Bare bones drum recording advice?

[butts69]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to put down some drum tracks and have access to the following mics:

• 1 SM58 style knock off (I'm work right now and blanking on the brand)
• 2 SM57s
• 1 Electro-Voice ND868 Dynamic Bass Drum Mic
• 1 Electro-Voice RE410 Cardioid Condenser Mic

I'm in a room with about 8' ceilings, wood floors, drywall. Roughly 15' x 20' room.

Also, I'm not going for a particularly pristine sound. I play in a two piece and a VERY simple drummer. No fills, no cymbal crashing, pretty much just simple repetitive beats. The kit is just a snare, floor tom, bass drum, ride cymbal, and hi-hat. We're recording onto a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder, going for a kind of raw lo-fi sound. I acknowledge that this post may seem a bit ironic given all that, but hey, I just want it to sound as good as possible within the confines of what we're doing. A band like the White Stripes of Jeff the Brotherhood would be a good example of the sound I'm going for.

Any advice?

 

[dreib]

57's snare top and floor tom
ev 868 bass drum
ev re410 room mic
58 dont use or maybe as overhead

That would be my starting point. Dont be afraid to move stuff around to find what you think sounds good.

 

[butts69]

57's snare top and floor tom
ev 868 bass drum
ev re410 room mic
58 dont use or maybe as overhead

That would be my starting point. Dont be afraid to move stuff around to find what you think sounds good.

hmm so you think that 57s on the floor tom and snare plus a room mic would pick up the cymbals adequately, without an overhead?

 

[sixer2007]

You need an overhead. That's where the whole kit will come together and sound like one piece. Without that, you'll end up having a bunch of individual drums. I'd say scrap the idea of a room mic. That can be cool in a nice sounding room, but if you can't get the basics while using one, don't bother. Use the one condenser as a mono overhead over the kit.

 

[butts69]

You need an overhead. That's where the whole kit will come together and sound like one piece. Without that, you'll end up having a bunch of individual drums. I'd say scrap the idea of a room mic. That can be cool in a nice sounding room, but if you can't get the basics while using one, don't bother. Use the one condenser as a mono overhead over the kit.

so use the condenser as an overhead, kick drum mic in the kick drum... then maybe SM57s on the snare and floor tom? would that be overkill? that also would leave me an sm58 that I could also use on the hi-hat. super overkill?

 

[dreib]

If your not doing a ton of cymbal crashes, or none, I see no reason to have a OH. Having said that you obviously need to try a set up and see what happens and move stuff around until you are hearing what you want. If you want a lo-fi kinda a sound I would think less is more.

Try this: put the 868 in front of the kit and the 410 above and behind you and see what it sounds like.

 

[jayfree]

Try the 58 on the floor tom if nothing else, just to compare. But definitely use the overhead.

 

[pdpdrummer989]

57 on snare, floor tom, use the 868 on the kick and take the overhead mic and place it directly above the snare and take two drum stick and hold them end on end and go from the center of the snare drum up to the diaphram of the overhead...its part of the recorderman drum mic'ing and i absolutely swear by it

 

[RAMI]

You need at least one overhead, whether you use a lot of cymbals or not. Overheads are not "cymbal" mics, they're about 90% of your overall sound. They're "drum set" mics.

A room mic is optional but far less necessarry than an overhead ( a pair of overheads, actually, but you got to go with what you got).

You can throw the 58 on the hi-hats and then decide if you even use that track or not, what can it hurt?

 

[bandso]

Try the recorderman or Glyn John's technique

I'd try going to youtube and checking out the "recorder man" and "Glyn John's" method for recording drums. You really can get fantastic results using 2 or 3 mics if you are willing to experiment. (I prefer the recorder man sound myself) There are even videos of using one mic (yes one mic!) to cover an entire kit. It's good food for thought.

 

[dalezjc]

If you only have one or two mics, then an overhead with the other pointed at the bass drum is the way to go. I have a 6-piece maple kit that I record with all the time and I currently use 5 mics, and from experience I can tell you that the overhead mic can overwhelm the rest of the sound if you don't mix the tracks correctly. My overhead mic produces a slightly brighter sound that the rest of my mics, so applying the correct amount of e.q. is also important.

Dale

 

[mixsit]

57 on snare, floor tom, use the 868 on the kick and take the overhead mic and place it directly above the snare and take two drum stick and hold them end on end and go from the center of the snare drum up to the diaphram of the overhead...its part of the recorderman drum mic'ing and i absolutely swear by it

..the 'measuring is for time alingning two mics, but nice sentiment

Given the ref tracks sited, some saturation, compression seems in order. If there's spare tracks, out front of the kick/kit can be an interesting beefy/thick place to check out.

 

[Bobbsy]

I'm with Rami on this. The overheads are the main mics for the whole kit.

I've frequently recorded (or miked for live) a kit with just three mics: two overheads plus a kick drum mic. If I add a fourth it'll be on the snare.

So, in this situation, I'd go with:

2 x SM57 as overheads (possibly cheated in pointing to give more/less floor tom if you think it necessary)
1 x ND868 on the bass drum
1 x RE410 on the snare (maybe)

The trick with miking kits when you don't have a mic on every drum is to be really careful with the positioning and aiming. You're moving a lot of you control from deciding at leisure in the mix to getting it right while tracking--and a movement of an inch or two can make a huge difference in the balance you get. However, done carefully it can sound really good--and probably a lot more like live drums than the very artificial sound we've become used to.