How many drum mics do you record with

How many microphones do you use when recording drums

  • 4

    Votes: 70 23.6%

  • 5-6

    Votes: 51 17.2%

  • 7-9

    Votes: 136 45.9%

  • 10-12

    Votes: 32 10.8%

  • 13+

    Votes: 7 2.4%
  • Total voters
    296
I've been retracking drums for some of my tunes. Last week we used 9 mics into a MOTU into Sonar.

2 overheads
Condensor on tambourine
Condensor on hi-hat
57's on rack toms
??? on floor tom
A nice kick drum mic (??? model)
57's on top and bottom of snare (with bottom mic phased out at the DAW)
 
These days I'm using 32 mics on my drum kit. I'm really into quadrophonic sound, so I need 4 mics on each piece of the kit in order to maintain precise control over the mix.
 
WhiteStrat said:
These days I'm using 32 mics on my drum kit. I'm really into quadrophonic sound, so I need 4 mics on each piece of the kit in order to maintain precise control over the mix.
Click to expand...

Oh please....If you're not recording in octophonic sound then you're not a real engineer. Quadrophonic is so yesterday. :rolleyes::D:D
 
lately I track with only 3 mics - kick, snare, overhead. I used to mic everything and would spend hours setting up and working out phase issues. These days I just want to get right to tracking and concentrate on the performance.
 
dastrick said:
I plan on using 4 mics tonight.

2 overheads
1 kick
1 snare

I am thinking about using the recorderman method for my overheads, but I'm not sure how it will do in a live setting. Any thoughts?
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Live mic'ing is a fun and different animal then studio work. I enjoy that challenge. I've had scenarios, like last week, we mic'ed the entire kit. A 57 on each drum, a condenser on the hat, a kick drum mic (can't remember model, sorry) inside the kick on a pillow right up by the beater head.

Once the band go playing, everything got fade to zero, except the kick and the hat. The room was bright, and drummer was drumming. The others mic's were useless.

In contrast, we used a similar setup for a band playing R&B/Jazz...it was an outdoor venue, albeit a small one, but the mics we're critical...especially the snare for catching the subtlety's (sp?) of the rim shots. It was a totally different experience. Totally fun.
 
i normally use two,
an mxl 960 at snare height about 2 feet away for the snare where ever it will fit behind of on the side of the drummer with a clear vew of the snare (my drummer doesnt use hi-hats so its very easy with him).
and a peavey large diaphragm dynamic (cant recall the model) right up on the kick (with my drummer a 26" wlf with full heads).
them both go through there pres and are sent to one channel of the art pro vla where they are smashed to hell!
 
When I used an 8-track portastudio that only had 2 mic inputs, I had to record using 3 mics, 2 were overheads, one was for the kick. They went into a mic mixer as I only had one track to play with. Now that I have a 12 track that can simultaneously record 8 tracks, I use 5 for the drums, but 9 mics.
I have 2 sets of drummics {one by Superlux- 3xPR228s,1xPRA218A, one, I think, by Behringer - 2x Eagle G158J & 1x D717} and two condensers {Thomann stereosets}.
I put 2 on the snare {one on top, one beneath} and feed them both thru the old mic mixer {adjusting to taste}
One on the kick, one at the Hi-hat
One on each tom {as I have 2 kick mics, one goes on the floor tom} and the 2 condensers as overheads.
The Snare, kick and hi-hat go on their own track, the other mics are fed into a Behringer mixer and I do a quick config then stereo them out to two tracks on the recorder.
I haven't got round to gating yet because the bleed in my main sources is minimal. I used to use dynamics as my overheads but even me with my cloth ears can hear the difference with condensers.
I prefer the combo of close micing and overheads. Having relied for years on O/Hs only {in the main}, I won't be going there again !
 
Working in the studio with a band over the last few weeks the setup was as follows:

1 - Yamaha Subkick on kick
2 - AKG D112 on kick
3 - Sennheiser 421 on snare top
4 - Sennheiser 421 on snare bottom
5 - KM184 on hats
6 - 57 on rack
7 - 57 on floor tom top
8 - D112 on floor tom bottom
9+10 - 2xAKG 414 as overheads
11+12 - Ribbon mics (can't remember the name) as room mics
13 - Sennheiser 421 as a middle overhead. Just in front of the kick, a little higher than the rack tom, pointing at the drummers chest. Sounds absolutely fantastic blended in with the kit.
 
Re-tox_stl said:
2!!

Two Behringer C2s in the recorder man positions :). Surprisingly i get good results.
Click to expand...

Actually, not surprised at all. :cool:

But, do you not find that the kik is a little weak coming only through the overheads? I guess it depends on the type of music also.
 
Yes I change up different micing situations for different styles of music.
Everything from all drums top and bottom to just overheads and kick.



:cool:
 
I use 3 at the moment, because that's all I have. A Peavey PiV2 on the kick, a JBL E 50 S on the snare, and an MXL 991 as an overhead. I may start experimenting with the 990 as a second overhead if I get more mic stands.
 
  • SM57 on snare
  • D-112 on kick
  • AT-2020's in XY as overheads

That's all the budget allows for now but I like to keep it simple anyway.
 
8 mics.

kick, snare, 3 toms, 2 overheads, and hihat

sometimes I get enough hihat through the overheads and I will throw up a room mic if I need a really "big" sound
 
we've recently started using the exact same 4 mic setup as that used by mr. moon whilst recording quadrophenia. quite impressed by the sound as well, nice and simple.
 
7 mics

7 mics for me:

3 ldc's Glyn Johns style:
Front: u89i
Side: nt1
Top: beyer mc740n
2 on kick:
inside: cad kbm412 on beater
Outside: homemade subkick
2 on snare:
Top: sm57
Bottom: md421

I am very happy with the modified Glyn Johns, definitely the best sound yet. Fits nicely and naturally in the mix, almost no tweaking needed.
 
I just added 1 mic so now there are 5

ATM25 inside on kick
Sennheisser e604 on snare
Oktava MK-012 (stereo matched pair) on overheads (2 mics)
and I added an AT Pro 25 between and over my two floor toms
The overheads weren't picking up enough of the floor toms to my liking, so now all is good.
 
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