Drums recording setup

VincentDeus

New member
Hi all! :)

First, sorry for my terrible English..not my native.

I'm planning to record drums in my basement (24ft x 18ft). I would like to have a room mic but I only have 8 pres on my interface. Should I go with a mono OH setup to get a room mic or should I keep my full drum mic setup and create a room in mixing?

Thanks alot !
 
Depends on how the room sounds. Start with kick and snare and two overheads and add one or two rooms and see what you've got
 
While some people will use many mikes on their kits, eight channels are sufficient to get great quality drum recordings. As Gtoboy says, four on the kit is a very reasonable option.
 
Hi all! :)

First, sorry for my terrible English..not my native.

I'm planning to record drums in my basement (24ft x 18ft). I would like to have a room mic but I only have 8 pres on my interface. Should I go with a mono OH setup to get a room mic or should I keep my full drum mic setup and create a room in mixing?

Thanks alot !

So does that mean you are using up all 8 mics/pres on the drum kit before you get to the room mic...?

I think you can easily cut down the kit mics so you still have one left over as a room/distance mic...but I would most definitely leave a stereo OH pair on the kit.
If you do that...what are you using the other 6 mics/pres on?

I would do the OH pair, spot mics on the Kick, Snare...maybe 3 spot mics for Toms...and one room mic = 8 mics. :)
You don't need to spot mic the cymbals or the Hat...etc.

Describe how you are using your 8 mics now.
 
So does that mean you are using up all 8 mics/pres on the drum kit before you get to the room mic...?

I think you can easily cut down the kit mics so you still have one left over as a room/distance mic...but I would most definitely leave a stereo OH pair on the kit.
If you do that...what are you using the other 6 mics/pres on?

I would do the OH pair, spot mics on the Kick, Snare...maybe 3 spot mics for Toms...and one room mic = 8 mics. :)
You don't need to spot mic the cymbals or the Hat...etc.

Describe how you are using your 8 mics now.

Thanks alot !! :)

Here's my setup :

Kick
Snare
3 Toms
2 OH
HH (Because I would like to have more control on this one. Alot of HH in every songs...)

But yeah...I think I will go with the room mic instead of the HH.

Thanks again! :)

---------- Update ----------

Thanks alot guys for your responses! :)
 
If you work the OH mics into a good position...you will find that they can take care of the HH real nice...plus you can also adjust the Snare mic for more/less HH bleed.
 
Hi all! :)

First, sorry for my terrible English..not my native.

I'm planning to record drums in my basement (24ft x 18ft). I would like to have a room mic but I only have 8 pres on my interface. Should I go with a mono OH setup to get a room mic or should I keep my full drum mic setup and create a room in mixing?

Thanks alot !


Eight-Mic Setup
Kick Inside: Shure Beta 52A
Kick Outside: Soundelux iFet7
Snare Top: Shure SM57
Snare Bottom: Shure SM57
Rack Tom: Josephson e22S
Floor Tom: Josephson e22S
OH L: Mercenary Audio MFG KM-69 OH R: Mercenary Audio MFG KM-69
This setup could be considered a “standard” mic setup nowadays in that everything is close-miked with the exception of the OH mics. One slight difference (for some anyway) is the inclusion of an outside mic on the kick drum, which adds a lot of size and depth to the kick sound.

Screen Shot 2018-03-12 at 11.06.44 PM.png
 
Is there such a thing as a "standard mic set-up" for a drum kit?

I'm just messin wit cha simply because EVERYONE seems to think that the best drum recorded sounds come from close-micing and multiple layers of room and overheads.

My thinking runs more to serving the song in the case of drum reproduction.

Questions to ask: Is the material very heavy with lot's of intricate tom fills and flourishes? Yes? Close mic.
Is the material more of a melodic nature with straight-forward drumming and minimal fill work? Yes? close mic only snare kik and use a non-coincidental pair on the overs.
Is it modern Country material? Yes? Close mic anything that gets hit during the song and replace it all with a drum program.
Is it the Blues? Yes? Three mics. One overhead, one as a ride/low-tom area mic, one in front of the kit preferably a ribbon.
 
"Is it modern Country material? Yes? Close mic anything that gets hit during the song and replace it all with a drum program" M:laughings: So true
 
Hi all! :)

First, sorry for my terrible English..not my native.

I'm planning to record drums in my basement (24ft x 18ft). I would like to have a room mic but I only have 8 pres on my interface. Should I go with a mono OH setup to get a room mic or should I keep my full drum mic setup and create a room in mixing?

Thanks alot !

There are several mics that I would forego in order to have a room mic, but one of the overhead mics is not one of them. My first choice would be to lose the mic outside of the kick. The room mic and the overhead mics will pick up the kick. You can also use one mic in between the two mounted toms and use that extra input for the room mic.

