Drum micing idea, any good ? Which mics ?

[mikeote]

Hi

I don't like close micing drums, if you have a mic right next to a drum skin you hear mostly overtone, so you have to gate it, eq it etc, you can get a decent sound but to me it sounds false.

So, here's my idea of getting a natural drum sound, lemme know if you guys think it will work or not.

In my opinion drum kits sound best from the position of the drummers head (especially the snare), so that's where I want the mics to go, 1 either side of my head (not too close that I hit them ofcourse) facing the snare as I want the snare to be most prominent.

The drums sound good as they are so I want a flat frequency response.

I may close mic the cymbals afterwards and cut off all frequencies apart from very high to add shimmer, I already have mic's I can use for the cymbals.

Sound ok ?

Which mics would you recommend for the flat frequency response ?I can spend £750gbp on each, but would prefer to spend £150 if the results are 90% as good.

At the moment the mic's with the flattest response I have are 2 JTS JS1's, which are flat apart from peaked high end.

I have been thinking of Royer R-121 or going faar cheaper with the CAD 7000.

Thanks!
Mike

 

[nuemes]

AKG C414uls is nice for the whole kit. The Royer would be more natural but double the price.

Curious what you plan for the kick? RE20 if you're willing to close mic.

 

[dgatwood]

I'd recommend a pair of Oktava MK-012 mics for overheads. Add close mics on (at minimum) kick and snare to bring them forward in the mix a little. Mix those in to taste. If you like very little, use very little.

I don't think the CAD ribbons would be good choices as overheads. They are short ribbons, so that means they lack in the high end. They are also double ribbons, which means you have certain frequencies emphasized and others diminished. Either one of those issues by itself would make it less than ideal for stereo miking purposes (e.g. overheads)....

 

[drBill]

Which mics would you recommend for the flat frequency response ?I can spend £750gbp on each, but would prefer to spend £150 if the results are 90% as good.

Here's a big shootout I did on drum mics. Lots of choices, cheap to uber expensive. Lots and lots of surprises:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=267508