Rack Tom Mics

[TheOneTrueMatt]

(edit: I have a tendency to turn a simple question into a long overly-detailed story, my apologies in advance, skip to the last sentence to get the gist of my question)
So I'm gearing up to record my drummer for the first time. Well, second time actually, but last time I just ran stereo outs from our rehearsal PA to my sound card and it was pretty bad. We're going into a real studio in a couple months to record, so I'm working towards doing real multi-track drum recordings mainly for the purposes of a) slightly better pre-production demos and b) for my own experienced/edification/fun. So in reality, I'm using my band as a recording guinea pig.

So here's my question...my drummer has a home-made rack with goose-necks attached for a lot of his mics. For recording if I have the resources I have no problem bypassing some of those in favor of better placed stands, and at some point we'll need some different mics anyway - I'll be providing overheads but I think EVERY other mic on the kit right now is an SM57. EVERY other mic.

Thing is, his mics for toms are generally one mic for every two rack toms (which is presently 6, so 3 mics) and while it seems for recording it'd be ideal to individually mic every tom (as is common in metal at least, and we are a metal band) we probably don't have enough mics, and I KNOW I don't have enough channels (how many channels I actually have depends on how many mic pres I buy in the near future).

So, the 2:1 mic:tom thing seems to work for shows, but is it really un-ideal for recording? Can I get away with it? At shows he seems to get surprisingly even sound from both toms on each mic.

 

[wishtheend]

If it works live, it should work when recording, cause you are just capturing that sound he achieves live. Now, doing this will make it so you have less control over volume per drum. I notice my drummer will hit the first tom in a roll lighter than the ones towards the end of the fill and this might be something you can't fix with 2:1. But than again, one on each mic might be over kil and you'll spend more time trying to make it sound good. I think the pairs will be find, and just spread them out in the stereo field and you should be good to go.

After all, your overheads should be picking up some of the toms to help fill out their sound.

 

[mikeh]

Ideally, the overheads (and whatever other room mics you use) should record the drum "kit". The close mics are mainly used to dial in a little more of what may be needed (mainly snare & kick).

I would think the 2:1 mic ratio should be more than enough (if needed, simply angle the mic a little more toward one tom).