Make sure your OH mics aren't too high up. The closer they are to the kit, the more they'll pick up the kit (the higher they are, the more they'll accent the cymbals). I don't always mic each tom, I rarely mic outside the kick, and I never mic the high hat.
 
Thanks alot !! :)

Here's my setup :

Kick
Snare
3 Toms
2 OH
HH (Because I would like to have more control on this one. Alot of HH in every songs...)

But yeah...I think I will go with the room mic instead of the HH.

I'm guessing that you speak french, if not, I'm sorry for the answer or I could translate it.

J'utilisais le même 'setup' que vous avec 8 micros; le 8e sur le HH moi aussi.
Mais, je me suis rendu compte que les OH captaient assez bien le HH de toute façon et que c'était presque inutile d'avoir un micro attitré exprès pour.
Je prends maintenant le 8e micro pour un rototom quand j'en ai besoin dans certaines chansons.
Bref, le 8e sert de 'spare', donc vous pourriez très bien vous en servir comme micro d'ambiance.

À moins d'avoir vraiment besoin d'un contrôle précis sur le HH pour quelconque raison, j'utiliserais vraiment la 8e entrée pour l'ambiance à la place.
Je préfère de loin avoir 2 OH (left & right) pour vraiment avoir l'impression que les cymbales sont partout et j'aime avoir le contrôle sur tous les toms.

J'espère que ça peut vous aider un peu.
 
I usually track my kit with 8 mics for the flexibility it gives when mixing. But there are times when I prefer to set up a single room mic and a couple of overheads, depending on the project. As a home studio recordist in a rock band with a day job, I would not call myself an expert sound engineer. At the same time, I get a big, live sound from my setup, which works great for my purposes. This is my usual setup:

Snare top: Telefunken M80
Snare bottom: SM57
Kick: AKG D112
Rack toms: Senn MD421
Floor toms: SM57
OH L: Rode NT1000
OH R: Avantone CV-12
Room: Neumann U87ai

Of these, the D112 seems to be the most redundant because the room and overheads pick up more than enough kick drum. However, the 112 complements the overall tone of the kick, making it sound more musical to my ear. A little low-end roll off helps. I don't always mic the snare bottom, either. Depends on the song. I agree with those who said that they don't mic the hat. I haven't found the need for this. Also, I have to second the suggestion to keep the overheads kind of close to the kit. My overheads are only about 20 inches (40 cm) over the cymbals, if even that much. Also, I've found it helps to keep the room mic a little to the side so that it isn't directly in the path of the kick drum. Otherwise, the kick doesn't have a nice, musical bump, but rather, an obnoxious Boom.

Using all 8 mics provides some mixing flexibility, but it doesn't make my drumming particularly great (I'm a guitarist first). A really good drummer could blow me out of the water with a single, modest condenser overhead. But if you have 8 tracks, why not use them? It opens up opportunities to A-B the tone and sound quality of your kit to find the sweetest mix possible. And that's half the fun of it.
 
Is there such a thing as a "standard mic set-up" for a drum kit?

I'm just messin wit cha simply because EVERYONE seems to think that the best drum recorded sounds come from close-micing and multiple layers of room and overheads.

My thinking runs more to serving the song in the case of drum reproduction.

Questions to ask: Is the material very heavy with lot's of intricate tom fills and flourishes? Yes? Close mic.
Is the material more of a melodic nature with straight-forward drumming and minimal fill work? Yes? close mic only snare kik and use a non-coincidental pair on the overs.
Is it modern Country material? Yes? Close mic anything that gets hit during the song and replace it all with a drum program.
Is it the Blues? Yes? Three mics. One overhead, one as a ride/low-tom area mic, one in front of the kit preferably a ribbon.

Those are great and poignant questions. I agree. :)

But it can go even further...

For most hard rock and even country or pop stuff, I find the overheads the first order of getting right. Kick drum? I use a d112 but could use a Dean Markley stick-on acoustic guitar pickup for all I care because it is only going to be replaced by a sample anyway. I always use two snare mics. If it is a 'ghost note' kind of drummer, one on the bottom. If not I use two on the top at different angles. Usually a 57 at 70 degree angle to the HH. Which I also always mic the HH with a small condenser. You can find ways to get it full and eliminate HH bleed through snare if you have the HH separate. Also the ride needs a mic in my experience as it can get lost in the metal genre. Always a mic on each tom. Room mic almost never used in metal but almost always in the more natural country genre.

It really just depends on the situation. There is no right way. Just what works for each project.

I typically mic everything and cut out what isn't needed because I have the ability. But if you don't have that ability then go with the most important things your mix needs than you can't replace:

Can't fake overhead mics as that is the whole kit. It is tough to isolate hh from snare if you don't mic them separately or mic setup doesn't work with the drummer. Pretty much everything else you can do some enhancement with if the recording is decent.

Just my input. Have had great results with just 5 mics in the past, but not how I do things anymore. Does not mean it isn't possible.
 
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