A question about drum mic setup

[sidewiththeseed]

Hi there, folks. A drummer friend of mine is looking for a recording setup at his house, and we've been discussing mic options. He'll be using a UA Volt 476, so he can record up to 4 mics at once. At first, we were thinking standard two overheads, snare and kick. Had been talking about the usual suspects on the affordable side of things: Rode NT5/sE Electronics S8, SM57 and Beta 52.

But then I got to thinking about taking a different approach that I think might be better suited for the type of music we're trying to collaborate on, which is fairly straightforward alt-country/indie-folk. We like vintage sounds -- on the darker side, very dry and not very busy when it comes to toms and cymbals. So I'm wondering if his money would be better spent on a an affordable ribbon mic to be used as a mono overhead along with the 57/52 on snare and kick, respectively. Thinking about something like the sE Electronics Voodoo VR1. His room sounds pretty good -- it's long and narrow (kit placed in front of one of the shorter walls) and pretty quiet.

I know it sounds kinda silly, but given his style, I almost feel like the overhead on the right side of the kit would be wasted. If anyone has any thoughts on this, or other ideas entirely, I'd love to hear 'em.

Thanks!

 

[rob aylestone]

When mics are short (or tracks) it's one overhead for me, and a bright one - not always a condenser, my favourite being an beyer 200 hyper. Kick and snare, which gives me one spare for either toms or the hats, depending on the songs and the drummer.

 

[Bstrom]

How coincidental - I have all the mics you mention (minus the Rode) including two sE VR2 active ribbons. Getting discrete and room sound is an excellent spproach for finding your best recorded setup - wear those mics out until you find all the fidelity you want from a drum kit! If a mono sound works then that's much easier but it's hard not to want good separated sound from the cymbals and drumheads to work with. The room will dictate what works in th end so you have a good mic locker to work with. Get your treatment going so you don't waste time fighting nasty reflectiions or unwanted reverb.