One mic on drums

dgrieser · Post by **dgrieser** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:03 am

Where would you put the mic if you only had one channel for drums for recording a live show? I know, where it sounds best, but I'll have little or no time to soundcheck and a small crowded outdoor stage. I'm playing and running the live sound too, so it's going to be a scramble to get it all done.

He'll probably be playing with brushes on a fairly full kit. Last time I put up a Heil PR20 over the kit about 2 feet, but it ended up with everything in the mic--tons of bleed--and not a lot of the kick.

The rest of the group is 2 acoustic guitars (pickups) with one guitar player also playing keyboard, mandolin (pickup) and electric bass.

Here's the first recording I did of the group. http://thebillyhawks.bandcamp.com

I have little experience recording drums. Any advice would be welcome. TIA.

Gregg Juke · Post by **Gregg Juke** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:13 am

Well, with a live show and PA, you're going to get bleed regardless. The standard place I would think would be over the top, as you had done.

If this were a studio thing or solo drumset, with only one mike, you could put it out front or pointing towards the floor, but that would probably just increase your bleed and intelligibility issues here, so I'd stick with the top.

I'd imagine using the right mike with the least opportunity for unwanted bleed would help. Maybe a dynamic? Not an omni. In live situations when strapped for mikes and channels, I have had some success with even an SM57 overhead (and once even on kick drum, but I wouldn't recommend that!). I guess experiment beforehand if possible.

That's all I've got.

GJ

mindsound · Post by **mindsound** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:41 am

I would say not too high around and above the left or right shoulder of the drummer. Try to angle it as it point between the snare and the drummer, so it's not pointing directly at the hihat and cymbals.
The idea is to balancing the whole kit with just this mic. So make sure you like the balance between the cymbals and the snare/toms going through this mic.

A for the height, avoid putting it too high (it will pickup too much of the other instru. and maybe the bad sound of the room). So try to keep it down the most you can, until it sound good regarding the balance of the kit.

Good luck.

vxboogie · Post by **vxboogie** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:19 am

I'd try it in front of the kit since over the kit didn't work so well. If you try over the shoulder of the drummer, I'd think that you would get more of monitors, instruments, vocals, etc. out front. That said, it depends on where things are and how the monitors and amps are pointed.

Do you just have one channel on the board or just one recording channel? If the latter, I would have an OH and a kick mic fed to an aux and record the one drum channel from that.

doug deeper · Post by **doug deeper** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:45 am

Directly over the kick pointed at the snare.
You can even get away with an omni here in some cases without too much unwanted spill.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:36 pm

Is there a reason you can have only one mic?

If it's because of having only one channel open, you can get something like this, what allows you to balance between two mic's, and then use one OH, and a kick.

dgrieser · Post by **dgrieser** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:24 pm

Thanks for all the ideas. I'll see what I'm able to pull together while setting everything up.

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:15 pm

If you have any room for experimenting, try a "heart" mic. Omni, equidistant from snare bottom center and where the beater hits the kick drum head, or thereabouts.

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:44 pm

My initial thought would be to put a cardioid mic on the floor, diagonally at the kit, between the kick and snare. You'd get a lot of more kit than cymbals, as opposed to overhead you tend to get more cymbal than kit.

You could also try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS_YZpn818A

It's called the Tchad Blake method, I've never heard of it before (know of him of course); but the results in the video sound great. The only problem with it, is not everyone sets up their kit like the guy in the video, so I don't think it would always work.

dgrieser · Post by **dgrieser** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:21 pm

Thanks for that link, Brett. Sounds like the same concept doug & Snarl were talking about. I think I'll give that a try and see what we get.

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:39 pm

Problem with "heart" mic: gotta use an omni. (Lotsa bleed)
Problem with putting it on the floor: gonna get stepped on and get lotsa foot noise.
I'd go with the Tchad Blake thingy. I might try that myself sometime.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:35 am

doug deeper wrote:Directly over the kick pointed at the snare.
You can even get away with an omni here in some cases without too much unwanted spill.

This is what I'd do.

vvv wrote:

Those things rule.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

kingtoad · Post by **kingtoad** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 5:19 pm

If it's a live show, so spill is an issue, and I only have one channel I reckon I would try a condenser placed a few inches off the top of the bass drum, pointed towards the snare. This could give a surprisingly balanced picture of the kit. Then again, it depends on the style of music and many other factors.

dgrieser · Post by **dgrieser** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:43 pm

I used my Heil PR20 over the kick pointed at the snare. The kick doesn't have much low end to it--I got a lot more low end in the kick with the PR20 in the overhead position. That sound worked best below the bass. This kick will definitely live above the bass. Lots more snare sound, a lot less cymbal. Guess I'll have to bring another interface and use more mics on the drums the next time.

Bill Williams · Post by **Bill Williams** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 3:08 am

Any live show recorded well is a stereo capture from a bar somewhere...

You only have two mics for the whole show otherwise it's a cut and paste job, maybe something for video...

How keen are you on being in the room after the fact?

Message Board

One mic on drums

One mic on drums

Who is online