Recording Gurus: Best way to mic up a drumkit with two mics?

[Soundstorm]

Also, it's an Sm57 and an e609

 

I bought a two channel Focusrite clips, some Krk monitors, a new head, so it's just killing me not to make some clips at this point. I'm eventually gonna invest in an 8 channel interface with some nice preamps, and shura drum pic package, but im honestly tapped out on cash for a little while now.

 

My first instinct was to try the 57 right on the kick and the e609 as an overhead, but now I'm thinking maybe a stereo, half ass x/y pattern might be better.

 

 

Any of you recording gurus got any ideas?

 

Now all I have to do is learn Ableton live. I havent worked in a DAW since I took a class on it in '02.

 

There's gonna be a lot of trial and error here

[Unstrung]

Put one overhead the kit pointed at the snare, and one on the kick.

 

Also try looking up the Recorderman technique

[newholland]

what unstrung said- but you'll do better if you pick yourself up a condenser. if you're tracking ONLY drums, you'd do even better if it was an omni.

 

just make sure your overhead's in a good place, and by that, i mean, someplace that doesn't overaccentuate your cymbals, even if that's a few feet out front of the kit.

[FrostByte]

One overhead, one on the snare, trigger everything else

[kurtisqpublic]

Much easier with three. Put two condensors overhead kind of ear/shoulder level with the drummer and one on the kick. The concept is it gives you basically what the drummer hears and then the added oomph from the kick drum. You could go one overhead and one kick and get close. This method was talked about in a recording mag called Tapeop and works really well. We use it all the time when utilizing house gear with limited channels. Sound guys are floored by how well it works.

[diocide]

Although its kind of a commercial, I found this to be informative.

[JR13]

step 1. Buy more mics.

[Soundstorm]

lol, the point is that for now there are only two mics, and two preamp channels. With one more and a couple condensers I could definitely do some Albini style mic'ing. But I have what I have for the time being.

 

Also.....Pro Tools or Logic?

 

I don't use lots of plug ins or pads, pretty much straight up recording, overdubs, compression,

Editing.

 

I'm gonna need to take the tutorial refresher course either way.

[Krank'N]

The shure as an OH and the sennheiser on the kick. Placement and room quality will be the key. Try to find a cheap omni mic and then use it for the OH and put the 57 on the snare. Also it helps if you put the kick mic out of phase( which will make it in phase with the OH).

[drewl]

Like Bonham.

[Mermph]

one on the kick

 

one for the snare and hi hat

[Soundstorm]

I was hoping to get something of a stereo effect but I guess there's really no way around micing the kick

[Soundstorm]

Also, DAWs anyone?

 

The Focusrite came with Ableton live lite but I couldn't make sense of it. I mixed

a friend's album on Cubase several years ago and I remember it being pretty easy to use. Then again, I was just mixing. Ola seems to get some badass tones with Logic, and I hear it's pretty intuitive. Good choice?

[Soundstorm]

 

Although its kind of a commercial, I found this to be informative.

 

 

Great info man, thanks

 

Kinda wishing I would've gone with the Duet 2

[Cirrus]

The two most important things with drum recording, whether you're using one mic or 20, is to tune the kit well so it sounds good in the room you're recording in and to play the drums really really well. If you do that, one mic in the room pointed at the drums is going to sound good, because you'll be recording a good sounding kit played well. How could you go wrong? Sure, you won't have lots of control in the mix but why do you need to change something that was already played well, with good internal balance and tone?

 

WIth only two mics, and an unmatched pair of dynamics at that, it's hard to say exactly what I'd do because I think it'd depend on a lot of things. The recorderman technique mentioned above might be an option, but the problem with both mics is that they've got a tight cardioid response, and really pretty nasty off-axis colouration. So if you get the mics tight in to the kit, you're going to end up with any part of the kit that's off axis sounding grotty.

 

So what I'd probably do is get the drums sounding as good as I could, then use one of the mics (my instinct would be to start with the 57 because I know it better) as a room mic to capture the whole sound of the kit. I'd just move it about by ear until it sounded good. Some pointers - the tone of cymbals change depending on what angle you're at to them. If you're above them they can be quite brash, if you're edge-on to them they usually sound more expensive. HOWEVER, then you have problems with whooshy phasy sounds as the cymbal rocks back and forward when hit, showing the mic the top and bottom of the cymbal which are out of phase with each other. So I try to get the lowest angle that won't have this problem.

