Drum Mic'ing, hmmm... what to do

[MoreSpaceEcho]

i was screwing around recording drums yesterday and i had an m160 on the snare, about 4 inches back, level with the top rim. it really sounded terrific. probably not recommended for a pounding metal drummer, but if you've got someone playing reasonably quietly and you have a 160, give this a try, i think you will like it.

i find if you have the snare mic off the drum a ways, you can then use a lot more of that track in the mix without it sounding weird.

[W DeMarco]

Have you thought of top/bottom micing the toms. A good ride mic adds some dimension with your hat mic.

[W DeMarco]

And space echos snare tech will yeild some awesome snare sounds!!! Remember your not micing the head as much as the overall drum.

[stompforfuzz]

Have you thought of top/bottom micing the toms. A good ride mic adds some dimension with your hat mic.

I've heard it's great for jazz or anything with subtle snare work, the bottom and top micing. I'd imagine that it would be great for just about anything in terms of shaping.


What would you consider for a good ride mic. And, would the drummer have to adjust playing style? I have only relied on two oh mics for the cymbals/ride. Would you forgo overheads in lieu of direct micing?

My drum micing experience is very limited, so I started with a "by the book" approach. Two oh in XY, tom mics, top snare, kick in the hole. I haven't even tried a room mic yet, however I just picked up a large diaphram condenser I want to try - need another mic stand though.

[W DeMarco]

Herees my typical setup,

K: re20 or d12 or d 112 or 421
Sn Up 57
Sn down 441
OH neuman tlm 103s spaced or xy
toms, 421s up and down
HH 414 eb
ride 414 eb
room peluso 2247

As far as the drummers style, unless his style sounds awful through the overs then there should be no need to make adjustment. If it does sound terrible through the overs either make drummer adjustments or mute the ride mic.

I use an LDC sounds good so i stick with it. The crashes tend to be fine through the overs so I dont find the need to mic them.

top bottom snare, sometimes I find enough brightness from the snare side that I can lay off the eq alot and the bottom has some vibe down there. Which simplifies. Tons of phasing issues with this kind of tons of mics setups so exhaust your polarity options, its not always the most obvious like flip the bottom snare.

[stompforfuzz]

Herees my typical setup,

K: re20 or d12 or d 112 or 421
Sn Up 57
Sn down 441
OH neuman tlm 103s spaced or xy
toms, 421s up and down
HH 414 eb
ride 414 eb
room peluso 2247

As far as the drummers style, unless his style sounds awful through the overs then there should be no need to make adjustment. If it does sound terrible through the overs either make drummer adjustments or mute the ride mic.

I use an LDC sounds good so i stick with it. The crashes tend to be fine through the overs so I dont find the need to mic them.

top bottom snare, sometimes I find enough brightness from the snare side that I can lay off the eq alot and the bottom has some vibe down there. Which simplifies. Tons of phasing issues with this kind of tons of mics setups so exhaust your polarity options, its not always the most obvious like flip the bottom snare.

Nice! I have a couple condensors to play with, so ill give it a try. Multiplemic setups like this will be a good educational experience. Thanks for the guidance =)

[oil_can]

heard it from an AT rep that the 2035 is just the 3035 repackaged and repriced. one way or another, decent mic for the price

[b3groover]

Love AT mics. See if you can get your hands on a pair of ATM450s. Great for overheads, snare, toms, basically everything but the kick (though I've not tried one on a kick... maybe it would sound great!)

[pskjr]

well, hopefully soon i'll be getting up some samples of recorded stuff. i currently mix in headphones (beyerdynamic dt770 pro's), and while those headphones sound great i have a lot of trouble with the low end, my mixes always seem to be cloudy and heavy on the bass. thanks for all the input and suggestions. hopefully today i'll get some stuff uploaded of what i recorded. probably going to do more this week as well with some variations to the mic setup.

[pskjr]

ok, so if you go www.myspace.com/lyttstudio i have uploaded a song. recorded drums, bass, and vocals, and i'll give the details of how i recorded each instrument below. let me know what you guys think.

All recorded using the equipment listed in the first post

Drums- Pearl Reference kit and cymbals listed in first post
kick- beta 52 in hole
snare- audix i5 and e604 both on top (tried a 57 on the bottom and it sounded awful)
rack tom- e604
floor tom- e604
oh r- at3035
oh l- at4047

kept all the mics a good distance off the heads to let the sound develop. sacrificed having a room mic to have better overs. room wasnt very large, not sure of the exact dimensions. walls have basically no acoustic treatment whatsoever.

Bass- Fender Jazz (mexican, with samarium cobalt pickups, badassII bridge)
went DI through a sansamp bass driver, and DI directly into the profire. mixed the two signals together.

Guitars- Fender Jaguar HH (japanese, dual humbucker)
Amp- Line 6 Flextone on twin reverb clean channel
Effects- Fulltone OCD overdrive pedal, delay for lead guitar

mic'd the amp as follows;
at3035 about 6 inches off the grill, about an inch off center
audix i5 about 4 inches off the grill, 2 1/2 inches off center

like i said, aside from curtains that go the length of each wall, there are no acoustic treatments in the room. on that myspace the profile picture is a pic of the drums all done up for this recording. you can get a glimpse of the room to see what i'm talking about. i also suck at overhead placement. i'm never happy with how my overs sound (although this most recent recording was the best i think i've gotten them), but any pointers on placement for overs as compared to what's in the picture would be awesome. thanks guys

(song may still be processing, might not be up for a couple hours)

[Producer/Engineer]

Love AT mics. See if you can get your hands on a pair of ATM450s. Great for overheads, snare, toms, basically everything but the kick (though I've not tried one on a kick... maybe it would sound great!)

+1 on the ATM450's overhead or snare !

Also like them on pianos.

Don't like them on acoustic guitar.

[decocco]

i was screwing around recording drums yesterday and i had an m160 on the snare, about 4 inches back, level with the top rim. it really sounded terrific.

I freaking love the m160 on snare. Total radness.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

have you used it on loud drummers? i pretty much only use it on snare when i'm recording me. because, you know, i'm not a barbarian.

*sniffs haughtily*

[Rakoro]

Anyone ever use MidSide for overheads?

I'm looking to try out some new overhead configurations, need some ideas.

[mertmo]

3035 on kick is ridiculous. Since I tried it about three years ago, I have yet
to try a different mic and get a better kick sound. It is now my go to kick mic!

Just the other day my band and I started a long term setup to track an album with.
Ahh, the sweet luxury of being able to just leave it set up until we are done...!

Inside Kick - sm57
Outside Kick - 3035
snare top - sm57 but today I'm going to try the Beyer M300C instead
snare bottom/kick beater - 414 TLII in figure 8. (wacky trick, but holy crap it's good)
heart mic/crotch mic/whatever the hipsters call it - Audix D4, crushed with preamp gain.
No "proper" overheads, spot cymbal mics instead:
Crash/hi hats - 414 b-uls
Ride1/Ride2 - 414 b-uls


Read about using a mic in Fig8 to get the bottom snare AND the kick beater in a
thread on Gearslutz. I figured since I'm always fighting the bleed of the kick
beater in that mic, and the phase bullshit anyway, I would try it and see if I could
make it work for me instead of against me. It does require a compromise with
switching polarity around, but I was able to get a sound I really liked! The phase
compromise basically ended up scooping out some low mids on the kick. Which
I would have done anyway, they were bonky! So in a way I did some pre mixing
by using this phase compromise. And I'll never have to use EQ to bring out the click
of the kick drum, it's just THERE. Great sound, and fun to try something new.

Overall, the best kick drum sound I've ever gotten by far!