Recording DRUMS with ONLY 2 or 3 Microphones - Manny Nieto

[@Producelikeapro]

What are some of your favourite microphones to use when recording drums?

[@joevining2603]

Right now (drums set up in my living room) I'm using mini K47s for overheads, mini K87 on the hats and one on the outside kick mic, D112 inside the kick, SM57s for top and bottom snare, Sennheiser e604s on the toms and a Slate large diaphragm virtual mic as a room mic on the U67 setting

[@joeydubois]

My ghetto 40 dollar rip off 57s ;) When you’re recording in your bedroom dynamics are really the way to go

[@joeydubois]

@@joevining2603 You really gotta use that much?

[@bertofletch]

Beyer M210. M160s, AKG D112!!

[@joevining2603]

@@joeydubois No, I don't have to, but I choose to.

[@Denver_Risley]

Here it is, years later and still finding all these cool multitracks to mess around with.

[@besenkopf77]

These videos with Manny are excellent! More, please!

[@Producelikeapro]

Absolutely! We LOVE Manny!

[@mannysmiclocker]

You are the best Warren for helping the recording community brother ;)

[@glaubergarcez5182]

yes please, Manny is great!

[@Bring_MeSunshine]

Yo, Manny, great to see you here again. Got loads of time for this man. Thanks for the multitracks, and again, thanks for the mic tips, and the alternatives.

[@mannysmiclocker]

Always appreciated the kind words :)

[@Producelikeapro]

Agreed! Manny is the man!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker thanks for all you do my friend!!

[@billyhughes9776]

Love the drum mic'ing knowledge being passed on,..an invaluable educational experience. The floor room mics are a mainstay of my setup now for drum sessions -- really incredible. You are the man Manny! Thanks Warren!

[@Producelikeapro]

Manny is awesome. So glad you got something out of it. We'll have more Manny soon!

[@mannysmiclocker]

So great Billy! Thrilled you enjoyed and made it your own style too! Plenty of room to be creative with microphones ;) Warren and Co are the coolest for granting me this platform to rock out!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker you’re the best my friend!!

[@EricGPLAP]

Manny is the best!!! Love his videos

[@Producelikeapro]

YES! He certainly is Eric!

[@schlep4730]

I really enjoy the videos with Manny. He does a really nice job. Thanks.

[@Producelikeapro]

We really enjoy Manny too! More coming up from him in the future!

[@mannysmiclocker]

Thank you for sharing :) Warren is always trying to help and Enlighten our recording community ;)

[@JornLavoll]

Nice! I'm going to try that first setup as soon as I can.

[@Producelikeapro]

Let us know how it goes!

[@TheVirginplayer]

great video,this makes micing drums look easy and sound great

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks Wilson!

[@mannysmiclocker]

We are all students of the recording arts here ;)

[@MrPeter924]

Awesome great drummer so sound

[@mannysmiclocker]

Philip is a beast on drums!

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks Peter!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker Amazing!

[@OneEyedOracle]

Thanks Phil :) and thanks for sharing Manny and Plap

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks ever so much!

[@hrorm]

Wonderful information. Los Lobos is love , Los Lobos is life, forever greatful for theyre music. Thank you for sharing the secrets !! -Orm

[@mannysmiclocker]

Appreciated you checking out! Let’s keep this spirit going good vibes always HR!

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks for the great comment HR!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker absolutely! You Rock!

[@splashesin8]

Thanks Manny, and Warren! 😊

[@mannysmiclocker]

Appreciated the kind words Audrey ;)

[@mannysmiclocker]

We appreciated you checking out and hopefully taking away something you can use every day sessions. Warren is the best!

[@Producelikeapro]

You Rock Audrey!

[@HitTheRoadMusicStudio]

Awesome Manny absolutely Rules! His Drum Sounds are S U P E R B thanks for sharing your great tips and tricks!

[@mannysmiclocker]

We are all In it together.

[@Producelikeapro]

Yes! Manny Rules! Thanks Ady!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker yes, we are my friend!

[@scottstedeford7575]

414 overhead, about 2’ above the cymbals and just forward of the drummer’s head, cardioid pattern. 57 close on the snare top. D112 inside kick. 57 close to snare air hole, off axis, to capture punch from snare and a little bleed from hats. Produces punchy, well-blended, easy to mix drum tracks with very natural imaging. If they are willing, have the drummer wear a headphone mic, flipped up 90 degrees, for even more striking imaging. This gives the drummer’s perspective as they turn to look at the parts of the kit they are playing throughout the song.

