Drum recording microphone setup

D

Dstruve

New member
Hey all! I'm recording for a band tomorrow and I was wondering how I should set up the microphonesfor the drummer. I have 3 sm58's and 3 behringer XM8500's.

What I was planning to do was have 2 sm58 overheads (without the pop screens) as my left and rights, and a xm8500 (without the pop screen) for a middle OH/tom mic. I would then have a sm58 (with the pop screen) on the kick drum and a xm8500 (without the pop screen) a couple feet away and a little bit higher than the high hat, pointed at the snare. I probably won't use the last xm8500, but if anyone has suggestions for what to do with it, that why I'm here!

I'm pretty much wondering if this is an ideal setup and if there's anything I can do to make the sound better/capture the kit more fully.

Thanks to everyone in advance!
 
Sounds like you've never recorded drums before....you should have tried things out before the session...so just give yourself an extra couple of hours tomorrow to get things set.

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) :)
My suggestion as a starting point...mic on the snare, mic on the kick, pair of OH mics.
Then...if you really need to spot mic anything else, add to the above.

Which mics for what....mmmm....try them both out in all positions. I don't think it will be a big difference since those are all dynamic mics, and possibly sound alike...but I think the 58s will be better up close, and the Behringer as OH or for more distant use.
 
miroslav said:
Sounds like you've never recorded drums before....you should have tried things out before the session...so just give yourself an extra couple of hours tomorrow to get things set.

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) :)
My suggestion as a starting point...mic on the snare, mic on the kick, pair of OH mics.
Then...if you really need to spot mic anything else, add to the above.

Which mics for what....mmmm....try them both out in all positions. I don't think it will be a big difference since those are all dynamic mics, and possibly sound alike...but I think the 58s will be better up close, and the Behringer as OH or for more distant use.
Click to expand...

I would agree to the ^above^ if that is all you have to work with.

Best to ya! :)
 
You know, years ago I used to use an SM58 on kick for a large live PA, until I actually saved up for a kick mic LOL, the SM58 makes a fine kick mic no problems. A friend sound engineer always used a 57 on kick live (sounds the same as a 58 on kick).

You know what I would do with what you have,

2 x Behringers as O/H's
1 x 58 Kick
1 x 58 Snare (close)
1 x behringer tom (close)
1 x 58 floor tom (close)

If the drummer plays the flying tom a lot and not so much floor tom, swap the floor 58 and the tom behringer.

Alan.

P.S: I should have added that the room is everything with recording drums, if the room sounds like crap the drums will sound like crap.
 
Since the XM8500 is an SN58 knockoff, it almost doesn't matter what you use where, however I would agree with Alan as he seems to have chosen the better mics, the SM58s, for the more important positions. I would go for his second option though, and put the XM8500 on the floor tom
 
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