[HAM] OT Re: Miking the drums to get a big fat and ambient sound.

[Linda Dachtyl]

On Apr 30, 2008, at 9:22 AM, Kon Zissis wrote:

> Hi John and everyone.
> I really love John Bonham's big fat and ambient  drum sound and the  
> deep
> resonant  " bang boom" bass drum sound heard on many Led Zeppelin
> recordings,


> I have read that "When the levee breaks " was recorded with the drums
> set up in the stairwell of the Headley Grange mansion and that a  
> single
> distant microphone was up and then it was recorded with  heavy
> compression.

I have also read a couple of years back that the mix was slowed down.
I have tried to find that crash cymbal sound for years...and now I  
know why I can't buy it at the store!
LOL.......

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=335


>
> Led Zeppelin's recording engineers were really able to capture a nice
> beefy and resonant bass drum sound  that seems to be missing on so  
> many
> other recordings which seem to have a non existent bass drum or the  
> bass
> drum sounds either like cardboard or like a basketball being bounced.
>
> Close miking each part of the drum kit is common but this often  
> results
> in a boring and sterile or unnatural sound especially when the low end
> is rolled off.

It is one of the reasons I prefer vintage jazz recordings to some of  
the newer fusion. The drums sound too "rock" (IMO).
>
> Does anyone know  exactly how to mike up a drum kit  to get that nice
> big fat John Bonham sound and are there any articles  or miking  
> diagrams
> on the internet  which explain how to mike up and record the drums to
> get the John Bonham type sound ?
>
> I suspect that the John Bonham style drum  miking techniques would  
> have
> much simpler with only a few mikes such as overhead mikes and a bass
> drum mike and distant mikes to get the ambient sound.

That's right. Here is url explaining it. This is a great book. It's  
been awhile since I read it.
http://books.google.com/books? 
id=PZvvSN6xHAMC&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=john+bonham+sound 
+miking&source=web&ots=BjVx7vm-Bk&sig=-LpqfJd9-_saKvSqem08ii9j7J0&hl=en

Also tuning is really, really important.

I have found the Evans Resonant head series bass drum heads sound  
like the Bonham bass drum right out of the box. Like a cannon. No  
need for any muffling whatsoever.
The kick drum sounds like a DRUM, not a cardboard box with this set up.

They used to be sold in pairs. Been so long since I bought bass drum  
heads, I don't know if that's current info.
Nothing like going to a gig and having a soundman say......."how's  
come you didn't cut a hole in the front head?"......:-P

IMO there are no better hard rock drummers than Bonham and Ian Paice
(both single kick players)

Ian Paice's sound on "Machine Head" is the best drum sound ever  
recorded, IMO.

FWIW, there's a couple of tunes here with me playing drums, but with  
stock DW heads. The engineer cut a hole in the front head....oh well,  
not my project....
I probably will get some Evans eventually for this kit.

For this CD, we went for a cross between the Bonham/Paice sound.
Don't know if we succeeded or not, but enjoy the tunes:

http://www.myspace.com/thewaltjamesband
"Around" is my fave on this page.

I also have one track (Ballad 33) up on my page:
http://www.myspace.com/ldb3

Played the synth solo on it in the middle. Just an atmospheric kind  
of thing on that.

Left the band last year after about 5 years of playing in the group  
as I got too busy with B3 things and needed to make some decisions.  
Walt's a buddy of 20 years or so, so it was all cool with the parting.
I really enjoyed playing in that band with Walt's idea of stomp  
boxes, tube Marshall stacks and a 70's vibe...and also the mixed  
meters he likes from being a Rush fan from way back.
It really stretched my playing and was a good experience.

Still do some drum gigs, but not as often. Subbing in with a swing  
big band gig this weekend and looking forward to it.
Hope the leader calls "Sing, Sing, Sing" ;-) Usually she does and I  
watch from the piano bench as that's my usual position with this group.

Linda
>
>