How many drum mics do you record with

[sguitarf]

10-14

I may go a little overboard... I use 2 MXL 604's and 2 Nyants for overheads. I mic all the toms with a shure 57. I use a shure 57 for the top of the snare, and an old EV mic for the bottom of the snare to get the crackle. On the kick, I use a Shure beta 52 and a subkick. This combo gives the drummer a lot of leway as to how he wants his kit to sound.

 

[BentRabbit]

2 MXL 603's for overheads
MSH 10 for Hi toms (1 mic per pair)
MSH 10 for mid rack toms (1 mic per pair)
SM58 for floor toms (1 mic per pair)
SM87a on snare
D112 front of kick
SM58 pointed at beater on kick

Sometimes a SM57 on the hats or ride.. depending

Sometimes a couple of AT3035's for the room

 

[Vagodeoz]

If that's your gear on your signature, why don't you use your 414 as room mike?

 

[Rimshot]

I use 9 mics

But I'm recording to only 4 tracks. I use a mixer to get the sound that I want on my 3 cymbal and hi hat mikes that go to one track, then my 4 tom mikes are mixed to another track and I have a dedicated snare track and a dedicated kick track. This allows me enough freedom to do a final mix that I like and add effects where needed and it still leaves plenty of tracks left for the other instruments.

 

[AndyB]

I tend to go very overboard with drum mics, but then i like having the options at mixdown and i have the channels to do so..

Kick - A/T Pro-25 (old version of the ATM25? Very nice kick mic)
Snare - SM57
Under Snare - SM57 or AKG SDC
Toms - E604 or SM57 (occasionally both)
Room - A/T 4033
OH's - Rode NT1
HiHat - Whatever sounds best. Sometimes SDC, occasionally even a '57!!

Sometimes i'll aim something at the ride too, and sometimes a sub mic on the kick (homemade).
About to upgrade to having an (old) U87 too, and a pair of KM184's for Overheads, leaving the NT1's as stereo room (and/or the 4033 or u87 if i'm feeling fruity).
All this uses the Pre's on my Soundcraft Ghost - the pre's and eq on these desks is really punchy i find.

 

[mrT]

All this uses the Pre's on my Soundcraft Ghost - the pre's and eq on these desks is really punchy i find.

I've been really pleased with how my ghost's pre sound. I've got a sytek and a brick which I do like better but the soundcraft can sure hold it's own for most things. I've been thinking of sending a few channels off to get modded. I hear very good things about how much it opens them up.

 

[surfmaster]

kick=blue kickball
snare=es-57
o/h=mxl 990's or msh 1a's depending on the room i'm in (recorderman technique)
toms=es-57's

i want to start using my nady rsm-5 as a room mic, but haven't had the opportunity to record drums since i've had it.

 

[starbuck26]

Just three...

I'm only using three mics. Two large diaphragm condensers in the recorderman method, with a 57 on the snare blended to taste. Sometimes I don't even bother with the 57, especially if I'm only recording a rehearsal.

I record all my drums in the basement of an art gallery where I work, so everything has to be set up and broken down each night. I can set the recorderman style up in about 9 minutes if my drummer isn't acting like a bitch and complaining like he usually does.

Then pop a 57 on the guitar, DI the bass, and DI some scratch vocals.... hoodad. Live recording of everything.

 

[Track Rat]

I can set the recorderman style up in about 9 minutes if my drummer isn't acting like a bitch and complaining like he usually does.QUOTE]

Somehow, I can strongly relate to this.

 

[BentRabbit]

If that's your gear on your signature, why don't you use your 414 as room mike?

I have in the past... When I want a broad stereo image I go with the 3035's

 

[AndyB]

I've been really pleased with how my ghost's pre sound. I've got a sytek and a brick which I do like better but the soundcraft can sure hold it's own for most things. I've been thinking of sending a few channels off to get modded. I hear very good things about how much it opens them up.

Yes i've heard much the same thing.. Any ideas on who or where does such mods? Have wanted to look into getting thsi done for ages.....

