Good Overhead mic placement?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Uladine
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Uladine

Uladine

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Hello. I'm going to be recording a demo soon and I want to try to record the drums with as little mics as possible and just use extra mics for certain flavors. In other words, I want nealy all the drums coming through the overheads and kick mic instead of mic'ing out every single drum. I want to use a method that will pick up the toms really well, while still capturing a natural (not overpowering) cymbal sound and maintaining a fairly wide stereo field, if possible. The way I usually set up my overheads (akg c3000b's) is about six feet high, a little behind the drums, about 4 feet or so apart pointed at the cymbals on their respective sides. But then, I usually just use them for the cymbals and mic out everything else. I want a more "Drumset in a room" sound, which is why I want to try to capture the essense of the drums through the overheads.

Are there any sites with pictures of overhead mic placement? I hear alot of talk about x-y pairs or something, but I have no idea what that means in english. Thanks for any help.

By the way the drumset I will be micing is a standard 5 piece (kick, snare, two mounted toms over the kick and one floor tom). no weird arrangements. We will be blending a trigger signal with the kick mic.
 
You might want to try the three microphone technique that was discussed in this forum a while back.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39030

I used this setup on my last two session, cut down from seven to three mics and frankly have a fatter sound that is easier to mix. The problem with using too many mics is that you end up with a lot of additional noise that you need to gate out.

In my opinion, everytime you end up using a noise gate or EQ on the drum kit, it tends to thin out the sound. This 3 mic arrangement solved that problem.
 
Ula, I too have had some great (at least for me :) ) success with the overhead setup described in that post.

I recently posted some songs in the mixing clinic that use it if you want to hear. Its just kick, snare and overheads (and a room mic that I barely used in the mix). No effects whatsoever on the overheads either.

Its here

You need to be VERY meticulous about positioning your overheads so they are the exact same distance from the snare and kick. Personally, I just get them close and then drag the waveforms around in my DAW. The advantage of doing an X/Y pair like you mentioned is that the entire kit is in phase through the two since the diaphragms are at the same position. However, in my experience, you have to move the pair so far away to get a good balance of the kit, that the toms aren't punchy enough and your room starts to play a major role in the sound. The technique used above creates a good balance between the toms and cymbals, a nice stereo spread, and minimizes the effect of your room. :D
 
Glad to see someones getting some use out of that method, that I didnt waste my time :)
 
That sounds interesting and I'll definitely try it out. I'm gonna print that technique out and follow it next week. I wish I had a place to mess with it right now.
 
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