[@Johnnybananass-_]

as Sharon Jones and the dap kings FOH person told me, with 3 mics on a kit the sounds of all the drums are already mixed and glued together, with 7 or 8 mics like modern techniques you have work harder to make all the individual mic'd and eq'd drum channels glue back together to one kit, he explained it so well.

[@Producelikeapro]

Absolutely! As a mixer you can get your overall sound from 3 mics and then depending on how dense the arrangement is you bring in individual control of the mics on kick and snare etc. Obviously a skilled mixer can mix 3 or 13 mics.

[@Johnnybananass-_]

@@Producelikeapro absolutely - I also thing for some styles certain mic techniques sway that way . You wouldn’t want to do a technical metal gig with 3 mics on a 12 piece kit . But as Sharon Jobes live set was very true to traditional setup . Old guitars , flat wounds . Nothing modern . All very very vintage setup the 3 mic technique worked on the old Ludwig kit with no kick hole on the skin and the whole kit had very dark dry cymbals. It was listing to a Motown album if you closed your eyes . The grit and texture. - but I cheat all lot these days with a drum machine mpc . Haha

[@Arsonloke]

Manny is Awesome!

[@Producelikeapro]

He is! Thanks for sharing

[@mannysmiclocker]

Always appreciated and thrilled to have Warren and crew over @ Suplex Audio any day!!!!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker You Rock my friend!

[@willyecharte]

What a great guy! I've been using the Manny delay a lot!

[@mannysmiclocker]

You are the best Willy!!!! Thanks for sharing and your are appreciated here ;)

[@Producelikeapro]

Agreed Willy! Manny Rules!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker You Rock!

[@Ali-mc3iw]

Great sounds.

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks for sharing!

[@rawkinj6609]

No frills, to the point, meat and patatoes, just the way i like it! Thanks for showing us that you don't need a million dollars to sound like a million dollars! Your advice and tips are always a breath of fresh air Manny!

[@mannysmiclocker]

Thanks J! Appreciated the kind words. PLAP Rules.

[@marcusedvardsson5505]

Sounds great. I spent a lot of time recently to record drums and listen to drums and understand the sound of them. And I kind of love how the snare starts to dive very fast in tuning at 12:12 to finally settle at 12:33 in the video :) I would love to record a totally dampened drum kit some time. Usually I work with loud metal drumkits.

[@mannysmiclocker]

I think a eight lug to 10 lug snare does matter for keeping it in tune and most guys that I record are Punk or hardcore, they hit really hard. One of the reasons I believe they always go out of tune is not only that but also the maintenance of the drums. Lots of stripped lugs. I’ve got some lug locks and those didn’t work too well.Actually made a set of my own out of hardened plastic. I just drilled holes so they would lock in and keep the drum tight. One thing that I do usually every session is grab a guitar and find the note of the snare and I’ll write on the snare A# D,C Etc whatever it is And as we go along with the record will go in after every song to check the turning of that

[@marcusedvardsson5505]

@@mannysmiclocker I have the same problem with hard hitting drummers and diving snares. I have to tune them a couple of times each song. I bought a cheap Tama 8” deep and it can’t hold the tuning very long. It’s a 300$ snare. It sound great though and couldn’t afford the 1000$ version. I too have tried the tuning locks but without success. Do you think a more expensive snare will stay in tune longer or doesn’t it matter with the hard hitting drummer? Awesome that you replied on my comment! Love your work!

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks for the great comment Marcus!

[@aussieb1416]

For some reason it reminds me of 'I'm the type of guy that will never settle down ' Wanderers. Sick. Imagine doubling this up like they do guitars or vocals with a normal setup with no cloth and top mics afterwards. Brutal.

[@mannysmiclocker]

Brutal is always my fav sound! Thanks for sharing ;)

[@VINCENTTEUSCHER]

Thanx Manny 🙏

[@whoakayno]

Mannnyyyyy the man the myth the legend!

[@mannysmiclocker]

He’s human lol Thanks for sharing Conor ;)

[@Producelikeapro]

Manny is the man!!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker no, no, no, you ARE a LEGEND my friend!

