Drum micing tips needed...

[FattMusiek]

Equipment:
Delta 44 sound card/breakout box
Behringer Eurorack MX16004A mixer (4 mic inputs)
2 Octava MK012 cardioid condenser mics
Shure Beta 52
and the classic Shure SM57

I am looking for some good mic setups. I am experimenting with micing underneath snare. I usually have the Oktavas each getting one side of the set. I have the Beta 52 on the kick of course.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What do you think of that drum tone? My friend and I worked on it.

 

[N8theGr8]

i dunno how advanced of a mic setup description you're lookin for, i cant give you a ton of details cause i only have 2 sm57's and the same mixer as you to work with but i would say put the beta on the kick, slightly off center is what i've heard, condesner mics as overheads, sm57 on snare (experiment with placement to get the sound you want, what i do is run a pretty long headphone cable out from the mixer, stand far away, and have a buddy hit the snare). Theres another thread on the board about snare mic placement. now this is probably info you probably already knew but, just thought i'd throw it out there. -nate

how do you like those condensers? i really need to switch from XY setup to sm57 on snare, sm57 on kick, and a condenser overhead.
by the way, i've heard that 1 mic on the snare works better when place on top, and if you have 2 you can go for underneath for a fuller sound.

 

[FattMusiek]

The Oktava condensers work well, I've heard bad things about them when you buy them from Guitar Center (one of the 3 I bought broke so I traded it in for another.) They get the job done.

Did you listen to the mix?

 

[N8theGr8]

no not yet, ive gotta study for some mid-years...woohoo.....ill give it a listen later

 

[snibbel]

hi there!

I listened to the mix and what to me the snare sounds a bit "too far away", it should be more "in ya face", you know the reason for this might be, that in your mix there's more SD from the OH than from the actual SD mic.
what i would do, is this:

1. tune the drumkit as best as you can. unfortunately, since i'M no drummer, I can't do this yet, but I'm planning to learn, since it is so important. a bad sounding kit will sound shite recorded, period.

2. read every article at studiocovers.com bout drum micing.

3. start micing the drums and experiment with the position of the mics until you're completely satisfied with the results and think you won't get a better sound. maybe you should start with the condensers. a good article by andy hong with pix and sample-mp3s can be found here
i don't think i can give you detailed advice here, since this is a matter of taste and I'm not really a "pro" as well. there are facts like if you move the BD mic closer to the beater, you'll get more kick; moving the SD mic closer to the rim will give you a more metal (not the genre) sound, and so on.

4. in the mixing process, I would do this (emphasis on "I", don't know if this is the way a pro would do it, but pros probably wouldn't mic a kit with 4 mics anyway ):
gate both the BD and SD, the SD not as much as the BD track. on the OH, maybe you could use a compander or EQ to make the toms and cymbals stand out a little more. this step affords outboard equipment like a good gate & compressor, which you haven't got in your list, so you probably don't own it.


I'm just a homewrecker meself, but I hope I could help a little.