Micing Drums

[guitars458]

Alright.
Me, and my friend have been trying to mic our kit for a while, and I've never liked the sound we get out of it... We have a small 4 xlr input Phonic mixer, with a mxl 990 for bass drum, a shure sm58 for snare, a mxl 991 for left over head, and another pencil over head.
What is a good way that we can get "descent" quality sound, for the time being? The sound always sounds like crap, and I would like to get it to a good sound, for better mixes on the recordings we make.
Eventually I'm buying a Tascam 1800, so that we can record each track separately, and then EQ each drum, but for the time being what can I do for better sounding drums?!?!

Thanks,
Guitars458

 

[tomanderson1991]

Do you have a sample so we can hear what you're currently getting or at least describe your deffition of 'crap'

 

[moresound]

Microphone placement and EQing is going to be your friend on this one.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Maybe your drums just sound like crap. Bad tuning is a likely culprit. No amount of mic choice/placement or processing will truly fix that. Use fresh heads and tune them properly.

After tuning, drumming technique is the next issue to solve. Record the kit with just the 990 placed about 10' in front of it. It should sound reasonably balanced. Have the drummer monitor the 990 in isolating headphones/IEMs while playing. After a while he'll naturally adjust his balance.

 

[bird]

I've recorded a drum set with just an MXL-990 and a Beringher C-2, I used them both as over heads. After you record put a hi-pass filter on the track set around 40Hz to get rid of sonic rumble. Then just mess with the EQ to brighten the cymbals and such.

 

[RAMI]

Maybe your drums just sound like crap. Bad tuning is a likely culprit. No amount of mic choice/placement or processing will truly fix that.

Bingo. Bin-frickin'-go.

 

[RobbieL]

mxl 990 for bass drum, a shure sm58 for snare, a mxl 991 for left over head, and another pencil over head.

Maybe it's your mics. who makes mxl series mics?