I’m about to record some drums, help me not screw it up

[kslight]

I’m big on mic minimalism with drums, but given the usefulness I would probably turn the 47s into a spaced pair instead of front and stunt duties. I don’t really think the non matching mics is a huge deal…but you could also use the 421s as overheads if you wanted… For a mono overhead I also prefer the position MSE suggested.

[Jitters]

I want to thank everyone again. We set up the mics tonight and I think I’ve got a good sound to work with. We ended up with a three mic setup. It certainly sounds better than my last attempt! Making decisions based on hearing the drums in the context of production was obviously an advantage. We will do the actual takes on Wednesday.

[losthighway]

I want to thank everyone again. We set up the mics tonight and I think I’ve got a good sound to work with. We ended up with a three mic setup. It certainly sounds better than my last attempt! Making decisions based on hearing the drums in the context of production was obviously an advantage. We will do the actual takes on Wednesday.

Well, where'd you stick 'em?

[logancircle]

+1 on all the above wisdom
A full drum mic setup in a low ceiling untreated room is a challenge but you can do it with experimentation. If you don’t have time to experiment (even if you do) one approach is to get your front of kit/room mic(s) to sound close to a full drum mix all by themselves, pretend you don’t have the option of close mics. Lowering and raising this mic can act as a cymbal fader 🎚and often the further from the crash the louder it gets. Such is life in untreated rooms but oh well. If you dial in a nice full mix without too much cymbals then you’ve got a great start.

Then if you want you can try all the tricks to make the room seem bigger.

[Jitters]

Well, where'd you stick 'em?

We ended up with the m160 on the high hat side, looking down at bell of the ride. It gave us plenty of toms and a good bit of the kick. The hats played better with the acoustic guitar than it did in other positions. The snare had a lot of body without much attack, but the Telefunken m80 under the snare filled that out nicely, giving it some punch, and the spill even seemed to compliment everything else. I boosted the top end of the m160 quite a bit, which was only fair, because there was a lot of that happening on on the master bus of the stereo tracks that he was playing along with, which the mic wasn’t privy too but eventually will be. We tried condensers as well but the ribbon was just a lot sweeter. The Sennheiser e902 centered at the the end of the kick shell was almost too easy and blended well with what the overhead had captured.

Of course, I might listen again and completely hate everything! It’s driving me nuts that it’s all set up at his place and that I won’t be able to listen again until Wednesday!

[Jitters]

We caught some killer performances! I’m excited to hear the tracks outside of the room we recorded in. I’m headed up to Austin today to capture a fiddle and some vocals, as well as to get some feedback for the next round of songs to record. Gonna push this damn project forward if it kills me! Also, I managed to squeeze in a tattoo this week. LOL

[Jitters]

Okay, this is three posts in a row by yours truly, but it dawned on me that I should add some closure here and say that I’m pretty happy with how the tracks turned out. The weakest link is the toms, but luckily he didn’t use them much, and where he did I was able to copy the fills to another track and compress and eq them for a considerable improvement. These are definitely the most pain free drums I’ve recorded. I’ll do close mics on toms for the next round, but I’ve yet to regret choosing mono over stereo.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

If it's any consolation I've been recording drums for 25 odd years now and still frequently struggle with toms. They're often the problem mics for a multitude of reasons. If the tuning is bad, open tom mics will just give you a wash of bad overtones on every kicks and snare hit. If the player sets their cymbals low bleed can be a big issue. A low ride and a cymbal basher is the worst. Same goes for the hi hats and rack tom mic.
I can get usually get the whole lot dialed in pretty quickly but the toms often take time, patience, skill and ingenuity.

[Jitters]

I was pleasantly surprised when the snare mic's bleed from the high hat and the kick actually made the mono overhead sound better, and I know that is possible with tom mics too, but man - so many potential problems! To be perfectly honest, I would probably be prepared to just mute the tom mics except for the fills. Baby steps!

I should probably point out for posterity that my overhead position caught very little of the crashes, but man, the ping of the ride is sure there. Naturally I did eq in some highs liberally to offset the choice of the ribbon, but that was the plan all along.

[Nick Sevilla]

If it's any consolation I've been recording drums for 25 odd years now and still frequently struggle with toms. They're often the problem mics for a multitude of reasons. ...

I have found, over recording drums for 20+ years... I like SDCs on toms. Preferably with cardioid or hypercardioid pattern and a 10dB pad. I like the AT ATM450s, which are cardioid... small, very maneuverable for pointing the nulls at cymbals etc.

[trodden]

If it's any consolation I've been recording drums for 25 odd years now and still frequently struggle with toms. They're often the problem mics for a multitude of reasons. ...

I have found, over recording drums for 20+ years... I like SDCs on toms. Preferably with cardioid or hypercardioid pattern and a 10dB pad. I like the AT ATM450s, which are cardioid... small, very maneuverable for pointing the nulls at cymbals etc.

I've been using Oktava MK-012's on toms for nearly 15 years because of them being recommended (By Chris Garges I believe) on this message board. No longer having to squeeze 421's in there is nice... and if I do use a dynamic, It's likely an ATM-25.

[Jitters]

I have 421s but the off axis sounds always get to me.

[Nick Sevilla]

I have 421s but the off axis sounds always get to me.

I HATE 421's on toms. They always need tons of EQ which they don't take well. No matter where they get placed.

[Jitters]

I might end up leveraging my pair for something else, who knows? I haven’t really used them on much.

Also, I might end up overdubbing some crash hits here and there. How weird is that? If anyone is looking for a mono overhead technique that will leave leave crashes out of the capture the Jitters method has you covered.

[losthighway]

I have 421s but the off axis sounds always get to me.

They manage to capture a bit of everything else happening on the kit and run it through a "shit" filter. Maybe it's because I have a newer one but that mic is in the overrated category to me.