Drum Micing Advice/Help

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ross22

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Hi,
i know there have been a million threads on this but bare with me
i currently have
1x rode nt1-a (good quality large diaphragm condensor)
1x sennheiser e609 (the guitar cab one)
2x sm58

what can i do with that so far?
(i was thinking rode overhead, 609 on snare and 58 on bass or maybe rode as a room mike, sm 58s as overheads kind of glyn jones style and 609 for bass)

i will be purchasing an sm57 anyway because i know it will be useful esp as a snare mic and 2nd guitar amp mic
i could organise some money to buy a dedicated kick drum mic too cause i don't like the idea of the kick drum spl on my current dynamic microphones, is that a good idea?

this is for demo home recordings for my band
ie. i will be doin a little bit of digital compression and mixing etc but it doesn't have to be a master piece as i have no intention of trying to produce a release quality recording from home

any help will be much appreciated :)
thanx
 
The nt1a can handle high SPL, so why not try it on kick, with the 58's in Recorderman setup as OHs, and the 609 on snare.
 
hey thanx for that
i didn't think to use the 58s as overheads
with a bit of experiemnting with positions that might work quite nicely
im a bit hesitant with the nt1a on the kick casue i have read there is a chance you can damage it

i may just bite the bullet and buy an audix d6 then i can at least get good snare and kick drum sounds and then between two 58s and an nt1a (for maybe room micing) get a nice mix of cymbals and toms (fingers crossed)

thanx for the advice
 
Shall we continue on…
I just purchased a new 4 mic pre firewire interface and it is en route to me as we speak

So as I stand I have an Audix D6 for kick and i5 for snare
I now require a pair of overheads (under $400) to fit this situation:
- onyx pres
- regular untreated box shaped bedroom with regular roof height
- drums multi tracked with no other instruments present ie not a live full band recording
- I will NOT be close micing anything besides the snare and kick drum
- these overheads will have to pickup three toms, couple of crashes, hihat, ride and a splash (yikes you may say)
- these recordings are for demos but having said that I love getting great results and I wanna get the best I can with what I have (I think I mentioned this above)

I have done my homework and these are the SDC’s im looking at:
- Samson CO2
- SE1/a
- MXL 903
- ATM450
- Audix ADX-51
- SP C4

LDC’s
- AT2020
- SP B1
- AT3035
- or buy another Rode NT1-a

So yeh main question is for my situation LDC or SDC?
im worried the SDC will have too narrow a focal point to get good tom coverage
but am also worried the LDC will just pick up everything and especially with the reflections my room will create (at2020 medium diaphragm might be a best of both world options?)

obviously 2nd question is out of those mentioned which would suit my situation best? or have i missed options?
Is the price and quality differences justified eg. i would happily buy the Samson but if say the atm450 is that much better then I will fork out the extra $
Considering the overheads will probably be the most important and will be responsible for the stereo image creation it may be stupid to spend the least on them when the snare and kick are both good mics already and I don’t want to ruin a potentially good setup by cutting corners so close to the finish line :p
or am i being too picky and should just use a couple of 58s as overheads haha

sorry for the long post but i searched and no one else really matched the specific situation i have (and if they did they were very vague)
thanx :)
 
I have a pair if se1a's and use them for overheads with great results. The way I use them is one placed almost directly over the snare pointing down and towards the smallest tom or between it and the mid tom. The other is placed roughly above the floor tom pointed down just off center of the head. This has given me really good results on a kit with 3 (sometimes 5) toms, a ride, three crashes and a splash. Just pan the tracks hard left and hard right (a little flanger on the overheads makes a cool effect, too).
 
im worried the SDC will have too narrow a focal point to get good tom coverage
but am also worried the LDC will just pick up everything ...
Click to expand...

