A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO MICROPHONE PLACEMENT FOR CYMBALS IN LIVE SOUND
JJ HARRISON, AJ HILL · 2023
Our understanding of how cymbals produce sound and how their attack, sustain, tone and volume can be controlled has developed through the study and comparison of the vibratory behaviour of flat metal disks and cymbals.In spite of this, there has been little research dedicated to the application of this knowledge in regards to optimal microphone placement at live events and in recording studios.Existing publications on this subject generally contain few scientifically backed claims.This research focuses on how microphone placement impacts the received sound in regards to human perception of cymbals and drum kits in general.Numerous recordings were taken at different angles around crash, ride, hi-hat and china type cymbals and processed using MATLAB to produce polar plots.These plots were analysed and following this, an explanation of the results and a set of guidelines for ideal microphone placement was developed.The paper begins with an overview of the key research in the area of the physics of cymbals and overhead microphone placement.This is followed by a description of the experimental methods used in this research and then the presentation and analysis of results.Examples of best placement diagrams are given and the paper is concluded with an emphasis of relevant future work in this area.