Drum miking suggestings for home-rec drummers and wannabe engineers

[Chili]

I have been getting some very good drum sound lately with 2 overhead mics. After talking to Greg and rami a few months ago I decided to get serious about getting good drum tracks. My drummer and I spent DAYS tuning, dampening, listening, retuning, and more tuning his drums. It's amazing how good you can get a set sounding when you put forth the effort and take the time.
No rattles, Buzzes, squeaks, or ringing on that set now. After getting them sounding good we spent a lot of time experimenting with different mics, pres, and placements.
Here's what worked the best:
Studio projects C1 LDC mic going into a Joe meek pre...placed 2 feet in front of the bass drum but not centered....up even with the top of the bass drum and off center a bit toward the floor tom side.

The other mic:
A Electra voice RE510 going into a studio projects VTB pre..
Placed about 5 feet high about a foot behind the drummer offset to the snare/hat side of the drumset.
I never thought we could be able to get as good a drum sound with only 2 mics but we are getting great results.

I have to give gerg credit for telling me that if you focus more on getting a great drum sound out of the set you can get great results with cheap mics. He is right.
Also, I found this out too...it is amazing the difference in the sound of a mic by moving it only a half a foot. That being said I have learned you can't give up and say "that's pretty good" and settle for it. Don't give up, move the mic...record it...move it agian...record it...over and over.

There is a sweet spot and mic/pre combination that will make you say "that's KILLER!!"

I gotta say, that's awesome. You put so much effort into getting a great sounding kit and then experimenting to find the right mic placement and it pays off. I know nothing about micing a drum kit, but everything I heard says you can't get a decent recording with two mics. Wouldn't mind hearing a clip.

 

[jimistone]

I gotta say, that's awesome. You put so much effort into getting a great sounding kit and then experimenting to find the right mic placement and it pays off. I know nothing about micing a drum kit, but everything I heard says you can't get a decent recording with two mics. Wouldn't mind hearing a clip.

it's my fault that I don't have a clip to share. I haven't got the guitar parts finished.
It's a southern rock song with a Merle haggard "workin' man blues" type grove and It calls for that fast chicken picken type guitar on the first part and slide guitar after the 3rd verse. 3 times around on slide too...
I can burn up one time around on slide...after a couple of tries I can get a good performance in 2 times around....but 3 times around I'm going to blow it somewhere for sure.
I just haven't played enough slide to be really good at it. I can hit some really good licks but playing an extended slide solo I tend to fall apart. Part of that is because I play off the top of my head. I realize I need to arrange a coherent slide guitar solo that goes somewhere and polish it. Also, I'm a rock/Blues guitarist and fast chicken picken johnny hiland type guitar ain't my fortay. But, the song calls for it and I only have to make it one time around through the chord changes so I'm determined to cook on that part. To tell the truth I have just been going to the studio and muting the vocal and lead guitar tracks and playing slide over the song. Over and over and over again. I have vastly increased my ability as a slide guitar player and I am just about ready to laid the slide track down.
I'm going to post it in the mp3-mixing-clinic when I'm done.

 

[Chili]

I'm going to post it in the mp3-mixing-clinic when I'm done.

I'll be looking forward to that.

I've been working on that chicken-pickin stuff, too. I can't do it, but I always get some nice ideas from trying.

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

 

[Greg_L]

I have been getting some very good drum sound lately with 2 overhead mics. After talking to Greg and rami a few months ago I decided to get serious about getting good drum tracks. My drummer and I spent DAYS tuning, dampening, listening, retuning, and more tuning his drums. It's amazing how good you can get a set sounding when you put forth the effort and take the time.
No rattles, Buzzes, squeaks, or ringing on that set now. After getting them sounding good we spent a lot of time experimenting with different mics, pres, and placements.
Here's what worked the best:
Studio projects C1 LDC mic going into a Joe meek pre...placed 2 feet in front of the bass drum but not centered....up even with the top of the bass drum and off center a bit toward the floor tom side.

The other mic:
A Electra voice RE510 going into a studio projects VTB pre..
Placed about 5 feet high about a foot behind the drummer offset to the snare/hat side of the drumset.
I never thought we could be able to get as good a drum sound with only 2 mics but we are getting great results.

I have to give gerg credit for telling me that if you focus more on getting a great drum sound out of the set you can get great results with cheap mics. He is right.
Also, I found this out too...it is amazing the difference in the sound of a mic by moving it only a half a foot. That being said I have learned you can't give up and say "that's pretty good" and settle for it. Don't give up, move the mic...record it...move it agian...record it...over and over.

There is a sweet spot and mic/pre combination that will make you say "that's KILLER!!"

Awesome man, I'm glad my rants and raves have helped someone get results.

Getting good drum recordings is hard. It's tedious. It's time consuming. Tune, tweak, fiddle, repeat, over and over. Tuning a guitar takes 10 seconds. Tuning drums to sound their best can take hours. Then you gotta mic it. Every little angle and movement matters. The difference between a garbage snare track and a killer snare track can be half an inch of mic placement. It's craziness.

Now that you're kicking ass with just two mics, I'd suggest you leave those mics alone and add in some spot mics if you have the inputs. You don't have to use them. Your base will still be those two mics. But you can supplement with the close mics as necessary to take your drum tracks even further.