The other day i realized that i had neglected a normal tradition, in that this year i had not yet written a birthday song for myself.

Every year since about the thirtieth one, i have tried to do some sort of thing to sign off on the year before. This year i jettisoned thirty three, and so that is what this fragment is about:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=9939094

Totally dry, unmixed shizz. That scratch geetar is just the lowestang and the ubiquitous Crate GX-15R.

Needs moar stuff. Bass, some noisy bendy guitar, maybe some sort of bridge material. For now: Whatev.

I won't be able to do any more tracking for about a week anyhow, so for now, i will just leave its shit-ness here as it is.

As an aside, i have also recently realized that i have about maybe forty-five plus minutes of sortofmathrock demos recoarded in some form or other at this point. A bunch of which i haven't even poasted anything of anywhere as yet. I think i am going to embark on an attempt to re-recoard the lower-fi ones and try to make something of the stack. It is probably the only bulk of songthings i have that are nearly in a similar style.

I rather like your drumsounds mister Chris. Care to give a rundown of the micing situation? With mention of mic locations?

Aye.

1. Two overheads spaced about 18" apart, as high as my short(maaaybe 8ft) basement ceilings will allow. Blah Shure PG58 bargain dynamics.

2. CAD KBM412 kick mic in as far as my tall stand will allow.

3. CAD TSM411 on each tom(one rack and one floor), proper close. Like maybe an inch off the heads?

4. I have a funny bit of jib jab that i made out of some flat bar that holds two snare mics in position on one stand. The element of each one is near equidistant to their respective heads. Maybe two inches off and off axis maybe 45º ish or so. Top mic is my third CAD TSM411. Bottom mic is my MXL2001 LDC.

5. Radioshack PZM as far away as its cord will reach as a room mic. It is omni, so i really just try to get it wherever, into the next room. Doesn't quite get there but almost.

I have the room mic and snare bottom levels low-ish. I bring the bottom in for the type of attack vibe i look for in my snare. The room, i just bring a little in to fill things out. That ratshack PZM is actually really great, and i wish i had another one so i could do stereo shit wif 'em. If i had three or four, i could probably just do the whole kit with just them, honestly. I think i need to aim to acquire either a pile of omni condensers, or a pile of condensers with omni switches or capsule abilities. Things just sound right to me with them.

Hmmm. I used some of those CAD mics for my home drum recording. It was some different models though.

I had to give them back to the owner.

I haz drum mic gas.

Yarr, i just have this kit: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=271265

The plastic clips are kid of shit. I have already had to repair one.

The TSM411s IMO are sort of SM57-ish honestly. The pickup pattern is slightly different, but the idea is similar, a pretty middsy dynamic mic. I actually much prefer the MXL LDC on the toms but unfortunately i only have one of them.

The KBM412, i actually like a lot. I usually scoop a ton out of the mids on the thing, but i like having them there too, i.e. the option to scoop them out, or not, for whatever. It is actually only $50 bought all by itself also: http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=270774

If i was to start from scratch, i would probably get the KBM412 again for its bang-to-buck ratio and its compatibility with a kick sound that i can use.

I don't know if i would buy the whole kit with the TSMs though. I might just be compelled either to put that money plus whatever into some LDCs that could take the dBs, or indeed, just get three SM57s for their cheep sturdiness(and their tighter pickup pattern). Or, on that angle, the more ideal for drum mic'ing: those Granelli modded ones wif the 90º bent bodies.

Hmm. That four piece kit looks like it'd make a fine setup, if combined with the already owned dynamics for the snare and some nicey overheads.

The CAD drum mics are a good deal and totally usable. I support these as your cheapdrummicoption.

The drums sound quite nice actually. The close mics on the toms are totally boom and no top end, but that may be what you want. As a song, I like.

The MXL v67gs sound great on toms, BTW. We used them on the Garda stuff and will use them again. I'll post clips that are more tomsy (versus Graphite, which has no toms until the last measure of the song!) in the near future. They do an admirable job and aren't much more than a 57; I think my metalheadfriend got 'em for $180 shipped from MF and got some MXL 603s for free. We threw one on the snare and distorted it going in. It adds nuts.

GEOFF! Re: full drum mic kits- check Ebay for Sennheisers; e602 + 3 e604s. Snag Rode NT5s for SDCs. They are highly recommended by respectable engineertypes. And Snaxie. Also, the e602 sounds kickass on a big floor tom. You could probably score the bunch for seven bills and be set for a good long time. I've used the CADs in the past and never had any beef with 'em. They are affordable, do the chore and if you get the set it comes in an aluminum briefcase you could clobber someone pretty hard with, or used to, at least.

Very nice, I like the drum sounds a lot and the playing is tight