum stereo sound to me. I've gotten some pretty good results with the XY, b-ear, etc. but I find I get a strange crossover as the drummer rolls through the toms - can't really explain that. It is easier to control phase issues with a crossover though. :)
Good luck!
Subject: Re: Drum OH - Spaced vs. XY??
by oesmghroth | 03/13/01 at 11:00:29
it depends on the room and where you put the pair
if you can get away with spaced with out PHASe problems great but if you have phase cancleation then use the xy both will get the kits high end spectrum