4 mic drum micing, my toms are just not cutting it.. help?

T

thispleasesme

New member
Hey everyone... I've got a quick question to run by everyone...

I've read some threads that are aimed towards helping make the toms in tracks sound better, but I haven't found one yet that was specific to 4 mic setup, or any setup not involving the close micing of the toms.

I use the recorderman (also called the modified spaced pair) technique to record my DW custom kit (4 toms, snare, kick) along with a kick mic and a snare mic.. My signal chain for any concerned is as follows...

Overheads - Oktava Mk-012 pair -> Focusrite TwinTrak Pro pre -> MOTU 896HD

Snare - Shure SM57 -> Mackie VLZ Pro Pre
Kick - AKG D112 -> Mackie VLZ Pro Pre

What I'm having trouble with is getting those darn toms to sound decent along side the cymbals. I've tried compression, EQ, they just aren't that great. They're new heads, properly tuned I assure you, my drummer is crazy about that...

So, how do those of you recording drums without close miced toms manage to make both cymbals and toms sound good through those two mics? Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot...
 
What style of music? Are you going for tha 'bonham' sound? What does the room sound like? Can you get far enough away from the drums with the overheads?
 
Do they sound good while they're being played?

You've tried moving the oheads around?

If you can capture a 1/2 decent sound, you should be able to tickle it up with eq.

Or just cheat like I do and trigger some nics samples
 
ocnor, thats a great link, I don't think I've ever seen a more comprehensive drum micing web page.

One thing I'd like to add, is to try "knee high" mics. Take your overheads, which pick up cymbals just fine at the moment, and move them somewhere between the hight of your knees, and you hips, placed a few feet in-front of the drum set. Sometimes this allows for more 'impact'. Try adjusting where they are 'aimed', and their hight. You may find success doing this from behind the set, rather than in-front.

I've never gotten great tom sound from mics placed over top of a set - with the exception being a M-S royer ribbon mic that was placed a foot or so in-front of the drummer's head, about two feet up, in a SWEET room.... good days...

If the set sounds good to you in the room, then work on mic placement before you reach for the EQ. And mc-012's are great mics, I must say. Oh, and if you have omni capsules, try them too!
 
I use the same overhead placement a lot of the time. The real secret for getting good toms with this technique is really in how they are played. Obviously make sure they are well tuned, etc. but then make sure he hits them HARD (obviously this also depends on the sound you want). Dummers who pound the cymbals and tap the toms make this a real challenge. Also, the 'recorderman' setup allows for good phase coherency between the two mics for snare and kick, but the toms can have lots of problems in this regard. If you like the kick and snare sound from your close mics, try modifying the overhead positions while playing the toms and listening in mono - try bringing them in closer. I only play with 2 toms, so this simplifies things a lot as well...might be harder for bigger kits. Also, if you don't really need stereo, I've had good luck with one mic over the drummers right shoulder and another mic out in front of the kit in a spot that sounds good, compressed to hell and delayed by 20-30ms. You can also pan these to taste for pseudo stereo...
 
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