Drum Mic Set Up

[Zilpex]

We're trying to get a recording set up, set up in my brother in law's room. It's not a huge room but I have plenty of space for my kit. i have some mics, and we have a Digi 002 Rack with some pretty good plug ins. I beleive we have the Waves Diamond pack or some version of it. Anyway, I have a bunch of mics and I was hoping to get some help with the mic placement. The stuff I've recorded always sounds pretty flat and dry. The kick is not as deep as I would like.

I have a maple kit. 8, 10, 12, 14, 22 Various snares drums.

These are the mics that are readily available:
1 - AKG D 112
1 - AKG C1000s
2 - SM57
3 - SM58
1 - KSM32

Mic placement? Recording settings (EQ, COMPRESSION, FX)?
Thanks for the help..

 

[hotwatertim72]

-First off, use the KSM32 as a mono overhead. Put it about two drumstick lengths above your snare. Listen to that and make sure you get a good sound with just the overhead before you add these close mics.

-Now I would use the D112 as your kick mic. Create a "kick tunnel" by using a chair and an old blanket. Put it on the resonant side of the bass drum, and put the mic under there. It will make your kick sound very deep.

-Third, use one of the SM57s on the snare.
You could get a great sound out of those three mics. But if you're really into close micing (and you've got the inputs), do this -
-Use your remaining 57 and the SM58s on your toms. If you really wanted to, you could take the capsule off of the 58's (which pretty much makes them a 57).

That's my advice on using what you have. With some compression you should be able to get some great drum tracks. Heck, they'll sound good before compression too.

 

[FattMusiek]

Can you elaborate a little more on the kick tunnel? How long is it supposed to be?

 

[Crowley]

not to keep repeating myself...

i posted another post in a different thread...but i feel maybe this can help you as well...if you have a small pa system you may want to use it to make your drums sound larger. What you do is...set the pa speaking behind the drummer facing up toward about the middle of the drummers back (pointing at the overhead above the snare)...eq the pa so that only the lower sounds come through (its really up to you where you want to cut off the frequencies, just be sure not to let anything above about 400Hz come through) let the kick drum come through dominantly and mess around with what else you want to come through...your overheads will pick up the sounds from the pa and with a little clever mixing...your drums will sound huge. this process is a little tedious (problems with feedback, just mess with the volume levels, youll get right) but its results have worked well for me...and david bottrill (both TOOL's Lateralis and Aenima records) from which the idea came...hope you find it fruitful.

 

[hotwatertim72]

The kick tunnel is a very simple thing to do. On the resonant side of your bass drum, set a chair up, with the blanket draped over it, creating a "tunnel" of some sorts that maybe a troll or something could live in. It doesn't matter the length. Experiment with different lengths and see which one yields the best results. You'll know when you hear the playback of that kick drum that you've found the right one.
It's very simple, create the tunnel, stick the mic in the tunnel. It works great.