I have the demo. The mikes sound good but it's an organic, realistic type sound appropriate for folk, jazz etc. At $2100 for three mikes it's not a cheap way to mike a kit.
Earthworks has a free demo CD of their 3 drum mic system vs. some popular studio mics. Very well done. More info available at www.earthworksaudio.com
I have the demo. The mikes sound good but it's an organic, realistic type sound appropriate for folk, jazz etc. At $2100 for three mikes it's not a cheap way to mike a kit.
On the last Paul Simon disc, they used Earthworks for overheads.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It wasn't on many recordings, but there were times when it WAS close mic'ed.Originally posted by Randy Walker:
Bonham's kit was never close-miked
The idea of using just three mikes is obviously great for imaging, phase cancellation and getting an accurate image of the kit, especially with mikes as fine as earthworks, but it's not really that close-miked rock sound we're used to.
Bonham's kit was never close-miked
If you have a great drum room, well...open a studio!
The reviews I've read of the system concur with my take of the demo. It sounds great, wonderful transient response, no phase problems, very clean and precise, like what you get from a pristine mic pre, class A gear, etc., but not a "rock" sound. The reason everyone loves Joe Meek gear, tube compressors and EQ's, 1176's, LA2A's etc, is that they are warm, distort pleasantly and make drums rock. The problem I see is who wants to make EQ and compression decisions on the drum kit as a whole? WIth just two mikes for the cymbals, snare, toms and room, (and a bit of kick), and another mike dedicated to just kick you are basically stuck with whatever you get. For most of us, it makes more sense to close mike with the best gear we can afford and EQ, compress and mix drums individually based on what we need from them.
I love the sound on the Bonham MP3's. That said, I don't think in Bonham's case it was so much the miking/mixing techniques (though they were superb). I think it was the drummer. As the joke goes, "How do I get that Bonham drum sound?" "First, get a shovel."
Brad
"Gear-dropping" are we?
You can get a great "rock" drum sound with 3 mics.
You can get a crappy "rock" drum sound by close-micing.
Lots of variables besides number of mics...
If you got a killer room, they should work great.
You're missing my point. Yes, you can get a great drum sound with just a few mikes, Blood, Sex, Sugar, Magic RHCP accomplished it with 4 SM57's, two overhead, one kick, one snare. Even Bonhams kit used a kick and snare mike, overhead and room mikes. It's just much harder to get a great drum sound with just 3 mikes. You can't balance them or mix or EQ or compress or limit them. If you have a problem, you're stuck with it. If you use a DAW or protools most of the plug-ins become useless since you're effecting the entire kit at once. If you want to fatten a tom you'll be adding a low mid to your cymbals and snare as well. There's a reason why studios close mike a kit and why live sound guys do the same - control. $2100 can go much further IMO than buying three (albeit excellent) mikes. 421's, 57's, D6's or D112's are frequently chosen for drum miking duty because of their sonic fingerprint. They make drums sound good. Omni's tend to be accurate and not have much personality which is why they're used for reference purposes. For acoustic jazz, folk, classical etc omni's are a great and accurate choice (though most engineers still don't use them).
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