The diaphragm size will have no impact whatsoever on the polar pattern. (You should read the stickies in the mic forum)

As for specifics, you might consider a pair of Oktava MK-012's. Kind of hard to go wrong having a pair of those around, as you'll always have use for them.
 
thanx daisy that was a bit more the response i was after
i actually didn't look at that section of the forum

i've read so many subjective "this mic is better than this" posts but no one reallys seems to justify what they say
and what i have gathered is that LDC and SDC are both good as drum overheads and it is really upto preference

i shall have a read of those stickies
and thanx i know the oktava's but they are a bit out of my price range
im looking at at3035/SP B1 for LDC or the ATM450/ADX 51 for SDC

i just thought maybe there would be a straight foward
ie. you should use ...... diaphargm condensers if you're not close micing the toms and have an average untreated room

maybe im trying to be too specific and its not as simple as answering large or small?

off to do more reading
thanx again
 
I think you pretty much get the point, Ross22

I didn't realize just how expensive the Oktavas have gotten. Holy macerel. I used to buy those things for $100 / pair at Guitar Center. Anyway, of the cheaper ones, I would look at the Groove Tubes Convertible. It's supposed to be a scaled-down version of the old GT33, which is a pretty good mic (and very similar in sound to the Oktava, actually).

There are a lot of generalities that could be thrown out regarding mics, but every one of those generalities makes a few assumptions that may or many not be true. For drum mic'ing it is generally accepted that a pair of small diaphragm condensers will give you a flatter and more accurate response. Which makes the assumption flat / accurate is what you want. My personal experience is that most Large Diaphragm Condensers tend to have an accentuated high end that can sound harsh on cymbals when placed right above a kit. But not everyone has that problem (or even views it as a problem), so what makes sense for me may not make sense for you or the next guy.

Another general statement is that, in a less-than-ideal accoustic environment, you might want to stay away from mics with wider patterns, and stick with cardiods. While an opposing school of thought might hold that it's going to sound bad regardless, so it doesn't make much difference either way. :D Not to mention that tighter patterns can have funky off-axis response, which can make it a lot more challenging to position them just right above a kit - so there's always tradeoffs to everything.

Hope that helps. Good luck.
 
I think you pretty much get the point, Ross22

I didn't realize just how expensive the Oktavas have gotten. Holy macerel. I used to buy those things for $100 / pair at Guitar Center. Anyway, of the cheaper ones, I would look at the Groove Tubes Convertible. It's supposed to be a scaled-down version of the old GT33, which is a pretty good mic.

There are a lot of generalities that could be thrown out regarding mics, but every one of those generalities makes a few assumptions that may or many not be true. For drum mic'ing it is generally accepted that a pair of small diaphragm condensers will give you a flatter and more accurate response. Which makes the assumption flat / accurate is what you want. My personal experience is that most Large Diaphragm Condensers tend to have an accentuated high end that can sound harsh on cymbals when placed right above a kit. But not everyone has that problem (or even views it asa a problem), so what makes sense for me may not make sense for you.

Another general statement is that, in a less-than-ideal accoustic environment, you might want to stay away from mics with wider patterns, and stick with cardiods. Another school of thought might hold that it's going to sound bad regardless, so it doesn't make much difference either way. :D Not to mention that tighter patterns can have funky off-axis response, which can make it a lot more challenging to position them just right above a kit - so there's always tradeoffs to everything.

Hope that helps. Good luck.
 
so anyone got any final opinions on the Audio-Technica ATM450 against the Audix ADX 51 on overheads ( NOT cymbal mics but overheads because these will be used to capture toms as well)
gonna be purchasing pretty soon
both are relatively the same price range but are quite different
thanx any opinions much appreciated

(i've ruled out oktava casue too expensive to get a matched pair however may be able to get a pair of C4 but ppl have said they are no better than the two models mentioned)
 
thanks very much to everyone that replied
my pair of audio-technica ATM450s arrived in the mail yesterday
i should be set for quite a while now ahha (fingers crossed)
 
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