drum micing

MGS

Member
When limited to 2 drum tracks is it advisable to position 2 overhead mics or a single overhead and snare. This is a traditional jazz recording and the drummer complains of too little snare/ too much cymbal in my older recordings which used a single overhead mic and only one track.

Mark

[Edited by MGS on 09-12-2000 at 17:05]
 
Well if you haven't got enough snare then the only option is to mic the snare and have only one overhead... if you are limited to two drums tracks then there's not a lot you can do I guess BUT you could buy a small 4 channel mixer and run 3 or 4 mics into that, then take the stereo line out of the small mixer and use those as your 2 drum tracks. That way you could have say two overheads, snare and kick mic'd but still use only 2 tracks of whatever it is you are recording onto.
 
The further you move the mic from the set the better the sound ballance will be. When recording a jazz drummer I use an AT-4033 about 10 feet behind the kit. The sound is breathtaking.
 
Check out this thread:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=14978

Awesome tips in here. Check out Proveras post, especially.

I used two mics on drums like this:

"Yesterday I finally got around to testing this. And my Octava 1dm over the snare and the AKG pointing to the kick from maybe half a metre did produce a sound that was pretty accurate of what was heard, with a nice stereo effect when I panned them differently. The tom-toms were to low, but that was the only problem."
 
MGS what I do in that situation is to put one mike over the rack tom(s) about 12 - 18ins high and the another on the floor tom about the same. balance them so the snare when hit reads equal L/R You'll find the cymbals are off mike but have spread, the toms lift a bit as they should and the snare will have life especially if you put some highs from around 7Khz up :cool:
 
Thank you gentlemen,

Will try some of these strategies tomorrow when we do our next session.

Mark
 
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