Is it possible to mic a kit using only 2 overheads???

  • Thread starter Thread starter spectrewhite
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spectrewhite

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Hello all,

Do you think it would be possible to mic a kit using only 2 overheads? Say maybe one LD condensor and one SD condensor? Or maybe 2 LD's or 2 SD's? What would be the absolue best placement? This would capture the ambience of the room...not quite as defined of a sound, but for a poor man what do you think??

and a side note...will micing drums damage a preamp?
 
It IS possible but probably won't yeild the best results. If you had a wonderful sounding room you could get away with one mic and have it sound great...but you (like the rest of us) more than likely don't. Tell us a little more about your situation. What kind of mics do you have?

Micing drums won't damage a preamp.
 
I am a beginner and am looking into buying mikes...thus my question.

I am probably going to get an AT 3035, an sm57, and possibly a C1000 if my funds hold out.

I would like to be able to record live drums in the future.
 
I had a friend with a small studio that actually got a great drum sound with three mics. He used two PZM mics (Radio Shack believe it or not) set out in front on the left and right about 3 or 4 feet high. Then he used a sm57 in the bass drum. He set the PZMs as a stereo pair and mixed the bass drum in to match up. It took a bit of testing to get the PZMs just right; so they picked up balanced amounts of each drum and cymbal. but once he got it, he could always replicate it exactly and quickly. It was a very good drum sound, better than many multimiced set ups I've heard.
 
try one sd on overhead and a at atm25pro on kick......
 
Last drums I recorded was a quick demo. AKG C3000b as overhead and cheap SM58 copy on the kick. And it sounds pretty ok. (SM57 on guitars....)

The planning at the moment is to get 2 ECM8000's as overheads (very cheap, and stereo makes a big difference in my ears), and somewhere in the future a cheap kickmic. My SM57 would then go to the snare, and probably C3000b on guitars.

That would be a 4 mic setup for drums.

Best drums I recorded so far (only serious demo I did, but dounded pretty good), was with 5 mics. One mono over head, C3000b on the left of the drummer, aimed over the hihat towards the ride. SM57 on snare, e504 on 2 toms and MD421 on kick.
 
when stereo miking with ecm8000s or other omnis....is XY the best way to go? Or spread them out more? can't remember from the mic thread...dont know if it said.
 
I spent a few months using the typical configuration described around here with 5-7 mics, and the sound is good, but not for every song. A few weeks ago we were working on something and just hated the drum sound. After about 2 hours of trying all sorts of things, we ended up with just 3 mics; sm57 on snare, at4033 right in front of the set about 6 feet high, and the kick routed through the bass amp, mic'd with at25pro. The result is not something you would want all the time, but it's perfect for the song.
 
Here's a trick a friend of mine learned from Joe Percaro himself....mike the whole kit and play it in the recording room through a little pa-system. Mike the drums close, and add a stereo room mike to capture the pa sys. Wide !

Cool but mayby a little overdone.
 
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