Help Choosing Drum Mics!

S

slfclash77

New member
ok, im starting my bands full length cd in a few days and i have a bunch of mics to choose from for recording the drums. unfortunately i dont have a mic thats made for a kick drum but i would like help with what i got. i plan on using one mic for the snare, one for the high tom, one for the floor tom, one for the beater side of the kick and one for the front side, and 2 overheads. these are the mics i have to choose from...

senheisser 421
(2) sm57
sm58
audio technica AT4033
audio technica ATM31
audio technica ATM813
(2) audio technica DR VX1
(2) pg58


if anyone has any tips with micing the drumset that would be great as well. im using a protools le system with a digi 001. thanks!
 
You did not say what type of music it was. If Jazz or Folk I would not use that many mics.

Assuming you are talking loud Rock / Metal ( I see you are 15) I would use the Senn on the Kick, Sm57 on Snare, Sm57 on High tom, Sm58 on low tom and (me personally) would go mono overhead with the AT4033.

I am not familiar with the other mics,but have used the other mics enough to know I can get a very usable sound with the mentioned set up.

I would try that first, possibly add other mics only on an as needed basis.
The fewer mics you can use to get your sound, the better. I have made many album tracks (Country / Rock) simply using a Snare Mic And a Kick Mic. When you add un-needed mics you start potentially having problems with odd interactions between them that will choke the sound of the kit rather than fatten it up.

Tom
 
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That set up should work fine for the music you describe!

Incidently, you mentioned wanting 2 mics on you kick.
Do you have both heads fully intact on your kit? If you had a micing hole I'd settle for the senn only just inside the hole. The closer to the beater head you go the more click but less low end you get. Obviously the further awy you get the warmer and fuller, but less definition on the beater, unless you use a hard plastic or wood beater. (which is what I use for the click).

If both heads are intact with no hole, I'd use the Pg58 on the beater side.You may have to invert the phase of one of the kick mics after you record to keep them from cancelling each other out since they are micing the same sound from either end, they may potentially be out of phase.
The way you can tellis, after you record, solo just the 2 kick mics, bringup just the front side mic first, then slowly bring up the beater mic. If the sound gets bigger , fuller and more definition, you are good to go, if it starts sounding smaller and pinched and certain frequencies star gettin quiter, you have phase problems and you will need to invert the phase on onne of the mics.

Hope that helps some.
Have fun recording!

Tom
 
Hell, you might be better off starting with just the kick, snare and mono overhead. Or maybe even kick and OH. You'll be surprised how good it sounds. More mics will mean more potential problems. More is not necessarily better. I'd start off with less then add them if you really have to.


When my band is writting, we use 3 mics on the drums to keep it simple.

D6 on kick
sm57 on snare
blue baby bottle for overhead


Here's a clip. This is a 10 minute setup and is not mixed.




I think you'll see that a good drum track can be had with very few mics.
 
On the Sm57.
If you want a lot of body and tone with out a lot of snare sound , put the mic with its butt end pointed toward your hi hat and the diaphram, just about an inch inside the rim, pointed toward the mid section but downward at a 45 deg angle. the further back from the rim you go, you will get more of the shell sound and snare sound. The flatter you position the mic( almost like it is laying on the same plane as the the snare head) the more stick sound, but less low end body sound you will get.

Just play with it.

Tom
 
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