How would you record a whole drum kit with just one SM57?

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Seriously mate, recording a kit no matter how well tuned, set up, played is never gonna sound half as good as it could good with one 57... It just aint gonna happen. You might as well try and paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling with a pasting brush and pot of black paint. It aint gonna happen. I would however go a step further than gerg and say that you "may "be able to make it adequate if your expectations are pretty low.

Good luck with it and I'd be interested to see how long it takes you all to beg steel or borrow some more mics for the drums...

What if you're not going for high fidelity?
 
It's easy, just time consuming.
1. Copy the track as many times as there are separate drums
2. Cut out everything but the kick on the first copy, everything but the snare on the second copy, and so on...
3. use drumagog or some other drum replacer to replace the hits.
 
I think the gist of this is that it is not a good way to get a good sound. Although some recordings have been done that way doesn't make it a good idea. They were probably live recordings meant for posterity and not of production quality. Greg's right about putting your best effort forward. That being said, you have a lot of great suggestions if there is no other option. Personally, I like to use a minimum of two mics, a Beta 52 on the BD and a Rode NT5 for a single overhead. Nest is two NT5s (they're matched mics) in stereo as overheads. Then the sky is the limit. There are a lot of Youtube videos on mic setups. I do remember the engineer for Led Zeppelin, when asked what mics he used to capture John's drums sound, answered, "I'm not going to tell you what mics. Experiment and find what works for you. I will tell you that I set them up to capture John's playing. The sound you hear is the sound he gets by how he hits his drums." That was the article that prompted me to stop messing around so much with the drum sound and try to get them tuned and maintained properly and just capture the sound they made when I hit them. I'm much happier with live drums now. Unfortunately, I don't have a drum room right now, so I set them up in the living room and close mic everything. I have two overheads for stereo and a large diaphragm condenser mic about twelve feet away in front for the room sound. I use a laptop configured for live recording. When writing, I often use samples though. I'm still looking for the perfect collection so if anyone has suggestions, I'd like to hear them.
Rod Norman
Engineer
 
Lol for real. Are we listening to the same thing? That sounds like ass to me.
Have anybody listen to this guy ^ recordings? Some retro surf rock, sounds exactly like the recording made with one mic. Lol. He's just probably just bitter. Hey Greg love your retro surf rock sound bro. But it doesn't sound that good, perhaps you want to try recording the w one or two mics next time. Rock!
 
Have anybody listen to this guy ^ recordings? Some retro surf rock, sounds exactly like the recording made with one mic. Lol. He's just probably just bitter. Hey Greg love your retro surf rock sound bro. But it doesn't sound that good, perhaps you want to try recording the w one or two mics next time. Rock!
Dude, he does a lot more than just surf rock. He has the best recordings on this site. Why don't you post something you've done so we can compare. Everyone on this site uses Greg's drum recordings as the bar to aim for, and I mean everyone. Sounds like you're the one that's bitter.

Please post something that you recorded. Put up or get lost.
 
Lol. I don't worry about these butthurt idiots. He thinks I suck, I'm not any good, whatever, that's fine. I truly don't care.
 
Lol. I don't worry about these butthurt idiots. He thinks I suck, I'm not any good, whatever, that's fine. I truly don't care.

I know you don't care. I also know he won't post any of his music. But I find it funny that he's calling someone else "bitter", meanwhile, his last post before this one had to be edited by a mod because he was being an asshole. Seems we have a case history of butthurt here. :)
 
Surf rock retro sounds. Haha. Amazing this place is the new underground gearslutz. With all the bad smell and no flashy lights..
 
Surf rock retro sounds. Haha. Amazing this place is the new underground gearslutz. With all the bad smell and no flashy lights..
Post some music. Until then, you have no credibility. You should be banned for trolling.
 
I know you don't care. I also know he won't post any of his music. But I find it funny that he's calling someone else "bitter", meanwhile, his last post before this one had to be edited by a mod because he was being an asshole. Seems we have a case history of butthurt here. :)
RAMI you sound mad bro. You're probably bitter also. Hahahah.
 
RAMI you sound mad bro. You're probably bitter also. Hahahah.

Why are you scared to post any music? Put your money where your mouth is. Nobody's mad but you. Troll.

Put some music up, coward. :)
 
Why are you scared to post any music? Put your money where your mouth is. Nobody's mad but you. Troll.

Put some music up, coward. :)

My god he's definitely mad. Come down bro. Is not that serious is music, well I mean I do make a living doing this, but, you know, obviously by the sound of your production (all instruments played, by, gasp, RAMI) I know your an amateur, so, chilax bro, you come across as a child. I am sure you're not.
 
I mean I do make a living doing this,
HAHAHAHA!

Prove it, liar. Anyone can say that. Why are you so scared to post some music? Coward. LOL.

The fact that you claim Greg's music sounds like shit makes me proud that you say the same about mine. I'm in great company, so thanx for the compliment. You're either deaf or trolling. I'm pretty sure it's both. :)
 
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:laughings: :laughings:

What a cop out. Why are you so scared to post anything? It's obvious you have no talent and you don't do this for a living, liar. The only thing you do is come to sites like this to project your anger and frustration on other people.

Post some music, coward.
 
I think I made him cry. I exposed a talentless, angry troll. :D
 
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