Hey Cocktailers
Has anyone had any experience with using ribbon mics on their cocktail kits, either live or in a recording situation? I've recently been recording with a ribbon mic but have yet to try it out on my cocktail kit.
I'd be interested in any experiences regarding placement of 1 ribbon mic on a cocktail kit.
Thanks
cocktail kit, ribbon mic?
Well, moderately high SPL is not as much of an issue as actual air movement. I've used a ribbon outside my 2 headed kick (but not in front of the port) and all's well. If the element were to get a solid blast of air, however, that can damage it.
Wondering if outside the cocktail shell, picking up some shell resonance (mainly off-axis) and some sound (somewhat off-axis) from top and bottom heads would be interesting....oh well, I'll have to try when I get a chance.
Wondering if outside the cocktail shell, picking up some shell resonance (mainly off-axis) and some sound (somewhat off-axis) from top and bottom heads would be interesting....oh well, I'll have to try when I get a chance.
Hey multiperc. Did you ever get this figured out? After completing my kit, since I have a whole pile of mics I tried a ribbon mic on it. Interesting results. Seems the high end isn't tquite there, very little "sizzle" to the sound. Smoothness of the ribbon sound is good and accurate as far as it goes. Makes for a rather "vintage" sound, smooth but not much high frequencies.
One of the best places I found for the ribbon mic was with the mic at the side of the drum, halfway up, and laying flat - so the ribbon was parallel with the floor. Because of the deep dead space in the middle of the figure eight pattern it did a nice job of catching both the top and bottom, and NOT picking up other instruments. But again, very little high end, so I threw a small diaphragm condenser as an overhead and it sounded quite good.
A full-range large diaphragm mic would be my first choice for a one-mic pickup of this drum.
It'd be interesting to hear if you have any observations thereon.
One of the best places I found for the ribbon mic was with the mic at the side of the drum, halfway up, and laying flat - so the ribbon was parallel with the floor. Because of the deep dead space in the middle of the figure eight pattern it did a nice job of catching both the top and bottom, and NOT picking up other instruments. But again, very little high end, so I threw a small diaphragm condenser as an overhead and it sounded quite good.
A full-range large diaphragm mic would be my first choice for a one-mic pickup of this drum.
It'd be interesting to hear if you have any observations thereon.
hey robertm
thanks for your input. I actually have since tried this and did something similar - partway up the side of the shell almost parallel to the floor and at a slight angle gave me a really nice round tone from the big drum. I did play on a hardwood floor with a small piece of carpet under the pedal and to the side facing the other half of the fig8 pattern was a foamed gobo. Little reflected from the room but I got a good resonant bounce of lower frequencies from the floor.
Unfortunately, this was only the body of the drum and, as you discovered, not much from up top where the rest of the kit is! I think the ribbon application needs some distance and a gorgeous sounding room to capture the whole thing.
I've recorded and played with top micing (LDC) and also a stereo Rode mic above the kit. Also in a good room, that gave a nice picture of the kit and was reasonably balanced - resonant top of the big drum helped the kick balance from below.
As far as the high end goes, I agree that a ribbon will tend to be smooth but not bright. The good thing here is that a decent ribbon will respond pretty well to some good quality HF eq without getting too harsh....lest I not generallize!
The downside here is that we cocktailers are mostly vertical players and as such without counting on capturing reflected diffuse sound (as noted above) it's hard to find a good place for a figure of 8 getting a good blend of the bottom and the top.
I'm going to continue to experiment when I have the time becuase I'm kinda seduced by the distinctly smooth and 'vintage' sound of a ribbon with the cocktail vibe. Smoke-y!
And for what it's worth, I used a ShinyBox 46MXL mic - really very nice sounding and reasonably priced.
Post if you have any other sucesses with the ribbon.
thanks for your input. I actually have since tried this and did something similar - partway up the side of the shell almost parallel to the floor and at a slight angle gave me a really nice round tone from the big drum. I did play on a hardwood floor with a small piece of carpet under the pedal and to the side facing the other half of the fig8 pattern was a foamed gobo. Little reflected from the room but I got a good resonant bounce of lower frequencies from the floor.
Unfortunately, this was only the body of the drum and, as you discovered, not much from up top where the rest of the kit is! I think the ribbon application needs some distance and a gorgeous sounding room to capture the whole thing.
I've recorded and played with top micing (LDC) and also a stereo Rode mic above the kit. Also in a good room, that gave a nice picture of the kit and was reasonably balanced - resonant top of the big drum helped the kick balance from below.
As far as the high end goes, I agree that a ribbon will tend to be smooth but not bright. The good thing here is that a decent ribbon will respond pretty well to some good quality HF eq without getting too harsh....lest I not generallize!
The downside here is that we cocktailers are mostly vertical players and as such without counting on capturing reflected diffuse sound (as noted above) it's hard to find a good place for a figure of 8 getting a good blend of the bottom and the top.
I'm going to continue to experiment when I have the time becuase I'm kinda seduced by the distinctly smooth and 'vintage' sound of a ribbon with the cocktail vibe. Smoke-y!
And for what it's worth, I used a ShinyBox 46MXL mic - really very nice sounding and reasonably priced.
Post if you have any other sucesses with the ribbon.
I think you are absolutely right - a good toom s critical to a good recording of a cocktail set (of anything!). You don't happen to have a studio do you?
I looked up the ShinyBox mics - local guy, as it happens. Same state, he's a bit farther north. I'm going to order one of his mics. Since I set up my drum it's been a kcik to throw up everything from a $20 cheapo to a $500 tube mic and see what happens. Amazing sounds from some unexpected sources! I really like the sound of older analog recordings, and this is a cool way to get closer. Let us know how your work along these lines goes.
I looked up the ShinyBox mics - local guy, as it happens. Same state, he's a bit farther north. I'm going to order one of his mics. Since I set up my drum it's been a kcik to throw up everything from a $20 cheapo to a $500 tube mic and see what happens. Amazing sounds from some unexpected sources! I really like the sound of older analog recordings, and this is a cool way to get closer. Let us know how your work along these lines goes.