Is it possible to mic a kit using only 2 overheads???

[spectrewhite]

Hello all,

Do you think it would be possible to mic a kit using only 2 overheads? Say maybe one LD condensor and one SD condensor? Or maybe 2 LD's or 2 SD's? What would be the absolue best placement? This would capture the ambience of the room...not quite as defined of a sound, but for a poor man what do you think??

and a side note...will micing drums damage a preamp?

[rtzstudios]

It IS possible but probably won't yeild the best results. If you had a wonderful sounding room you could get away with one mic and have it sound great...but you (like the rest of us) more than likely don't. Tell us a little more about your situation. What kind of mics do you have?

Micing drums won't damage a preamp.

[spectrewhite]

I am a beginner and am looking into buying mikes...thus my question.

I am probably going to get an AT 3035, an sm57, and possibly a C1000 if my funds hold out.

I would like to be able to record live drums in the future.

[Lt. Bob]

I had a friend with a small studio that actually got a great drum sound with three mics. He used two PZM mics (Radio Shack believe it or not) set out in front on the left and right about 3 or 4 feet high. Then he used a sm57 in the bass drum. He set the PZMs as a stereo pair and mixed the bass drum in to match up. It took a bit of testing to get the PZMs just right; so they picked up balanced amounts of each drum and cymbal. but once he got it, he could always replicate it exactly and quickly. It was a very good drum sound, better than many multimiced set ups I've heard.

[Gidge]

try one sd on overhead and a at atm25pro on kick......

[Roel]

Last drums I recorded was a quick demo. AKG C3000b as overhead and cheap SM58 copy on the kick. And it sounds pretty ok. (SM57 on guitars....)

The planning at the moment is to get 2 ECM8000's as overheads (very cheap, and stereo makes a big difference in my ears), and somewhere in the future a cheap kickmic. My SM57 would then go to the snare, and probably C3000b on guitars.

That would be a 4 mic setup for drums.

Best drums I recorded so far (only serious demo I did, but dounded pretty good), was with 5 mics. One mono over head, C3000b on the left of the drummer, aimed over the hihat towards the ride. SM57 on snare, e504 on 2 toms and MD421 on kick.

[wes480]

when stereo miking with ecm8000s or other omnis....is XY the best way to go? Or spread them out more? can't remember from the mic thread...dont know if it said.

[Vurt]

I spent a few months using the typical configuration described around here with 5-7 mics, and the sound is good, but not for every song. A few weeks ago we were working on something and just hated the drum sound. After about 2 hours of trying all sorts of things, we ended up with just 3 mics; sm57 on snare, at4033 right in front of the set about 6 feet high, and the kick routed through the bass amp, mic'd with at25pro. The result is not something you would want all the time, but it's perfect for the song.

[Downside Studio]

Here's a trick a friend of mine learned from Joe Percaro himself....mike the whole kit and play it in the recording room through a little pa-system. Mike the drums close, and add a stereo room mike to capture the pa sys. Wide !

Cool but mayby a little overdone.