Is it possible to mix drums using AMM on qu 24?

[britz]

Is it possible to mix drums using AMM on qu QU 24?

[Mike C]

I’m going to say no but it would be a fun experiment.

AMM was designed primarily for spoken word conference multi
mic type of set ups and it works very well for that.
The style of AMM in a QU adverages the total gain of the open mics
to equal what the gain/level of what just one open mic would be.
In the set up menu you can set the gain level priority to each
mic.
I have use a few mics sent to the AMM for choir micing and with
the right choir and set up it works well.

[britz]

Thank you Mike

[garyh]

Yes, it’s possible. No one is stopping you. But will you get a pleasing mix? I doubt it.

[MarkPAman]

I doubt it too.

But I now want long enough soundcheck to experiment!
……Actually, it’s been so long since I had a gig large enough to mic the drums properly, that I’ll probably need a long sondcheck anyway!

[volounteer]

@britto

what they said

can you mix with amm?
you sure can!

will you like what you hear?
you may or may not like it. a lot of people like a lot of bizarro sounds.
some even want ways to add in distortion and other defects. nostalgia? or bad ears??

proper miking will make a bigger difference than using amm to help the mixing.
mike properly, mix properly, you wont need amm to try to help you do it.

[garyh]

I would say carefully adjusted gates would give you a cleaner mix than AMM.

[KeithJ A&H]

As Mike C implies, the thing to consider is what will happen if you use AMM for your drum channels.

The D-Classic algorithm used by Qu shares an amount of gain across all channels in the AMM.
This gain is then allocated to the channel with the highest incoming level, the calculation of which can be offset using the ‘priority’ for each channel (which can also be thought of as the contribution to the calculation). Meaning in a spoken word situation, you could increase the priority of, say, the chairperson so they could speak over others, or perhaps someone with a softer voice to help prevent them being spoken over.
The main benefits of the AMM are a reduction in background noise and reduced possibility of feedback. The latter especially in situations with multiples of the same mic and therefore duplication of the same frequency response with the background noise – which can mean the same frequencies are more prevalent = feedback.

With drums, what could make it sound weird with AMM engaged is that you have times where one drum is hit and then other times when that drum and another would be hit (and so on up to 4 I guess!).
In the first case, you’d get the single drum at 100% level. In the second, you’d get each drum at 50% and so the natural dynamics of the playing of each drum could be off every beat!
Further to this, any decay of drums or cymbals being picked up in mics not triggering the AMM would immediately and drastically be cut in level when another channel comes in.

But I agree, it could sound cool!
It just won’t automatically mix the drums into a ‘standard’ drum sound as one might understandably imagine from just the feature name.

Cheers,
Keith.

( @MarkPAman – I’m hoping for the band at the first gig back being so happy to play that they’ll just run the whole show a few times for us to mix a bunch of different ways 🙂 )

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