 

[elcholo]

Usually 6 - recently 7, messing with one more mic at the bottom of the snare

1. Kick - Beta 52
2. Snare Top - sm57
3. Snare Bottom - at4040
4. Toms - sm57s (2) or MSH3s (2)
5. OH's (Recorderman or Glyn Johns config) - MSH1s (2)

I'm heading into the studio here in a few weeks to record 4 tracks, and I'll use new heads. I'll try out a true A/B with the sm57s and MSH3s for the toms. I really like the sm57s, but i'm anxious to see just how awesome the msh3s are... So far, I've been extremely happy with the MSH1s for OHs in the Recorderman / Glyn Johns methods. Before them, I used 2 Nady CM88s for OHs, which I was surprised at how good they sounded.

Cholo

 

[chester]

I use 4 right now.

I have whatever that CAD bass mic is, 2 JM27's, and one of those fake ES-57's
I'm still fooling around with it, the bass mic is definitely my least favorite but there are ways around it.

 

[bilco]

4 right now:

Overheads - 2 Shure SM81s in X/Y
Snare - e504 or SM57
Kick - Beta 52 or Shure SM7b

I have a 2nd e504 and have only experimented once with recording top and bottom of snare and flipping the phase on the bottom mic

First recordings I did were:

Snare - SM57
Kick - AKDD112

I told the drummer to keep it simple, no toms or cymbals other than the hihat and these tracks really turned out okay, no phase problems

I recently tried putting the e504s on the toms and the SM57 on the snare and decided that putting mics on the toms is overkill. The Sm81s pick them up enough for my taste.

Do any of you run into problems with phase being out between the overheads, snare and kick and if so, what is the exact order of your work process for eliminating it?

Thanks,
bilco

 

[genesisariana]

7

I use 7.

Beta 52 on Kick
E902 on Tom's (4)
sm57 on snare
ADK A51 over

 

[Scotty_C]

It really depends on the situation

It depends on the kit I am using and the recording situation. The most that I use is 8, 2 overhead, 1 snare, 1 bass drum, 3 toms, and 1 hi-hat.

If I am using my electronic set, I just export the stereo mix. It has a very complete set of effects with fairly intuitive controls (Roland TD-20 brain), so I don't need to be able to pull the mix apart and tinker with the sound. If I had to, I could set up the midi timebase on the e-kit's brain, and then use that to synch to an external track, and that way I could pull it apart and work on it, if there was the need.

On my club set, I only use 6 mics: Bass drum, snare, 2 toms, 2 overheads. I can use my board to produce a stereo submix for the main board. My board has enough good effects and is flexible enough to cover most situations, however I have a Digitec GSP 2101 multieffect unit that I can put back in through the board to 'build' any really over-the-top effects (although it's normally better to do this post-recording) if somebody wants to put them on the rough mix.

Scotty

 

[thebigcheese]

I'm switching to 4. I used to try to mic everything, but then I took a class and decided that it's way easier to just get it to sound right all at once instead of trying to mix in all the toms and stuff. We'll see how well that works out, tho, cuz I tend to like hitting the toms...

Right now I'm using the mics from the cheapy Nady mic pack. Not great, but it works.

 

[steelphantom]

I usually use these 4 mics:

Overheads: 2 Studio Projects C4 (Spaced Pair)
Snare: Shure SM57
Kick: Shure Beta 52

If I need a little extra boost for the toms, I pull out my trusty Sennheiser e604s.

 

[BenignVanilla]

We're a low budget band, so my mic's consist of a box of knock off SM57's that we got on sale at a local store last year. We use them for everything from drums, to vocals.

When I have mic'ed the kit for recording...my basic setup is...

2 overheads
1 on kick
1 between rack toms

Then based on the tune, we add from there. In some songs I put another mic on the hi-hat or the floor tom. In one song, the drummer couldn't get the ride to sound the way we wanted. We worked on it for hours, and eventually found that a mic under the cymbol pointed away from the kit, got the perfect sound.

So my answer is 4-7 mic, but in different configurations depending on the song.

 

[lyricalcharms]

8 mics...

i heard someone got a surprising result with 2 earthworks in an experiment... a pair of earth works, set them on each side of the kick, pointing up (omni), slightly higher then the kick, but low enough to stay out the way... and it actually came out pretty decent...

obviously not something for serious recording, nor deffinetion, but if u got time to play around try it out.