NWB - Community Blog

28 Mar 2010

Drum mic advice

Filed Under : Music , Rants

Posted By : King-Fist | Comments : 10

That hissing bass drum mic!!! Any suggestions what it could be??

Yep, during our gig on Saturday, i could not for love nor money get rid of an annoying hiss which, after checking all mics was coming from the bass drum mic or that channel even with the input gain relatively low. This wasn't like a hum caused by grounding issues or power cables, just a hum like a badly tuned FM radio. Not over bearing but there all the same and for me who was doing the mixing, bloody annoying!
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be causing it? Leads and mics are new so i would be surprised if it was a fault with those (but, you never know!)

Cheers in advance,

Steve G (The kingfisting axe yielder)

Comments

# Posted by Alyerpal - 28/03/2010, 22:00 (GMT)

Now then, Kingpin had an annoying issue with this and it turned out to be the floor tom resonating with the bass drum in a reverb loop.
We got rid of it by retuning and damping the floor tom.

Hope that helps

Alyerpal

# Posted by King-Fist - 28/03/2010, 22:07 (GMT)

aye it wasn't just when they were being hit, it was there all the time, like the volume on a shitty stereo being turned up to the max without anything being played through hit. Hissing sid.

# Posted by Batter head - 28/03/2010, 22:17 (GMT)

Change lead first port of call,if this doesn`t solve check the channel on the desk try swappin,is the mike on a stand or in the drum / cheerz nick

# Posted by King-Fist - 28/03/2010, 22:25 (GMT)

the mike is on a stand, the other week it was outside the skin, still had hissing but i don't recall it being as bad, this week mounted on a stand but the mic was positioned inside the drum. Would this have an affect? The leads are new but it is always worth trying another, same with the channel swapping but would be surprised if its the channel or the channels preamp, i have had other instruments running through it prior to this and they were fine but they were not running through a mic. Cheers for that, will have a play for next Saturday, always worth checking the obvious first.

# Posted by Batter head - 28/03/2010, 22:31 (GMT)

Try putting a tom mike inside the drum on the cushion/ damper just to test least it will eliminate if its thelead or channel, if it cures it l would say the bass mike is squiffy. Cheerz nick

# Posted by King-Fist - 28/03/2010, 22:33 (GMT)

Cheers Nick,will try that.

Steve G

# Posted by Big Drummer Boy - 28/03/2010, 23:29 (GMT)

dodgy lead would be my favorite first. what type of mic are you using?
Also what sort of signal are you getting at the desk? is it quite high with very little gain? I have a DI box on my Mic to attenuate the signal its an AKG d112 mic
needs around 20db attenuation.

http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/servlet/Info?ref=gbase&Track=DI100

# Posted by The Badgers - 29/03/2010, 11:20 (GMT)

Sounds electrical.

XLR/Canon lead ? Maybe a loose connection...

# Posted by lynnmonk - 30/03/2010, 07:36 (GMT)

A hiss is almost always caused by a faulty or dirty component in the mixer channel. If you are using a condenser mic, it could be a fault with the pre-amp built into the mic. If it has a bass roll-off filter, it could also be a dirty switch. In my experience, a hiss has never been caused by a faulty cable.

# Posted by Final Hour - 01/04/2010, 10:20 (GMT)

Rick's the man to speak to Steve.. Ian - Final Hour..

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