[@ReinerDamisch]

I'd put the kick mike on the beater side if I only use two mikes. Than you also get the bottom of the snares. Use the high cut for the right amount

[@mannysmiclocker]

I dig that set you shared ;)

[@davidreidy5750]

I gotta try that side tom mic method I try to work with 3 mics but I end up with a bass and overhead. asSpent almost half the day yesterday trying to get 3 !mics to work together it was a pain!Long live solo projects! ⚡🤖⚡

[@werewolfmedialv]

Awesome!

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks ever so much

[@mannysmiclocker]

Thrilled you enjoyed Werewolf M!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker You Rock!

[@leefchapman]

Manny!!!!

[@mannysmiclocker]

Lee!!!!

[@Producelikeapro]

Haha LEE!!!! And MANNY!!!!

[@joebaumgart1146]

My way of doing it is very expensive, but works better for me. I have acoustic pickups on each drum head and lapel mics for each symbol. Then hook each into a mixingboard and that way I can control each drum's sound level individually.

[@mannysmiclocker]

I dig that set up you shared!

[@joebaumgart1146]

@@mannysmiclocker thank you!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@joebaumgart1146 thanks for sharing!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker agreed 100%!

[@Alien-qw5ks]

Very cool 😎

[@Producelikeapro]

Thanks ever so much

[@cbvb]

Manny, do all the toms have the bottom heads on or have they been removed? Thanks for this insight regarding muffling the top/mic'ing the bottom! I always wondered about that.

[@mannysmiclocker]

All have bottoms but! If I could convince a drummer to remove and make concert Tom’s now that’s some classic 70s sounds! Genius to Black Sabbath Heaven and He’ll era were concert Tom’s. Always mic’d bottom for a wicked sound. Thanks for sharing.

[@pbaileyCMG]

@@mannysmiclocker On the next session!

[@cbvb]

@@mannysmiclocker Thanks for the swift response! Yep, I'm down with the tea-toweled concert toms-- Black Sabbath, yes, but also T. Rex! One more question: in the video were you rolling off everything below 40hz on the drum bus OR was that the master bus. If it was the latter wouldn't that limit the possibilities of a nice subby bass guitar?

[@mannysmiclocker]

@@cbvb I think drum bus. It’s crazy how much room can be made with this ,)

[@bisfer]

Manny and produce like a pro team, pleas can you do the same video but for guitars and bass, that will be awesome. Thanks!!! amazing video

[@Producelikeapro]

Manny is amazing! Stay tuned for more!

[@mannysmiclocker]

In this series I did shoot a guitar set up I hope Warren and crew share soon. There is a segment in the recording academy I share a bass set up off DI but it would be great to do a proper amp w Di and some magic pixie dust secrets for amazing bass! I’ll inquire with his team if possible.

[@bisfer]

@@mannysmiclocker yes exactly thats will be great, gracias manny, greetings from Berlin

[@chappyclark]

What are the MXL mic models that are on the shelf (time 00:01)??? Why so many?

[@georgekomarov4140]

> Octava is great for low end ...and more totally surprising reasons to be proud of being Russian.

[@mannysmiclocker]

I do those and 70s ribbons made in Russia too!

[@ManojKumar-ng3ny]

When mastering, is it good to cut the low end about 3 or 4db...?

[@ManojKumar-ng3ny]

I am saying because in isotope plugin there is a master assistant where the low end end is there...

[@mazetoeden9334]

@@ManojKumar-ng3ny if you're mastering yourself, trust your ears and check in different rooms and on different systems and take notes. If you're sending your mix to a mastering engineer I wouldn't touch the master bus at all

[@brianmartin7710]

"some people use measuring tapes, I use drumstick"

[@mannysmiclocker]

Ha so true ;)

[@Producelikeapro]

Haha indeed Brian!

[@Producelikeapro]

@@mannysmiclocker I use a tape measure...I'll get my coat! Haha

[@isaacjacques9492]

Falta legenda em português!

[@Audfile]

Hey! DJ Yella got a channel. Cool.

[@troycopeland5156]

Imagine this in Luna

[@mannysmiclocker]

If the files become available or you use these technics on your own session Luna using Abbey Road plugins I imagine it would be killer!

[@troycopeland5156]

@@mannysmiclocker facts I hope the tracks come available so I can see for myself I downloaded the files from the Sunset Sound they sound amazing in Luna

[@mannysmiclocker]

@@troycopeland5156 dope