drums sounding lifeless in recording?

[dadodetres]

ok, im recording drums, and the takes seem to be "lifeless" . the drums sound by them self pretty good and strong.....

im using a very fast PC with an E-MU 1820. going through a mackie 1642. the micing im doing is the following:

shure sm81 - overhead (crash + some Hihat)
shure beta 52 - kick
shure beta 57 - snare
shure sm57 - hihat
shure sm57 - tom 1
shure sm57 - tom 2
shure sm57 - ride

i know i have to experiment to get the RIGHT sound, and with the experience ill be able to know how to mic each part of the drum.

but there is a way to start or any advive you can give on actually HOW to put the mics?

cause the recordings ive done are pretty week.

thancks a lot!

 

[adam_in_audio]

hi,

you're probably gonna get a lot of good advice on how to mic drums from different people, I'm pretty sure a book could be written on the subject of micing and recording drums alone haha.

I personally like to expirement with different room microphones. I noticed that you didn't have any condenser mics listed, have you considered using them at all? I've gotten some pretty good recordings just by using 4 microphones: a md421 for the kick (inside the drum itself just left of where the beater strikes) an sm57 for the snare (just outside of the rim pointing about 45 degrees towards the head) and then a couple of condenser overheads. As always , you'll have to expirement on just where to put them. Sometimes I'll even use another microphone about 12 foot away from the actual kit to pick up sonic ambience.

It all depends on what kind of music you're doing, I'm more of a straight ahead rock guy myself. But if you're doing hip-hop or funk, you may want to place most of the emphasis on a 'dry' sound ya know?

I'm by no means an 'expert', this is just works for me

hope that helps in any way!

good luck

Adam

 

[dadodetres]

hey thancks!
ill try it tommorrow,



isnt the SM81 a short diafragm condenser?

also, i put the kick mic exactly in front of the hole of the kicks head (not the side you kick, but the rare) about 5 cm away.

should i put it INSIDE the kick exactly where he lick it?


the band im recording is playing hardcore, personally i dont like the style, but i wanna take it profesionally anyway, and its a firend band so.....

since its harcore he plays very LOUD hitting a lot of things at the same time, so evey part of the drum gets into any mic..... ant advice here?


ok, thancks again!!

 

[Idgeit]

Overheads are the main thing for me. They basicly give the whole kit a live feeling. When im micing up the kick. I started with the front head on, then realised how crappy it sounded when I recorded. At the moment i keep the front head off and keep a Beta 52a about 3" away from the centre, and it gives a nice full sound.

- Idgeit