What kick and room mics for mo town drum sound

**mikey joe** · 06-19-2012

What kick mic and room mic should I use to achieve the mo town sound any suggestions preferably each under 200

I already know I will be using sm57 on snare so all I think I need to achieve this kind of sound is hours of messing around and tweaking as of course the room and kick mic

Also any pointers on getting that old mo town sound?

I'm planning on record break beat variations and then sampling myself will this be achievable

Please note I am recording all mics into tascam us 1641 and I have a smallish 15 by 18 room untreated that has a refrigerator and concrete floors haha so any tips on this would be nice!!?

**AtraxProductions** · 06-20-2012

you should just chop up the drums from old motown records

**B Side Producer** · 06-21-2012

I wrote a nice long post to answer your questions but I accidently pressed my off button. That really didn't help. CBA to write such an elaborate long answer again but I'll do try to give you some pointers in short.

You could chop drums from old motown records. That'll quickly get you there. Look up motown or Berry Gordy on wiki and you'll find the artists and producers he worked with.

If you're keen on recording stuff yourself, it's gonna be a hell of a lot more difficult. The whole Motown vibe was created by Berry Gordy and his excentric opinion and managing of his very talented artists and producers. This is not something you can stumble on overnight or learn from a 5 long page blog from some fan.
On the technical side, recreating the motown sound is much about what has been done to the sound that has been recorded. Eq'ing, mixing, mastering, compression, processing, using effects, etc.
On the other hand, for a smaller part, it's also what equipment is used and room treatment. Although, to start off with, it's not really necessary to aim for having a million dollar studio with treated rooms. Sure, experienced producers are gonna hear the difference of a room DAW recording on cheaper monitors, but tbh, nowadays, we can come very close and as long as you're not making the big bucks, it ain't necessary to spend those big bucks. It is necessary to have a basic quality of equipment though.
As I said, if you're keen on recording instruments yourself, you'd need a decent pre amp and mic. Experiment with it. The tascam you have ain't the best but not the worst either. If you can't experiment with other pre amps, no problem, use that one. Try to get other mics though. Different type of mics, condenser, dynamic, ribbon mic, etc. are used for different goals , instruments and effects. Think of the difference between recording a very soft acoustic instrument and a kickbass for instance. Try to get yourself a couple of different mics. You can also rent mics , get them second hand, or just get some cheap mics around 50 to 150 euros each to experiment with.
Than, it's also much about what you're gonna do with those sounds after that. You can have a million dollar studio at your exposal but if you don't have the knowledge, it's more or less pointless.
Read up on your theory. Check the forum sticky posts in the different sections, read the links in there , read all the info. Check youtube tutorials , get some books or dvds with some easy to follow courses. Thinking of macpro videos , or something like dvds like 'The Audio Masterclass Music Production and Sound Engineering Course' 'The Art and Science of Sound Recording with alan parson' those kind of things. There's a post on the forum with books to read.
Go watch some documentaries about motown. If they're not gonna brush up your technical know how because it ain't that kind of documentary, it at least gonna inspire you. There are documentaries out there on what techniques effects and all that was used for motown records. Also, google is your friend. Just type in a search question like ' what production techniques motown' and see what it comes up with.

Gl dude, motown is not the easiest to aim for. The whole success of motown is not something that everybody can achieve easily, otherwise it would've been a very boring world in the music industry and we'd all be billionaires. But it's always good to aim for something that good and be inspired by someone or something that high in quality.

**RokWell** · 06-24-2012

If you are looking for that sound, google what type of mics they used to record that sound. It all starts at the source!!! For instance, no amount of tweaking and eq'ing will make an $70 SM57 sound like a vinatge C12. Think about it: why would professionals spend THOUSANDS on one mic if they could just use a bunch of cheap mics and tweak the sound? If anyone could figure it out, it would be them. From there, you have a muuuuuchh better chance of tweaking the sound. The room will also play a big part, especially if you are using far away micing techniques.

**B Side Producer** · 06-24-2012

Than you have the preamp as well. Probably too much for his wallet I guess

SM57 and a couple hundred bucks A/I preamp it'll be I guess. Ah well, case of "the next best thing" turns out to be the "the next best thing you can afford"