How many mics would you use?

L

lespaulplayer

New member
I would like to know how many mics you would use to record this drum set. What would be the best placement of the mics as well. There are 7 symbols around the set. 6 Toms 2 on each bass drum and 2 floor toms.drumset.jpg
 
Looks like a nightmare to mic up. Anywhere from two mics to twelve. What kind of tune? What kinds of mics do you have? How does the drummer play? Hows the room sound? I could go on.
 
I would use 4-6 mics, 2 stereo spaced pairs for the overheads, an sm57 on the snare and an RE20 on the bass drum. Then possibly another pair of mics in ORTF that are very far from the kit, to pick up the room ambience (presuming the room sounds good) if the room doesn't sound great then it's not worth having ambient mics.
 
Our songs range from Blues Rock, Hard Rock, Rock Ballads. The drummer is influenced by John Bonham, Lynard Skynard , Blackeberry Smoke. I was talking to one of the guys in pro audio at guitar center because I was looking at interfaces to record on Cubase elements 6. He was saying a purist would probably use a mic on each tom (6) , a mic for each bass drum (2) , 1 for the Hi-hats, 2 overheads for the cymbals, and one or 2 on the snare. I want to be able to record live so we don't have to stack a bunch of tracks. We currently have a couple drum mic packages I don't remember brand or what mics are in them. Its been a while since I have been over there.
 
I would like to get pro results if possible but on a budget like most people. I just texted drummer and he said that we have a Cad NDM set 2NDM 10, one ndm 11, 2 cad cm 15 and then an audio technical 4 pack 2 kick/tom mics and 2 snare/tom mics.
 
lespaulplayer said:
I would like to get pro results if possible but on a budget like most people.
Click to expand...

Then mic everything you can. Each kick, each tom, two overheads, maybe the hats. Use a room mic only if the room sounds good. A lot of people swear by room mics, and a lot of people have shitty drum recordings. Room mics are dumb if your room sounds like shit, and most home recording rooms do.

Also, just a thought, it's not 1985 anymore. Does your drummer really need two kick drums? Does he really need all those toms? Is his name Nicko McBrain? It would be a lot easier to record with good results if he dialed his kit back a little.
 
Greg_L said:
Then mic everything you can. Each kick, each tom, two overheads, maybe the hats. Use a room mic only if the room sounds good. A lot of people swear by room mics, and a lot of people have shitty drum recordings. Room mics are dumb if your room sounds like shit, and most home recording rooms do.

Also, just a thought, it's not 1985 anymore. Does your drummer really need two kick drums? Does he really need all those toms? Is his name Nicko McBrain? It would be a lot easier to record with good results if he dialed his kit back a little.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. Your probably right he doesn't really need that big of a kit but he does use all of it and he sounds good.
 
lespaulplayer said:
Thanks for the advice. Your probably right he doesn't really need that big of a kit but he does use all of it and he sounds good.
Click to expand...

I'm sure he does. Just run it by him. If he's good he'll sound good with less and it will be way easier to record. One mic on one kick with a double pedal is easier to deal with than two mics on two kicks.
 
I agree with Greg on just about everything he said.

If you can get the drummer to play a smaller kit for the sake of recording - you will have less headaches. It can be possible to get a good sound with only 4 mics (kick, snare and 2 room mics) - however, if the room does not have a good sound, the durms simply will not sound good. If you are planning to record overthing live - the room mics may capture too much bleed from the other instruments

If you have the mics and enough channels, then I would close mic each drum with 2 overheads for the cymbals (and maybe a mic on the hi-hat) - as always you have to trust your ears and move the mics around to capture whatever "sweet spots" you can find.

Much will depend on the drummer's ability to play the kit with appropriate dynamics, etc.
 
When a kit like this turns up at the studio my heart usually sinks. The kit could be half this size and the drummer should be fine with it, single kick with double pedal, 2 flying toms and 2 floor toms, and you are away.

Also the use of smaller tom sizes in the studio works well. Leave the big kit for the live gigs.

Oh to answer the question, if this kit turned up about 13 to 14 mics, sigh. Snare top and bottom, hats, 1 for each tom, 1 on each kick, and 2 overheads as minimum = 13.

Then when mixing half the mics will be turned off as the drummer won't play them all anyway, unfortunately the tom ring that will usually turn up with a kit like this will be in the overheads.

Alan.
 
Nobody knows how big your kit looks in the studio. As long as it sounds big you are good. At the very least I would cut down the set to one kick. It makes way more sense to record fewer drums with better mics if your goal is a good sound on a budget. As posted above I would cut the kit down to 1 kick 4 toms and snare. Then close mic each drum, set up a pair of overheads, and a room mic(if it sounds bad you don't have to use it).
 
witzendoz said:
When a kit like this turns up at the studio my heart usually sinks. The kit could be half this size and the drummer should be fine with it, single kick with double pedal, 2 flying toms and 2 floor toms, and you are away.

Also the use of smaller tom sizes in the studio works well. Leave the big kit for the live gigs.

Oh to answer the question, if this kit turned up about 13 to 14 mics, sigh. Snare top and bottom, hats, 1 for each tom, 1 on each kick, and 2 overheads as minimum = 13.

Then when mixing half the mics will be turned off as the drummer won't play them all anyway, unfortunately the tom ring that will usually turn up with a kit like this will be in the overheads.
Alan.

Thank you everyone for the advice. I did talk to the drummer and he is willing to use a smaller kit for recording. He does use everything on the big kit when he plays though. Like suggested I will have him use a smaller kit for recording and he can use the big kit for live shows.
Click to expand...
 
Be sure he has new or at least good heads for recording , this will make it much easier to dial things in .
 
Greg_L said:
Use a room mic only if the room sounds good. A lot of people swear by room mics, and a lot of people have shitty drum recordings. Room mics are dumb if your room sounds like shit, and most home recording rooms do.
Click to expand...

Siegfried at Beach Road has "coined" the anal mic technique. haha. I know it's been done before in different ways, like a distant mic (further than "spot" mic and closer than "room" or "oh") near the kick/snare to be used for ambiance or what have you, but he says this specific mic position is a great ambient mic for smaller rooms that don't sound as great as a huge pro studio. So it's an alternative to room mic(s). In this example it appears he used a fig-8 mic mic pointed off-axis from the kick and snare, however I have seen him do it with a 57 pointing straight up at the throne.

Anal Mic In The Drum Mix - Siegfried Meier at Beach Road Studios with "Mouth" Recording "Brown" - YouTube
 
RecordingMaster said:
Siegfried at Beach Road has "coined" the anal mic technique. haha. I know it's been done before in different ways, like a distant mic (further than "spot" mic and closer than "room" or "oh") near the kick/snare to be used for ambiance or what have you, but he says this specific mic position is a great ambient mic for smaller rooms that don't sound as great as a huge pro studio. So it's an alternative to room mic(s). In this example it appears he used a fig-8 mic mic pointed off-axis from the kick and snare, however I have seen him do it with a 57 pointing straight up at the throne.

Anal Mic In The Drum Mix - Siegfried Meier at Beach Road Studios with "Mouth" Recording "Brown" - YouTube
Click to expand...
Hmm. IDK. I liked :28 -before they brought it back in. Sounded cool at first, but then kinda like adding a big verb- ok in solo but .. in a mix?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top