<b>How do I mic a drum kit with 4 mics<b/>

[Musicman002]

Hey Everyone.

How do I mic a drum kit with only 4 mics.

The mics i have are

1 SM57
1 SENHIESER-E609
1 AKG C2000B LARGE CONDENSER
1 MXL V63M LARGE CONDENSER
1 SM58

Please tell me placement, which of those mics to put where, and how to avoid phase anamolies. Thanks. See yall.

 

[drummerdude666]

erm...

the 2 condensors as overheads. sm57 on snare, and sm58 in kick.

Or... 1 condensor as single overhead (if the 2 OH in the previous position are two dissimilar) and then the other condensor as a room mic

 

[treymonfauntre]

i'd use the condensors as overheads, 57 on snare, 58 in the bass drum, and the 609 out in front of the kit trying to pick up some toms that the overheads might be missing out on

 

[giraffe]

i'd use the condensors as overheads, 57 on snare, 58 in the bass drum, and the 609 out in front of the kit trying to pick up some toms that the overheads might be missing out on

609 on snare 57 on kik
don't worry about what the condencers may "miss" it won't be a problem.

 

[pdadda]

Here another idea:

One of the condensors for kick. I have never had good luck with a 57 for kick. e609 for snare. 57 and 58 as OH's using the recorderman setup (do a search for this).

 

[RecordingMaster]

A little different, but try this if all else fails...

1 SM57
1 SENNHIESER-E609
1 AKG C2000B LARGE CONDENSER
1 MXL V63M LARGE CONDENSER
1 SM58

If you had to choose one of these mics for the kick, it would have to be one of the large condensors. They say (and I'll agree) that when mic'ing lower pitched drums such as bass drums, or 20" and bigger floor toms, to use a "Large diaphragm" microphone. The larger the diaphragm, the more low end it captures (in most cases). So it depends on what type of bass drum sound you are going for. Try the AKG down there.

The SM57's, as we all know, are very versatile, so it could be used on anything, even as an overhead.

The 58's, on the other hand, tend to be a little less diverse when you listen to them side-by-side. These do, however, sound great on toms, preferably on the floor tom.

The E609 is specially designed for miking guitar cabs, but it can also be used for for mic'ing drums, especially toms due to it's 40Hz-18kHz frequency response. So this might be useful mic'ing the upper toms.

The MXL V63M is also a good all around mic with high detail and low noise, so it may be useful as the overhead.

So, If you are micing a 4-5 piece kit with either 1 or 2 toms up top, try this...
Snare: SM57
High/Mid tom(s): SENNHIESER-E609
Kick: AKG C2000B LARGE CONDENSER
OH: MXL V63M LARGE CONDENSER
Floor tom: SM58

Try this and let me know how it sounds.

 

[drummerdude666]

Btw, can we hear clips of the diffrent set ups you tried.

I'd be intrested to hear your results.

 

[RAMI]

That's 5 mics. Not 4.

Also, I would use the condensors as overheads but it might sound a bit weird considering they're 2 different mics.

 

[treymonfauntre]

it won't sound weird. if this is any type of rock music having a mono overhead will sound terrible.

 

[RAMI]

It might not sound terrible for ANY type of rock music. It depends on the production and the application. And, yes, 2 different mics as overheads MIGHT sound weird. But again, it depends.

 

[My Name]

Check out the frequency responses of the mics you have and this may give you a clue as to what oyu want to record with it.

eg. SM58 has a low-frequncy roll off to counteract the proximity effect when close micing vocals for live PA for instance.

 

[giraffe]

it's usually better not to make mic choices based on speck sheets.

re-57 on kick: no, not the best kick mic, but it'll handel the spl and be mixable out of the gate. depending on the condenser, you may not be able to get the mic in the kick, which can be good/bad, depending on the sound you want and the bleed you're getting.