they start out nice...

The stereotypical house soundman is a grizzly, unapproachable type; inevitably either stressed or reticently upset, not that into your music and unwilling to furnish your requests.

I need you to know: they (we) don't all start out that way.

It's a disposition that gets developed after enough exposure to not enough information, too much asked and no respect given. As with anyone in the service industry, expecting too much, not helping in preparation, and then not giving credit where it's due can take the smiliest, most knowledgeable and ineffably helpful gifted technician and turn him or her into the grumbliest troll.

Save a soul! Respeck your Tech!

D112s on toms

AKG D112

I've been persistently trying different stock mics on toms. EV's N/D468s, the supercard that looks like a little black egg, isn't bad. 57s are consistently good, with a little EQ work, across many styles and competencies as far as drummers go. But I really want to push for the oft-scoffed D112s.

The AKG D112 looks like a Nerf football, with its (aqua? teal? girly green) stripe across its giant oval grill. Looking at the frequency response of this mic as compared to a 57 shows only minor differences:

• a presence peak from 2-5 kHz instead of 4-10 kHz;
• a huuuuge low end boost.

I found, with a common two-tom setup, that I trimmed a bit of the low shelf on the rack tom, left the mid-EQs largely untouched and didn't need to touch the high shelf. With 57s I find myself peeling back high frequencies, as well as seeking out what I imagine are harmonic overtones of the drums fundamental, and gating and boosting the channels like crazy. I still gated them, but didn't have to drive them as high in the mix, which I believe is a result of the drum's fundamental being so supported by the D112's boosted low end.

As a result the toms felt a lot bigger in their classic boomy sound, and weren't quite as slappy as they can be with a 57. They're not much harder to position than a 57 with its long barrel and XLR coming out the end.

However I did just buy a pair of 906s. The D112s I fear may find themselves back in the drawer pretty soon.

DBX 1066 on Mix Buss

A guest soundman recently asked me to patch a DBX 1066 stereo compressor/gate into the Mix Buss. I was hesitant, following the teaching of my master: DBX comps hate being on the mix buss.

But the guest soundman was persistent. He loved the sound, he said, and the key was in setting the ratio at 1:1.5, the threshold up high (+10 or so) and engaging the "Overeasy" button. (This triggers the compressor slightly when the signal is several dB below the threshold).

His mix sounded fine. So I experimented with it myself a few times afterward.

Ultimately, this destroys the high end of the mix. It doesn't sound bad, but it also doesn't sound very good. About the same as pulling back on the Master Fader. Would not recommend.