Quote:
Originally Posted by
ampetrosillo
➡️
A subcardioid or hypocardioid (same thing) used in an XY configuration is close to pointless, as the two mics' pickup pattern overlaps so significantly that the result is basically a "slightly stereo" mono, with only the extreme left and right sounding (just slightly) to the left or right. It is also important to avoid picking up more reverberation than the actual sound source, unless your aim is exactly that.
At this point one could ask a few philosophical questions: How wide is a drum kit, exactly ? Should it occupy a wider arc than a grand piano, or a double bass or a marimba, for example. Do you subscribe to the 70's prog-rock ethos of the widely panned drum kit (including out of phase material) which extended across and beyond the full width of the stereo speaker box distance apart.
Or perhaps to the Kind of Blue 50's/60's Jazz kit, enclosed within a pair of goboes in the Columbia studios, occupying a very discreet central location in the stereo panorama ? Within the context of a drum kit being a member of a band's set of instruments, your "slightly stereo" mono could indeed be exactly the amount of space and width it's desirable for the kit to occupy ?
It's also possible to create depth by using a more distant (perhaps compressed) room mic as part of the drumkit's pickup. Or precise image placement and focus by close-miking every Tom, cymbal and snare within the entire kit.
I list these scenarios simply to illustrate that, depending on the style and methodology and space-occupancy you wish for your drumkit to exist within, an XY overhead (or out front) mic placement could indeed be an entirely valid and desirable way of ensuring the kit occupies the necessary width within the band's overall stereo recorded image...and thus hardly pointless.
I think you could call Ringo's drum image for most of the Beatles career 'mono' (or maybe fat mono)....and that was scarcely any detriment to the band's sonic impact and lasting significance...or record sales ? Ditto for Motown, Elvis, Rockabilly, Country.....and most of these employed only a single overhead (how much more mono than that can you get ?)