asked for waveforms

[solarbird]

Having mentioned you could see the difference in the drum recordings in the waveform view, I was asked for a screenshot, which I provide here:

Simultaneous recording, L/R channel, two mics
The two mics were not in exactly the same place here, which emphasises the difference a bit, but not as much as you might think; I could do better with the Novas and the 57s and so on, but nothing I did – yes, including identical placement to the 957 as used in this recording – captured as much of the drum resonance. In this particular recording I’m going to keep both tracks and merge them – the 57 got some nice high tones that I want to keep in the final mix.

I should probably mention that a lot of this is a matter of specific intent, and possibly taste. If you want really short, snap-tight punchy drums, you’d prefer the SM57′s behaviour, or that of the Novas, and so on. As always, it’s a matter of getting your intended effect. But I’ve been finding the various recordings I’ve made of percussion rather aurally tiring, particularly heard raw, and in the released tracks I’ve had to do a lot of futzing and reverb and such to get something not as close to what I want as I’m getting straight out of the mic from the 957.

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Wo de ma. Impressive! A picture is worth a thousand words, but a *well-annotated* picture... gold-pressed latinum.

I'm with you, I like big boomy drums. There's a place for high sharp rat-a-tat-tats, but one of the reasons I like djembes and ashikos is they do big and boomy too. :)

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

Probably the best way to test them equally is to cross the elements at right angles, sort of an X configuration, so that they're in the same horizontal plane. Then center them in front of the drum. And you're right, there's no "best" in that sense; sometimes you'll want a bit of reverb, sometimes you'll want the drum tight and punchy - all depends on the piece and the mood.

[solarbird]

Yes, the X-Y configuration. I use a modified version of it for many things! But this wasn't test; I'd done that already and knew my answers. This was illustration, which is best served by kicking up the contrast a bit for a higher, and easier to see, differential.