YOUR PIX: Drum Microphone Placement

jrsgodfrey · Post by **jrsgodfrey** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:57 pm

I'll tell Phoebe (the drums' owner) you said so

It is a fine sounding kick - a nice pillowy "phump" with the fuzzy beater.

Dr Rubberfunk · Post by **Dr Rubberfunk** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:24 pm

Some nice set-ups and lovely kits on show here, so I'm a bit reticent about sharing my amateur efforts, but what the hey

My little 1970 Olympic got it's first run at the recording desk this week

RE20 on the kick, SP1 back out in the room. Tried it with just the SP1 about 4 feet in front of the kit at about top-of-kick-drum height, and whilst a kick and snare groove sounded nice, the tom was too loud and the ride sounded too harsh, so I moved it back to the position in this shot, and tried to point it at my feet - tamed the ride, but the tom was still booming a bit. Will try and add a link to a clip later on ...

Fakiekid · Post by **Fakiekid** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:20 am

great stuff looks amazing

Jon Nolan · Post by **Jon Nolan** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:31 am

jrsgodfrey wrote:Not terribly sexy, but effective for a mono, low-key roots rock brush thing.

4033 on kick, MXL 603s on Snare, AKG stereo mic top capsule rear/over shoulder.

jay, that sounds great man! very lovely sounds you're getting there man...

ps - send the mellotron to me.

Fakiekid · Post by **Fakiekid** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:36 am

I tried my E609 on snare bottom in a small test i was doing the other day with shell mics. Beta 98d/s on top and Groove Tube fet 57 on the shell.

listen to it here

http://www.soundclick.com/roberthuskinson

Galen Ulrich Elfert · Post by **Galen Ulrich Elfert** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:46 pm

I've been messing around with recording drums for a little while now, and this is my current setup. My major limitation, aside from a limited selection of notoriously crappy microphones, is the maximum two inputs into my PT LE rig.

first, we have the 'close' mic, hovering over the kit itself. Above the kit is a fiberglass cloud, dropped ten inches from the ceiling. There are some planks on the floor to try and reflect some of the snares. If you look closely, on the floor near the mic stand, there is a Shure Brothers Model 560 Dynamic "Lavalier" Microphone. It weighs at least a pound and would probably give you neck problems if you wore it in that capacity for too long, but sometime I hang it over the high hat. It has a very band limited sound, and if you compress it just so it makes the drum kit sound kind of like a casio.

second is the 'far' mic. This is the key to my sound right now. A bizarre little all tile bathroom/shower stall that functions as a sort of reverb chamber. It's only 7 feet at it's widest point, but it sounds pretty big, especially if you delay it a bit.

Both mics pictured are AKG 'Flying Dildos', into an RNP, into a first generation Mbox. After these two tracks are layed down and edited, I usually overdub the kick with an N/D 257 that I 'borrowed' from work (they never use them), and then sync it up by hand in pro tools. Then I'll find an appropriate snare sample, often from a classic drum machine, and tuck it up there just for a little more body.

Fakiekid · Post by **Fakiekid** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:05 pm

i'd love to hear that, looks really interesting!

ThisIsSka · Post by **ThisIsSka** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 5:08 pm

I'm a student, studying Music and Sound Recording. A friend of mine was recording an album for his band, in his bedroom, using only an SM57 and a bass DI! When doing this, he used stock drum loops from Logic Pro. I offered to record live drums for him, to make it sound like his band through and through. His bands' drummer, who I'm very good friends with and have worked with on sessions in the past for my recording coursework unveiled to me his ENTIRE drumkit. Less one bass drum! 18 channels were used in total to record this beast.

These images are hotlinked from facebook, please tell me if you can't see them and I'll arrange alternative image hosting.

Front View

From the drummers' side, note the contact mic strapped to the snare.

Again,

and again.

Another view from the front. The two distant mics (shoerps) were moved a bit closer together and a bit closer to the kit after this photo was taken.

Rehearsal in progress.

Mic List:
Main Overheads - DPA 4015s
Kick Mic 1 - RE 20 (inside the kick, very close to the hammers)
Kick Mic 2 - AKG D112 (Just outside the hole, see pic)
Snare Mic 1 (above) - Sennheiser MD441 (This only got hit ONCE - on the cable - in 7 hours!)
Snare Mic 2 (below) - Sennheiser MD441
Snare Mic 3 (side?!?) - C-Ducer Contact Mic. Duct Taped to the shell of the snare.
Hi Hat - Neumann KM184
Tom Top - SM 57
Tom High - SM 57
Tom Mid - SM 57
Tom Low - Sony F740
Tom Floor - Sony F740
Octobans - 1x Sony F730 shared between the two.
Outward spaced pair - Shoerp CMC5Us
Room/Ambient mics in ORTF configuration (not pictured) - 2 x Neumann U87s

Halfway through the session I remembered I had 3 x SM 58s available, these might have been a better choice for the Octobans. (I would have used SM57s everywhere above snare height for close micing, but I ran out of them!) But then, I'm pretty happy with what I've recorded. I'm yet to mix fully, but what I've fiddled with so far on the tracks I'm pretty happy with. It was definitely an experience! I'm also so lucky to be using so many amazing microphones in a quality studio space. I recorded everything into Pyramix, through a Sony DMX=R100 desk.

I have to apologise for the ridiculous mess the cabling was in. It doesn't look very professional and could potentially be a health hazard.

Samples of this recording session may be available soon(tm).

Fakiekid · Post by **Fakiekid** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:21 pm

not being offensive but do you think the 441 was a little large for the job? Surely that was in the way.

whats that moongel type stuff? been trying to find the name of it for ages!

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:37 pm

but a 441 on snare is a good thing. and positioned like that it probably served to discourage that guy from hitting his many toms so much. likely also a good thing.

Fakiekid · Post by **Fakiekid** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:46 pm

yes totally understood but I've always been told keeping the performer as comfortable as possible is the most important thing to do. I would of rather slammed a smaller mic up if i had one (57, 421, beta 98 maybe), suffered in sound a little, and had a comfortable performance.

still, looks like he did a great job tho don't you think?

oldguitars · Post by **oldguitars** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:07 pm

MoreSpaceEcho wrote:but a 441 on snare is a good thing. and positioned like that it probably served to discourage that guy from hitting his many toms so much. likely also a good thing.

Yeah, i would have mic'd way less and told the drummer to only hit things that had a mic on it....

k Holmes · Post by **k Holmes** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:16 pm

Yeah, those things are called "Racks" because it's torture to record 'em.

Fakiekid · Post by **Fakiekid** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 5:14 am

most effective way to mount a kit in my opinion, floating toms hanging off cymbal stands can be a pain in the arse, especially when the idiot buys a 16x18 and hangs it off his ride stand!

DGoody · Post by **DGoody** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:47 am

Here's a recent session I did with a band called Kiss Kiss. Big drums.

kik - akg d12e inside & MBHO 603 outside
resonator kik - subkick and old AKG shotgun draped in front & slammed to death
sn - 421 & Oktava 012
toms - 421s
oh - u87
front kit - U67
back kit - AEG MKL100
amb - RCA 44 & Shure KSM 44
fucko mics - Oktava lavaliers clipped on kik near snare & old Hungarian dynamic on floor near rack tom

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YOUR PIX: Drum Microphone Placement

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