Drum Kit Micing

  • Thread starter Thread starter guitarguy101
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guitarguy101

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Hey all,
I'm working with 2 shure sm-57 mics. I know for a drum miking, overhead/kick is standard, but where exactly should I position them for a good, tight sound?
 
Where your ear tells you that it's spot on - Everyone's room, setup, microphones, drums etc. are different. You'll have to experiment to find that sweet spot.

But you can start with close micing and work out from there. ;)
 
Ive never been a fan of mono OH. I would firstly try to find the spots where you can place 2 OH mics so you capture the whole drum. This might be a strange looking set of OHs. I might start infront of the kick with OHs facing down towards the kick drum so you pick up the kick aswell as the other drums.
Remeber to try and get the drums at even volumes as much as possible (this has a lot to do with how they are played as well as mic placement).
 
You can start with the recorder man method and adjust from there using the two 57s.
 
This video was a great help to me in finding a starting place. I would watch/listen to the video to see some of the starting positions/considerations....then work out from there.
 
1 mic as one mono overhead.
Above the kit. Try to get a balance tone. Meaning that every drum has to be roughly at the same volume. No peaky snare. No loud cymbals. no Bashed hihat.
Balance is key.
2 nd one in front of the kick to get Wooomph.

You should check out this video. it helps:Gearfest 2011: Tracking 1/6 Bass Drum - PUREMIX
 
I would put one about 5-6' above the kit pointing at the snare and another about a foot in front of the bass drum.
 
well you said you were going to get an LDC soon, in another thread, you could always use that as room mic and then close mic the snare and kick with the 57s or use them as over heads with a room mic.
 
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