 

You'll need to use your ears while the drummer is playing to find a spot that best picks him up - you're looking for a combination of good sound and good balance of the individual components in the drum kit.

 

Once you've got the first mic placed, I'd probably use the second down low near the floor in front of the drums about as far away from the kick drum as the room mic is. This'll get you a different overall representation of the kit which will hopefully have a bit more low end thump from the kick.

 

Then I'd get the drummer to play along to the track and listen. Is the snare loud enough? Do the hi hats stick out too much? Do the toms punch through? Work with the drummer, tell them what to play harder or softer. Move the mics if needs be. The point is, you need it to be a good performance because there will be bugger all you can do to tweak things in the mix unless you want to get surgical.

 

Of course this in only one way to do it, the first that sprung to mind having not heard the music you want to play, the room you're in, the kit, or anything specific. It might be that in the song the snare and kick are the only parts of the kit that actually matter. Then you should mic them. It might be that you'd rather do kick and snare on one take, cymbals on another, and toms on a third just to get more control. It really does depend on lots of stuff.

[diocide]

 

Also, DAWs anyone? The Focusrite came with Ableton live lite but I couldn't make sense of it. I mixed a friend's album on Cubase several years ago and I remember it being pretty easy to use. Then again, I was just mixing. Ola seems to get some badass tones with Logic, and I hear it's pretty intuitive. Good choice?

 

 

Are you using a pc or Mac? I you have a Mac, just stick with GarageBand for now. If you're using pc, a lot of guys on here like Reaper (ivemnever used it personally).

[gt_jumper]

you aint gunna get too far with 2 channels.

[Cirrus]

 

you aint gunna get too far with 2 channels.

 

 

The Beatles and Led Zep do not agree with you on this.

[Flogger59]

Lower your cymbals.

Put one mic at two drumstick's distance over the snare.

Mic the kick.

Done.

[Soundstorm]

Cirrus, thanks for the great info. I'm also the drummer, btw, so there will be a lot of moving around and doing different takes.

 

Diocide- it's a new Mac. So, let's just say Logic or ProTools?

 

I actually went to school for all this but about 10 years ago and I pretty much wet straight into live sound. Thanks again all

[AdrianPOA]

Also.....Pro Tools or Logic?

 

 

Studio One.

[this is paul]

Lower your cymbals. Put one mic at two drumstick's distance over the snare. Mic the kick. Done.

 

Yep Or one overhead and one kick.

 

For software, I'm enjoying Mixcraft. It's very basic, but for what I do it works. It's also like $75 so that's great.

[peavey_impact]

 

Also, DAWs anyone? The Focusrite came with Ableton live lite but I couldn't make sense of it. I mixed a friend's album on Cubase several years ago and I remember it being pretty easy to use. Then again, I was just mixing. Ola seems to get some badass tones with Logic, and I hear it's pretty intuitive. Good choice?

 

 

I could be wrong but I really think what DAW you use has nothing to do with the tones you get. Just use what you are most familiar/comfortable with.

 

I've used a few different versions of Sonar, Ableton Live, and Cubase. Cubase 6 is the latest one I got and I'm digging it. Very clean, intuitive workspace.

 

Before that I was using Sonar X1 which is cool but there are a few things about it that bug the {censored} out of me.

[Krank'N]

If you decide to go with the OH +kick method then consider using compression on the OH mic. A signal path like this ...Preamp>EQ>Compressor>EQ will help the OH mic bring out the details and let you balance the whole kit. A 125 hz wave is about 8 ft long! This means the kick mic doesnt have to be on the beater unless you really like the attack sound. PS-remove the front head on the kick and toss in a pillow or other damper!

[Soundstorm]

What I want in an interface is for it to be set up well, and be intuitive to use.

 

I have heard good things about Studio One, and Logic....and Pro

tools. Pro Tools may not be as intuitive but I do have a little experience on it. At Nothing studios (this was

'03-'04, they switched from Pro Tools over to Logic, and that was year's ago). But Studio

One does intrigue me bc I've heard great things..

 

Decisions...