8 mics for an 8 piece drumset...

Tim Brown said:


#1. Use good tuning (I can't stress this enough - because most drummers can't tune a drumkit.)

#2. Don't put a bunch of muffling on the drums. There's nothing worse than a drummer who can't tune, who then puts a bunch of crap on the heads while trying to kill the ringing that he's getting because the drum is not tuned properly!:D

Tim
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So true! I've seen drummers at shows that their kits sound like shit (i.e. snare heads are too loose because they don't like the ring) because they don't know how to tune their kits. Drums need to have just a little ring or you wouldn't be able to hear them.
 
I'd question the need to get the big left-to-right pan on a tom fill--geez sounds like we're talking Neil Peart here to think of it--that doesn't contribute to a stereo mix but instead sounds silly and artificial (in my humble opinion). Nothing does that in real life (unless some very inventive person has strung the toms across the stage and has VERY long drumsticks).
 
dumass said:
bc i like the crack in my snare sound... i did it once and it sounded pretty nice, and i heard that some ppl here have done it with sucess. when i mic it from the top it always ends up sound pretty dark... n then when i eq it, give it more treble and such, it sounds fake and has the "am radio" sound.
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Try miking it on the top, only move the mic off the head completely...in fact move it about 2 inches away from the drum all together with the diaphram pointing at the outer edge of the top head. This will allow the polar pattern of the SM57 to pick up both the top head sound(which is where the power comes from) and the shell/bottom side sound(which is where all the snap and crack come from)...doing this wll also add some nice tones of the shell of the drum. Just give it a try...Im confident you will like the sound if you drum cracks as u say it does!!!
 
The stereo panning of toms should only be minor and for sonic "space." It's only used well (far panning) on "novelty sounding" records; "Songs for the Deaf" by Queens of the Stone Age comes to mind here. While a great record, it's sound is kinda "silly" in that no toms are that dead and rarely in life will you find that cymbals come from ONLY one side.
 
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