Drum Mic'ing Sample/Help

W

Wilbur

New member
Here's a quick sample of my current drum sound.



My current recording setup consists of an 90's 16 channel Peavey mixer plugged into a Digitech Jamman Loop pedal. Once the drums are down, I use the "overdub" function to add other tracks, then clean it all up in Audacity. This is an (almost) dry drum track, with the Peavey's wonderful hum almost all removed and a bit of reverb thrown on. Now on to the questions...

-I used a pair of old Unidynes for overheads, one a foot above the left hand crash pointing at the hats and one a foot above the ride. Would a change is the positions help?

The snare is mic'd with a single PG58 (yes PG) underneath at a 45 degree angle ~4 inches away. My other question comes with mic'ing the kick drum however. Currently, after hours of experimentation, this is the best kick sound I can get. I put a Nady tom mic about 6-8 inches away from the beater under the floor tom.
Seeing as the front head has no mic hole, is this the best kick sound I can get?


And yes, real recording equipment is coming my way soon...

(Please keep in mind, I'm a bassist, not a drummer :))
 
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Sounds a little "phasy" to me. If you have a standard 5-piece (or so) kit, try to keep each overhead mic the same distance from your snare. Research "THE RECORDERMAN METHOD" on recording drums, and that will be a much better starting point.
As far as your kick drum, it sounds like you need to muffle it a bit with a pillow or a small blanket of sorts. That is unless you are going after that BIG BAND/JAZZ style boomy sound. (which from the performance, jazz is not your direction).
I am sure you will get alot of help on this issue, good luck.
 
Thanks. I have read into and used recorderman, but I was trying something a bit different, as I could never quite get the recorderman setup right and or to work well.

Its a 70's 4 piece, with an 18" kick and old Remos, hence the sound...Perhaps it could use a bit more, but for an 18 thats really as punchy as she'll get. It does work wonderfull well as a jazz kit, but basically I'm trying to get some mic'ing experience under my belt before I obtain an actual good rig and start tracking an actual drummer.

Much appreciated.
 
i think this sounds pretty good. The kick sounds like a very workable kick. you could probably eq it to fit just about any song i would think. the tom sounded a bit loud and maybe you tracked too hot but it sounds good. personally i don't like the crashes you were using and the ride has no ping to it but i think thats a preference thing. did you try micing the batter side of the snare? i think that might sound better. but what you're doing is totally workable and i think would work out fine.
 
I think the balance of the kit is a bit out. The cymbals are too up front and the kick not enough. If you tried to mix this into a rock track the kick would disappear. One thing you could try is micing the edge of the kick drum shell, and see if that gets you more definition. Also the snare might be better off mic'd from the top imo, or both top & bottom if you've got another mic
 
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