Conventional Drum Recording

[Lionel_Hutz]

It seems that the convention is to record drums with two mics overhead (which is true stereo recording) and then single mics (mono) at various other spots on the kit.

I've read this before, is this true, I mean do you really leave the single miked drums in mono and just use the overheads for the stereo picture?

Thanks in advance,


William

 

[Farview]

Most of the time, I do pan the toms a little bit. I have at least one mic for every drum (2 for snare and sometimes 2 for kick) a mic on the hi hat and the ride, and 2 overheads in an XY config. Kick and snare panned center - toms panned depending on how many toms there are. Hat and ride panned hard but kept low in the mix, just enough to give them a little more articulation than you get in the overheads.

 

[Lionel_Hutz]

Okay, but for example, if I used one mic for the snare, would I leave it in a mono image? Or would I add a stereo effect to widen it in the stereo field.

 

[Farview]

Try thinking of the drumset as 1 instrument instead of a collection of instruments. The snare is almost always panned to the center. When you pan the overheads, the sound of the snare coming through them will give it some stereo width. Normally, you also put a reverb on the snare, that will give you more stereo. If you pan the ride and hat mics, the bleed from the snare in those will contribute as well as the tom mics. You don't need (and really can't) get the single mic'd snare to be stereo,, but you can get the kit to be in stereo.

 

[Lionel_Hutz]

I found that paragraph very helpful. I'll copy it into my notes, thanks!

 

[4-Man Takedown]

Yes, listen to Fairview he is smart.

When you record with one mic it's always mono, so even the overheads are being recorded mono. You are essentially you are just trying to get the drums to sound good in the stereo image as a whole by arranging mono signals in a pleasing way.

The two panned overheads thing is very conventinal. Thats a bad way to look at in my opinion though, because you really are always just trying to do what sounds best. Fortunately the conventinal way often does sound the best with some tweaking, but you never just want to conventinally set up drum mics, if that makes any sense.

Just another way of looking at it I guess.

And I really apologize for saying conventinal so many times and probably spelling it wrong.

 

[mrface2112]

lately i've REALLY been getting into mono drums. kick and snare are almost always center, right? the only time you hear HUGE L->R tom rolls when you are in the room with the drums is either when you're behind (playing) a huge kit, or when you're sitting practically underneath the toms.

point being--if you stand 10ft or more back from the kit, it more or less sounds mono with some minor L/R imaging going on.

i tend to reserve the big L->R tom fills for those times where they NEED to be, rather than as a matter of course. however, for most rock (and "modern") applications, there just isn't much need for drums to be in stereo. besides, i'd rather have the L/R panning reserved for things that i want to get OUT of the middle--usually guitars, keys and other texture type things. having the drums take up all of the space L->R really tends to get in the way of one's choice availabilty.

that's not to say i never record drums in stereo.....i certainly do! but lately i've been happy with em totally in mono.


YMMV

wade

 

[corban]

Yeah, it depends what the drums are doing. If the toms come in just every once in a while for a huge fill, it's nice to accentuate it by having a wide pan. If there's a lot of toms throughout the whole song fighting for frequencies with guitars and whatever else, it might be better to leave the stereo space for something else.

 

[Lionel_Hutz]

I just pan the drums as if I'm playing them. Simple as that.

 

[mrface2112]

i used to pan them like i play them--hat on left, ride on right......but when i started doing a lot of stuff involving a couple guitarists, keys, harmonica, congas, you name it, the L/R field tends to get VERY busy and clogged when there's lots of extraneous drum crap panned hard.

it was really quite amazing how nicely everything "cleaned up" across the stereo field the first time i gave mono drums a whirl.

obviously, it totally depends on the song and the mix (and your goals), but for kits that are 7pc and smaller that tend to be in busy rock mixes, i'm starting to default to mono drums.


cheers,
wade