Getting a good Drum Sound

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TheGmiester

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I have a Tascam 564 digital porastudio. It's only 4 tracks so I'm sort of restricted on micing the drums. Does anyone have any suggesstions for mic placement on the drums if I can only use four mics. My set is relatively small, only a high-hat, snare, two toms, a floor tom, kick drum, a crash and a ride. I also have a compressor and an alesis effects processor. Does anyone have any compressor setting suggestions or effects that they think will make the Drums sound better?
 
too bad for you

Gmiester,
I am sorry to see that you are such a newbie. Everyone knows that 4 mics are better than 2. I really hope you are not seriously thinking about recording artist as a profession.
I would be happy to give you a hand getting you going, heck, it sounds like you need me to HOLD your hand you are such a newbie.

Sorry again, lots of luck in life,
busboy10
 
Either you two have issues I'm not aware of, or Mr. Busboy here is a prick.
 
I choose number 2 Drummer bones....


*shakes head*...

Go somewhere else and be an insulting, condiscending FUCK Busboy!

That has to win an award for the worst first post..

*still shaking head*
 
G-man

4 tracks is a bit limiting by some people's standards, but if that's what you've got, that's what you've got.

Kick, snare, and 2 overheads is one way to go, but with just 2 overheads the cymbals can over shadow your toms if not place VERY carefully. I've placed the "overhead" mics BELOW the cymblas pointing at the toms before. Cymbals have a nice way of bleeding through every darn mic you have on your kit, and you don't want to leave those toms out.

I'd almost recommend you use a mono overhead & dedicate the last mic to try and catch the toms (assuming they are space fairly close).

What mics do you have? That makes a big difference.
 
Yes, this is some good advice.

As for the guy who chooses to slam others for trying to learn and make do with limited gear, I hope we never hear from you again. Many of us can remember trying to make things work with a 4 track cassette tape machine. I believe that having to make due without Cakewalk and Protools can be an extremely valuable part of one's recording education. Everyone knows that it is much more difficult to make a good recording using less gear, but it makes for smart engineering. In time, the person with limited gear will have a huge arsenal of techniques to make things sound great in a bigger studio. It's easy to buy better gear and have more tracks and more mics. My hat is off to the garage recording engineer!
 
been there...

You absolutely can get a worthy drum sound w/only four mics. Before I bought my V-drums and when we were limited on mixer space, I've used to use 3 and still got a nice, live full sound.

I'm going to echo Drummerbones' sugg about being VERY careful about getting enough toms in the mix (especially low toms--you don't want those to be thin in the mix). One recommendation may be that you dedicate one mic near the upper toms and one for the lower (of course positioning for enough cymbal bleed).

But take into consideration your brand/type of cymbals (are they heavy?/thin?/quick?/sustained?) and position relative to their demand, and the drummer's playing style. For recording, I even recommend *gasp* moving your pieces around to accomodate the recording as much as you possibly can.
Also, in regards to cymbals, sometimes dampening them has helped me get a better overall mix.

One last suggestion: think outside the norm with each unique situation.
I've postioned a mic up underneath the toms before because no matter where we placed the mics, the cymbals always seemed to be too loud in the mix.
And in one recording situation...in order to get a drum mix we liked, I actually was forced to dampened the cymbals to the point where they were still physically there to hit/play, but made almost no sound and the used ALL the mics to mic the snare/kick/toms exclusively. Then, overdubbed the cymbals in seperately on another stereo track (which turned out to be a bonus in that there was much better drum control during mixing!)

Try anything and everything at least once.
ub
 
To get better seperation between the cymbals and the rest of the kit, raise those trashcan lids up as high as you possibly can while still being able to play. This takes some getting used to (and some drummers are anal and refuse to try it) but it definitely helps a mix. Trust me!
 
Posted by busboy10:
Everyone knows that 4 mics are better than 2.
Click to expand...
Really? Everyone?? I could dig up some old drum tracks that would surprise you. So, if everyone knows ... I sure didn't get the memo. That must be a rule that only conceited asshole engineers follow. No offense.

Anyway ... Before you take any mics out of the cases ... walk around the kit (while someone else is playing) and try to find a spot where the drums sound as balanced as they can. That's a good place to start for your first overhead. Then, just move it around until the balance on that mic sounds good. Then do the second overhead ... these two will be the bulk of your drum sound. Add the kick and snare mics to define them better ... they should compliment the overheads ... not attempt to replace them. If you have to EQ anything, make it subtle ... your drums should sound good on their own ... if you EQ harshly they will sound fake. Everyone knows :rolleyes: ;) ... that you should change your mic position before you engage the EQ.

Of course, give some thought to treating the room acoustics that the drums are in. Even if that just means hanging up some blankets temporarily. That will make positioning the mics seem easier. So will tuning the drums really well before you start. :)
 
Naw....

It's much more challenging and interesting to use bad mic placement and try to fix it later....

On second thought, MOVE THAT MIC! :)
 
One thing I would like to know to answer this is...

What style of music are you going to record? Micing for a Jazz ensemble can be quite different than a full on rock thing.

What type of sound are you looking to achieve?
 
While we are on the subject of make-do micing, what about making do with less than ideal types of mics? I only 3 SM58's and 1 SM57. This may be dumb question but can you damage vocal mics by using them to mic drums? Would it be possible to get any sort of decent drum sound with these mics?

Chris
 
Waysid,

57's are commonly used on snare and toms........58's with the ball removed are fine too, (leaving the ball on just gives the drummer a bigger target to aim for.....lol). For kick, I personally wont comment as I have only ever used a dedicated kick mic.

Busboy,

Nah, it doesn't matter.........pricks like you don't deserve time here.



:cool:
 
id love to hear some of busboy's work.........



the most important thing is make sure the kit sound great. if it doesn't, it's not going to sound that much better on tape (or disc in your case).

I think three may get you a fairly good sound leaving you an extra track. one mic for kick, one for snare and a mono overhead. if you can do without the last track, make it stereo overheads. i think that if you're using 4 tracks, you're gonna have to leave out the luxury of seperatly mixing toms or hi-hats. as long as your overheads are positioned well, they should catch quite a bit of toms. your hi-hat will come through with leakage from the snare and obviosuly , from the overheads.
 
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