micing a drum kit

[Jasco]

What are some options for micing a drum kit with the minimal number of mics? I'm familiar with Glyn Johns drum mic technique. Are there other methods you've used successfully?

[Phil O'Keefe]

I typically use a slightly modified Glyn Johns approach as the foundation of most of my drum mic setups. Other three and four mic techniques also exist. For example, you can use a stereo XY configuration for the overheads, or a spaced pair, or ORTF, and augment them with close-in kick and possibly snare mikes too.

 

One of my favorite alternative approaches is to use a Blumlein stereo pair (crossed Figure-8 microphones) for the "overheads", but placed on a stand just behind and immediately above the drummer's head and aimed "forward" towards the center of the kit. I find that it gives you a "as the drummer hears it" perspective of the drum kit. Due to the nature of Blumlein stereo pairs, it's also going to pick up a significant amount of the "room" too, so ideally that technique tends to work best in a good sounding room. If your room is less than wonderful from a sonic / acoustical standpoint, you can try substituting a XY pair of cardioids instead of the bi-directional microphones in order to cut down on the amount of ambience you pick up.

[WRGKMC]

I usually have to experiment to get the best tones.

I have a set of wireless headphones where I can monitor the DAW

and move around the set as I bang on drums and move mics around.

I use a pair of CAD drum condensers up top in a an XY config.

 

For the Toms I mic them from the bottom slightly inside like I would a kick drum with a hole cut in it.

I used to have both heads on the drums and mic them from the bottom as well.

My drummers have a bad habit of whacking the mics when I use them up top,

plus there's no convenient place to put a top mic because I have a set of Roto

toms above the two regular toms. It does work well micing from the bottom though.

You do have allot less bleed over from cymbals and other drums.

 

I do mic the floor tom from the top however. Miced below give it a rubber basket ball sound.

 

For snare I like micing the side. The top is too dry, and the bottom is to sizzely. I also get some High Hat

on the snare mic so I don't need a separate mic for those.

 

For kick I do use a regular mic and a sub kick. I found an old 8" altec speaker

that has just the right amount of lows and mids. I tried many but most either had

too much mud or lacked definition. The Altec is a light paper woofer and is just right.

I don't even have it in a box so I can turn it backwards, or sideways to get different phasing with the normal mic.

 

The one good thing is its my set and anything adjustments I make to mics or tuning is going to stay that way till I change it.

I do several recordings then evaluate the results. If I have one of the 8 tracks that don't sound right, I can tweak it for the next session.

Over a period of months you wind up getting the best possible tones from what's there. The only reason I'll change things is for a change

of pace because I'm board with the sounds I'm getting. I even have a few triggers on the drum heads that can plug into a drum machine

and activate the drum sounds.

[ermghoti II]

"Recorderman" is a Johns variation that I like a lot.

[Lee Knight]

Once I learned to look at a drum kit without the floor being Ground Zero, I got it. That's why the Glyn Johns/Recorderman system works so well. Look at it this way. The kick and snare are the center of the kit. How can you use an overhead system to center those two entities? Forget the floor for a second, which has surprisingly little impact on the overhead sound. If the kit were tiltable in space, you could center it on those evenly spaced overheads. So move the overheads ignoring the floor. Center the kick and snare. Now go ahead and close mic the rest of the kit as needed. It works very well for me.

[witesol]

Once I learned to look at a drum kit without the floor being Ground Zero' date=' I got it. That's why the Glyn Johns/Recorderman system works so well. Look at it this way. The kick and snare are the center of the kit. How can you use an overhead system to center those two entities? Forget the floor for a second, which has surprisingly little impact on the overhead sound. If the kit were tiltable in space, you could center it on those evenly spaced overheads. So move the overheads ignoring the floor. Center the kick and snare. Now go ahead and close mic the rest of the kit as needed. It works very well for me.[/quote']

nice post!

[WRGKMC]

Getting the mics relatively in phase is an item too.

Its not too hard to do if you monitor the mice in mono and use a pair of isolation headphones.

You can hear it most on the overheads in comparison to the up close mics because overheads

are usually condenser mics.

 

When the mics are off it kills the low frequencies. As a rough measurement I just use a yardstick

and make sure the overheads are a yardstick length from the snare. This should put tem in phase with the snare mic.

If you have to use the mics at a longer distance you can back the snare mic off or try side micing the snare.

Small changes make big changes in tone and you do have proximity effects with any dynamic mics you use.

 

If for some reason the mics phase is off recording, you can tweak them in afterwards.

 

I had one session I did about 6 months ago where the drummer just had to bring his set.

He never once used the second kick drum but he had to have it.

 

I didn't have allot of time to set the mics up so it was pretty much pot luck.

I mixed those songs for a month and the drums still sounded like garbage cans.

I eventually elongated the waveforms until I could see s single kick and snare waveform.

Wouldn't you know, all that time I was messing with EQ's was a complete waste of time.

I had several mics 180 degrees out of phase and the waveforms were going south while others were going north.

 

So I simply shifted the tracks so they all went north bound on the kick and snare and it was like Friggin Magic.

I was able to remove 90% of the EQ and compression I had globed onto the tracks and it at least tripled the sound quality.

From there I was able to make the rest of the mix sound great as well.

 

I still don't know why it took me so long to figure it out but this drummer had really heavy hands like he was hitting the cymbals with baseball bats.

Its hard to tell what's going on under all that sizzle bleeding over through all the mics.

 

I had that same band want to come over and do some more recordings.

I said I would but only if they used my studio set. So fare they haven't called me back.

Setting up drums is hard work and Greenbacks are needed to make all that work worthwhile.

 

[slickstrings1]

I agree with Phillip O Keefe on overheads - the 'as the drummer hears it' sound is a great starting point for many sessions. Blumlein's are great for overheads. It changes in every room though and you really need to get the feel of the room to know which Mic to go for. I've been experimenting with the VK Internal MIC mounts recently which are great for getting the Mic right in there. I'd definatly recommed trying this out. It gives a great punchy sound for anything needing a loud/fairly clinical sound.

[CME]

I too like the Recorderman technique. If done right the two overheads can be almost all you need. For most modern music you'll also need a kick mic, and I like a dedicated snare also, but I can easily live with just those 4 mics. But throw some close tom mics and I'm golden. A dedicated HH and/or Ride mic isn't really needed, but can be used too. As mentioned just check your phase. Especially on the OH's to themselves with the Snare and Kick. Make sure you get a nice tight centered sound for both of those.

[groovezilla]

Three mics... Two overheads equally spaced from the snare (measure the distance to make sure) and one kick drum mic. Compress them on a bus and the toms will come alive. Also use isolation headphones to find the sweet spot for overhead mic nearest to the hihat and then match the distance on the other one, using the iso headphones again. It worked for Led Zepplin and a bunch of others. It works great for me. As always, less is more.