beginner drum mic'ing question

  • Thread starter Thread starter cemyender
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You can gate out alot of the hi-hat by using a trigger mic on the bottom of the snare. Gate the top mic, and run the trigger mic to the gates key input to control the gate. Personally though, I like bleed on drums.
 
Jeez guys!!

Do we have to get back to basics here?!

You should never need anything more than the correct mics, the right room, the right placement, and the right tuning. If you need to gate something or use foam or isolate or whatever, then you're doing something wrong!

Either the drums are set up badly, or you're trying to dampen or muffle things and altering the natural balance of the instrument. And by instrument, I mean the WHOLE kit, not just one drum!

A. Tune the kit right. Don't rely on serious muffling and/or ring control. Nobody in the pro world does that. Good heads, drums and cymbals are all you need and you don't need to worry about anything else.

B. Acoustic treatments. Make sure your room is good. Some reflections, but not too many. Not too dead either!

C. Start with the basics. Set up a kick mic and a couple of overheads. See how it sounds, THEN add the other mics one at a time and see how it sounds. You can correct a lot of problems by doing things in the right order.

D. Pick the right mic and preamp for the right job. learn about cardioid and omni patterns and where to use what.

C. Don't use too much EQ. I can get a great drum sound without ever touching an EQ knob. If I do everything right, I will hardly ever need to EQ anything, if at all.

That's all I've got to say right now without more scotch! :D
 
PhilGood said:
You should never need anything more than the correct mics, the right room, the right placement, and the right tuning. If you need to gate something or use foam or isolate or whatever, then you're doing something wrong!

Well, I record in a 12' x 12' room in my garage. There'll never be an instance where I am recording drums anywhere else. You work with what you have.
 
PhilGood said:
Jeez guys!!

Do we have to get back to basics here?!

You should never need anything more than the correct mics, the right room, the right placement, and the right tuning. If you need to gate something or use foam or isolate or whatever, then you're doing something wrong!

Either the drums are set up badly, or you're trying to dampen or muffle things and altering the natural balance of the instrument. And by instrument, I mean the WHOLE kit, not just one drum!

A. Tune the kit right. Don't rely on serious muffling and/or ring control. Nobody in the pro world does that. Good heads, drums and cymbals are all you need and you don't need to worry about anything else.

B. Acoustic treatments. Make sure your room is good. Some reflections, but not too many. Not too dead either!

C. Start with the basics. Set up a kick mic and a couple of overheads. See how it sounds, THEN add the other mics one at a time and see how it sounds. You can correct a lot of problems by doing things in the right order.

D. Pick the right mic and preamp for the right job. learn about cardioid and omni patterns and where to use what.

C. Don't use too much EQ. I can get a great drum sound without ever touching an EQ knob. If I do everything right, I will hardly ever need to EQ anything, if at all.

That's all I've got to say right now without more scotch! :D

well that aint all you need...you need a drummer who can play his drums right...you cant just bang out a beat as hard as he/she can on the whole set, there has to be groove to it...it makes it easier to mix.
 
everyone has great info for you here.
I am our drummer and lead singer. I don't need overheads, I have a 58 in my face. Seems to really pickup the entire kit but I use May mounting internally on the rest of the kit. minimal bleed so the vocal mic helps fill in the kit.
 
ez_willis said:
Well, I record in a 12' x 12' room in my garage. There'll never be an instance where I am recording drums anywhere else. You work with what you have.


Well, that's kind of what I meant with B.

PhilGood said:
B. Acoustic treatments. Make sure your room is good. Some reflections, but not too many. Not too dead either!

You can use foam or carpet or bass traps or whatever to get the acoustics of the room to work, but for someone to put foam between drums just doesn't make sense. At least to me... :D
 
scorpio01169 said:
well that aint all you need...you need a drummer who can play his drums right...you cant just bang out a beat as hard as he/she can on the whole set, there has to be groove to it...it makes it easier to mix.

There's my problem then... :rolleyes:

Sucking has never sounded SO good! :D
 
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