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[acorec]

I am kind'a stumped on this one. My friend has a blind drummer that he wants to record. Problem:

The mics have to be setup away from the drums for fear of the drummer hitting the mics with his sticks.

What mic can be used at a distance (like 12" max) and yet be able to reject most of the off axis response (room)?

I immediately think of uni-directional but no-one seems to offer these in anything but cam-corder applications.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[Fox]

Get some Hyper-Cardiods, dude.

[compasspnt]

acorec wrote on Fri, 26 January 2007 10:23

I immediately think of uni-directional but no-one seems to offer these in anything but cam-corder applications.

???

"Uni-directional" would include "cardiod," "hyper-cardiod," "super-cardiod," "semi-shotgun," and "shotgun," amongst others, would it not?

[Michael Brebes]

That's when AKG 414's come in handy, with their hypercardioid pattern position.  On the cheap, Oktava MC012's with hypercardioid capsules.  A lot of the dynamic mics are more hyper- than standard cardioid.  And then there are shotguns, some good inexpensive ones from Audio Technica.

[Dave Martin]

Have you seen the drummer play, yet? I used to work with a blind drummer who was FAR more accurate in where he hit his drums than the average sighted drummer.

Also, any of the'usual' drum mics can be set up so that they're physically beyond the edge of the drums and looking kinda over and down at them - thereby being safe from all by the worst of drummers (sighted or not).

[Tomas Danko]

You could do it the Stevie Wonder way. Set up a bunch of U87s and have him pay for the ones he hit.

It turned out a pretty darn good drum sound, for sure.

[floodstage]

Dave Martin wrote on Fri, 26 January 2007 15:50

Have you seen the drummer play, yet? I used to work with a blind drummer who was FAR more accurate in where he hit his drums than the average sighted drummer.

That's been my experience as well.

I've only done a couple sessions with a blind drummer, but no mic's were hit during those sessions.  I wish I could say that for my sessions w/ sighted drummers.

Just have the drummer feel where each mic is, ask them if the mics are safe there, and move on if they are.

[Greg Dixon]

I agree that hitting the mics shouldn't be any more of an issue than with any other drummer. If it is going to be a problem, I suggest that he's probably not ready to record yet.

[Brendan Thompson]

Has the drummer or the engineer called this a problem?