8 Mic Drum setup

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So I have an 8 channel mixer, I'm recording drum set, and here's the list of mics I have:

(2) SM 57
(2) SM 58
AKG C451B Condenser
Beta 52 A
A couple crappy Nady's
CAD GXL 2200

My set up consists of a bass drum, snare, two rack toms, two floor toms, hi-hat, two crashes, splash, china, and ride. I thought of putting obviously the Beta on the bass drum, a 57 on the snare and the other as an over head, the AKG as the other over head, one 58 for the rack toms and one for the floor toms, and the CAD as a room mic. I'm recording in a square-ish room with about 12 foot ceilings. I'm open to any ideas or suggestions.
 
What are these crappy Nady mic's you speak of?

I would recommend doing less. Putting SM58's on the rack toms will do nothing but add noise.

Worry about your OH's first. With a good stereo image these will be responsible for most of your sound. Then definitely put the 52 on the kick and a 57 on the snare.

I wouldn't overdo it. Though tempting when you have the capability to record 8 mic's it may hurt you more.

Try a lot of setups and see what works best.
 
What model are the Nadys? Ribbon? SDC?

In a small room I'd be inclined to focus on stereo overheads plus kick and snare. Depending on drum tuning and the type of music you're recording, you might not need to close-mic the toms; you could use your channels on the stereo OH, snare top (and possibly bottom), kick drum (possibly 2 mics) and ambient.

If you can get a kick sound you're happy with using one mic, great; otherwise you might want to put one mic inside (for the attack) and one outside (for resonance).

Same with the snare. When I've compromised on kick and snare sounds, I've regretted it.

A nice pair of overhead mics goes a long way toward providing a nice drum sound. My personal favorite is a pair of Oktava MK-012, but I recently did a test with Avenson STO-2 omnis and was really impressed. A pair of either, new, would set you back about $500. The Oktavas would be easier to find on the used market because there are a lot more in circulation.

The SM-57/451 combo as overheads is interesting. You'll get wildly different sounds from those mics. I can't say it won't work... use your ears!

Can you live with a mono overhead? The 451 ought to work well for that application, depending on the capsule used -- meaning, can the capsule "see" the entire kit? A tight cardioid pickup pattern would work against you in this setup.

I'd be inclined to pair the GXL2200 with the 451 before trying the 57 as an OH mic; at least they're both condensers.

Let me know how it goes.
 
Thanks for the ideas guys. I'm starting to think maybe less would be more in the long run. The only thing I worry about though without micing the toms is the definition. In my style of drumming I use a lot of toms and I want to be able to hear clearly each strike of the head. But maybe with the right set-up it'll work. We're starting recording this weekend so I'll let you know how it goes. If you want an idea of our sound go to www.myspace.com/postedthecomeup. We did that recording ourselves but the drums are just missing something to me that's why I wanted some ideas.
 
If you do a four mic setup and want good toms definition, just hit the cymbals a little softer, John Bonham did that all the time and look how those recordings turned out.
 
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