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Back
to Royers LIVE
Royer ribbons deliver the same tone and
power on stage as they do in the studios, smoothing cymbals
and giving an accurate, musical reproduction of toms
and snare drums.
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| Australian
pro audio magazine Audio Technology interviewed Keith Urban’s
FOH engineer Steve Law in July 2007. Here are Steve’s
comments about using a Royer SF-24 for live drum overheads: |
AT: Any other examples of microphone bravery? A Neumann U47 on
the kick perhaps? (This question came after Steve talked
about using Royer R-122’s on live electric
guitar cabinets.)
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| SL: “I’m
using another Royer – a stereo SF-24, which is an insanely
expensive mic - for drum overheads. But it’s absolutely
amazing. Truly amazing! The best overhead mic I’ve
heard. It sounds totally transparent… you can almost
do away with the rest of the drum mics.” |
| AT: “Well,
I notice that you’ve place the SF-24 quite high – it’s
evidently more than a ‘cymbals mic’. |
| SL: “Yeah,
it’s funny, because I actually get a better snare sound
from the overhead mic five foot away than I do from the snare
mic. It’s a thicker and nicer tone.” |
| AT: So do you find yourself pushing up the overhead mic more
these days? |
| SL: “With
that mic I do. I’ve definitely got more of the overheads
than any other mix that I’ve done. Most other mics
catch too much of the highs and it just doesn’t sound
real. With this mic, you put it 10 feet away and it sounds
the same as if you’re two feet away. There’s
no proximity loss – you’re not losing all that
nice warmth and fullness of the cymbals instead of them just
going tssss, tsss, tssss. And I can run it down all the way
to 150 Hz. That’s something you don’t normally
do with overhead mics, you’d normally be rolling it
out about 300 to 400 Hz. It just sounds so nice… it
even picks up the kick drum nicely!” |
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| LIVE
Photos |
| Click
on pictures to enlarge |
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Keith
Urban monitor mixer Jason Spence putting up an SF-24
stereo ribbon mic for drum overheads. |
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A few SF-24 overhead
pics from various stops on the Keith Urban tour. |
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FOH
engineer Steve Law and monitor mixer Jason
Spence strike a pose for a Royer
ad. Thanks guys!!! |
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Wayne
Shorter FOH mixing and recording engineer Rob Griffin
unpacks his arsenal of Royer mics for an outdoor gig. Rob has
used Royers on-stage for years to mic drums, sax, piano,
guitar, and occasionally standup bass. The two live recordings
of Wayne Shorter that have been released have both won
Grammys. |
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Drummer
Brian Blade sets up
for a show in Japan. The engineer uses two R-122’s
for drum overheads and one R-122, two feet in front of the
kit, for the kick drum. No other tom or cymbal mics are needed
(besides a hi-hat mic). Notice the angle of the front microphone – it’s
leaned forward at about 40 degrees. Because the microphone
rejects sounds approaching it from its sides and its top
and bottom, this angle greatly reduces the amount of
drums other than the kick getting into the mic, resulting
in a well isolated kick drum signal. |
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Brian Blade’s kit
at the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to the R-122's on overheads
and kick, an R-121 was used on the hi-hat. |
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FOH engineer Rob Griffin at
the board. Yes, he’s almost always this happy! |
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