Great Mic Setup for Newbs

C

Codeseven

New member
I'm still new to recording and have been messing around with mic placement on my drum kit. Recently I read an article about a simple and effective setup called the Glyn Johns Technique. I'm sure on HomeRecordings forums are familiar with Glyn Johns but it is new to me. It involves very few mics and easy placement. Doing this alone has made my drums sound so much better! Try it.

The Glyn Johns Drum Recording Method | The Recording Revolution
 
The Glyn Johns technique is a pretty notable technique and he was a pretty notable recording icon. It is good if you do have very few mics. However, you do need to be quite careful as you get run into phase issues pretty easily. Glad it is working for you though!
 
Thanks. As far as phase issues, luckily I don't 'seem' to have any. I've very careful about being exact on the distances from snare center to both overheads.

I should look this up but, do you know off the top of your head a simple way to check for 'out of phase' mics?
 
Technically there are always phase discrepancies when more than one mic is used, because they can't occupy the same physical space.

Whether it's enough to cause a problem is down to your ears really. Just listen, and experiment so you get better at spotting it.

You might wanna record something with two mics a foot away, then re record with one mic moved further back a few inches, then again moving it back a few more inches.

Keep your tracks panned centre and listen to the differences.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Technically there are always phase discrepancies when more than one mic is used, because they can't occupy the same physical space.

Whether it's enough to cause a problem is down to your ears really. Just listen, and experiment so you get better at spotting it.

You might wanna record something with two mics a foot away, then re record with one mic moved further back a few inches, then again moving it back a few more inches.

Keep your tracks panned centre and listen to the differences.
Click to expand...

Good idea, thanks!
 
Don't forget this part of the method:

New drum heads (beater and resonant) are a must to getting the best tones out of your kit. For not much money new heads can guarantee dramatically better drum recordings.

Where you record really affects the sound. To get that classic big Bonham drum sound that Johns was made famous for you need to record in a big sounding room. Of course even in a smaller space, you can get a great sound. The better the room sounds though, the better your recordings will sound.

I wish drummers would read the first part before turning up at the studio.

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
Don't forget this part of the method:

New drum heads (beater and resonant) are a must to getting the best tones out of your kit. For not much money new heads can guarantee dramatically better drum recordings.

Where you record really affects the sound. To get that classic big Bonham drum sound that Johns was made famous for you need to record in a big sounding room. Of course even in a smaller space, you can get a great sound. The better the room sounds though, the better your recordings will sound.

I wish drummers would read the first part before turning up at the studio.

Alan.
Click to expand...
Great post.:cool:

I use the Glyn Johns method, so I agree that it's a good way to mic drums. But it's way more important to have a good drummer playing good sounding drums in a good room. Not everyone can have a great room so that might be out of some people's control, but the other 2 (good drummer and good sounding drums) are not out of anyone's control. If you're not a good drummer, practice. If you don't have good sounding drums, change the skins and/or learn how to tune them. Without those 2 parts of the equation, no miciing set up in the world will make you sound good.
 
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