I bet you're tired of this...

[JustinPlaysBass]

...but I need help miking drums. Go figure.

My drummer has a new 6 piece set of Nady drum mics. They're not the most expensive, actually about 170 on musician's friend, but they work. We also have a Fostex FD8 recorder (which can only do 2 tracks at a time) and a berhinger 8 track mixer with 4 preams/phantom power inputs. So, the problem is we get alot of overhead. We've only been using 1 of the small condenser mics. Mainly cause we've run out of stands. We have 1 for snare (picks up hi-hat too), 1 between the toms, one on the floor tom, a kick drum mic (which I don't have a clue on how to utilize, it's really week, but if I turn up the gain it distorts, this could possibly be due to sorry headphones). The condenser mic does all of the work, and to be honest it's kind of annoying. I don't have compression or anything either. Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[Supercreep]

Try using just the OH mics, Kick and Snare - get a sound you can work with and then mic toms and such if you need to. Most times you won't, IMHO.

 

[Dogbreath]

Yup....

As Mister Creep says...
Mic the kick, snare and OH's. I use the OH technique of 1 mic over the snare, about the length of 2 drumsticks end to end, and the other OH over my right (drummers) shoulder, also about 2 sticks end to end. I adjust till I get a good mix. The key (in my case) is getting them the same distance from a point on the kick to each mic. Then I go in and edit the kick and snare. Anything that's not a kick drum gets cut. Same w/ the snare. A little verb to the OH's or snare for seasoning and you're in.
The mic placement takes a little trial and error but once you get it, it's easier every time.
Hope this helps....................Peace
Kel

 

[JustinPlaysBass]

Thanks,

All of that helped a ton! We got some really cool sounds and good progress. Still learning the ins and outs though. For example, my drummer says there is too much attack on the toms and not enough tone. He wants to hear the sound of the drum, not initial hit on the heads I guess?
Also, any ideas on how to get a good bass drum sound. We have a large diaphragm dynamic kick drum mic, but it peaks out too easy. I have to sacrafice gain because of this, and the final product is as if I didn't even mic the drum. So, that one track peaks on every bass drum hit on the Behringer mixer, but it does not clip on the signal outs. My question is, will it hurt if it peaks? We did a couple of recordings tonight, and on one I think I just let it peak like hell and I seem to remember getting a good sounding drum. A bit too much, but I could work with it. Is it okay to let it peak, just not okay to let it clip? It didn't sound distorted, and I could work with it if I could only hear the drum in the mix.
Thanks for you help, I believe you are leading me in the right direction. Thanks.

 

[elementary]

I have this same problem with the bass drum as mentioned above with the peaking. can anyone help? I use a d112 into a behringer desk into cubase

 

[Supercreep]

Thanks,

All of that helped a ton! We got some really cool sounds and good progress. Still learning the ins and outs though. For example, my drummer says there is too much attack on the toms and not enough tone. He wants to hear the sound of the drum, not initial hit on the heads I guess?
Also, any ideas on how to get a good bass drum sound. We have a large diaphragm dynamic kick drum mic, but it peaks out too easy. I have to sacrafice gain because of this, and the final product is as if I didn't even mic the drum. So, that one track peaks on every bass drum hit on the Behringer mixer, but it does not clip on the signal outs. My question is, will it hurt if it peaks? We did a couple of recordings tonight, and on one I think I just let it peak like hell and I seem to remember getting a good sounding drum. A bit too much, but I could work with it. Is it okay to let it peak, just not okay to let it clip? It didn't sound distorted, and I could work with it if I could only hear the drum in the mix.
Thanks for you help, I believe you are leading me in the right direction. Thanks.

Do the drums sound how the drummer likes them to sound? I mean, is there something being lost in the recording, or does the drummer want the recorded sound to be an improvement over the actual sound of the drums?
You may have to spend some time and possibly money treating your room.
Definitely learn to tune the drums, and experiment with heads, stick tips and weight, etc. to get the right tom sound. Also technique comes in to play here - if the drummer is digging his sticks in and not allowing a natural rebound the drum won't reverberate correctly. He might not be hitting them hard enough. There's so much I don't know about the situation, but you get the idea.

If the drums sound great but it's the recording then continue to experiment with OH mic placement. A little bit of compression post recording can help bring out the toms in the OH mix.

I have a D112 and have no problems with clipping. That said, you could engage a pad or if you don't have them search google for a Shure inline attenuator. It's a variable inline pad that you will probably come up with a few uses for. Compression is another way to limit those peaks. Technique may also be coming in to play here. As you said, if it sounds good, don't worry about it too much.