Judge My Drum Mic'ing Method!

G

Grape

New member
Hey guys,

It'd be great to get some feedback on the way I mic drums.
I'd appreciate if I didn't get "Go buy more mics." because I'm saving up for some atm.

I have 3 dynamics.
- One is placed about a meter above the snare, and facing the snare.
- One is placed inside the kick drum and position adjusted until I get the sound I want.
- One is placed 2-4 inches away horizontally from and faces the snare.

Afterwards, I turn up some low frequencies while mastering on the overhead mic to get some beef for the snare. (as well as some other mastering for the kick, etc.)

What do ya'll think?

<33 Grape
 
i used to mic kits with three mics all the time. however, i usually did it with an overhead condenser, one inbetween the tom and floor tom and one outside of the kick facing the resonating side of the kick. i let the condenser pick up the snare and cymbals for the most part.

With only three dynamic microphones it's gonna be difficult to capture the cymbals with any real clarity. but it can be done. i'd get one on the kick for sure and then try different postions of the other two to capture the entire kit as best as you can. you can probably get away with micing the snare, the hi hat, splash and tom with one mic and get the floor tom and ride cymbal with the other mic. granted it won't sound great, but you make due.

whatever you think deserves the most emphasis put the mic closest to that. i wouldn't put a mic for just the snare when you only have three mic though. A snare is the one thing that cuts through the most and you can probably get by just banging the hell out of the snare while your playing and hope the mic picks it up well.

with limited equipment you gotta get creative. try a bunch of different things.
 
Grape said:
Hey guys,

It'd be great to get some feedback on the way I mic drums.
I'd appreciate if I didn't get "Go buy more mics." because I'm saving up for some atm.

I have 3 dynamics.
- One is placed about a meter above the snare, and facing the snare.
- One is placed inside the kick drum and position adjusted until I get the sound I want.
- One is placed 2-4 inches away horizontally from and faces the snare.

Afterwards, I turn up some low frequencies while mastering on the overhead mic to get some beef for the snare. (as well as some other mastering for the kick, etc.)

What do ya'll think?

<33 Grape
Click to expand...

I can't tell you whether your set up is good or not because the only way to judge it is to hear it. If it sounds good, it's a good set up. If it doesn't, it isn't. It's that simple.
Personally, I think you're going to have major phase issues between the 2 mics that are different distances from the snare. But, like I said, without hearing it, who knows???

I do need to ask you what you mean by "mastering", though. Because, in this case, I don't think mastering has anything to do with anything.
 
RAMI said:
I can't tell you whether your set up is good or not because the only way to judge it is to hear it. If it sounds good, it's a good set up. If it doesn't, it isn't. It's that simple.
Personally, I think you're going to have major phase issues between the 2 mics that are different distances from the snare. But, like I said, without hearing it, who knows???

I do need to ask you what you mean by "mastering", though. Because, in this case, I don't think mastering has anything to do with anything.
Click to expand...

I just meant compression, EQ, etc.

But yeah, I'll deff be recording soon.
I dont have a set of my own, just recording others.

http://www.box.net/shared/apg7cfmkdy

This is just all 3 channels into one track, because I didnt know how to get 2 tracks at the time.

And it's mixed/mastered, not my best effort, just put in only a minute of work into adding FX.

I am now able to have the kick on a separate track from snare/overhead, so don't say "blablabla the kick" please =]

<33
 
Grape said:
don't say "blablabla the kick" please =]

<33
Click to expand...

Anything else you want to tell me not to say??? :rolleyes:

Honestly....that's horrible. I can't begin to tell you how bad that sounds. I don't know what else to say.....or not say. :eek:
 
Simman said:
I agree with RAMI, it doesn't sound very good. Keep working on it.

You might want to try starting with kit tuning and then take a look at this;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Fjuz7jXzs
Click to expand...

Yeah... Like I said. NOT MY DRUMS. =]

The guy never tuned his drums, tight sched, etc.

And that overhead mic'ing technique is what I'm trying to do (as mentioned in the first post).

Anyhoo, I don't think we'll make any progress until I actually start recording the next band and seeing how things go.

Thanks a lot guys,
<33 Grape
 
Grape said:
Yeah... Like I said. NOT MY DRUMS. =]

The guy never tuned his drums, tight sched, etc.

And that overhead mic'ing technique is what I'm trying to do (as mentioned in the first post).

Anyhoo, I don't think we'll make any progress until I actually start recording the next band and seeing how things go.

Thanks a lot guys,
<33 Grape
Click to expand...

i dont think it has to do with tuning. all tho that is important i think in your case the mic placement is very poor. i think you're getting massive phase issues with the snare. move the mics. one right up the the snare on the top side and move the other mic up and over a bit see what happens. hard to say with out doing it myself but that might help.
 
SuaveRecords said:
i dont think it has to do with tuning. all tho that is important i think in your case the mic placement is very poor. i think you're getting massive phase issues with the snare. move the mics. one right up the the snare on the top side and move the other mic up and over a bit see what happens. hard to say with out doing it myself but that might help.
Click to expand...

With drums (or any instrument), it always starts with tuning & the musician. If a kit sounds like crap (or you have a poor drummer) there is no mic technique in the world that will make up for that. Although I will agree 100% that poor mic technique can make a well tuned kit sound terrible.

So, I would ask the original poster, how did the drums sound in the room? If they sounded like what you're recording captured then, it's not your mic technique so much. Garbage in = garbage out.
 
Simman said:
With drums (or any instrument), it always starts with tuning & the musician. If a kit sounds like crap (or you have a poor drummer) there is no mic technique in the world that will make up for that. Although I will agree 100% that poor mic technique can make a well tuned kit sound terrible.

So, I would ask the original poster, how did the drums sound in the room? If they sounded like what you're recording captured then, it's not your mic technique so much. Garbage in = garbage out.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I go by that saying too. =]

Garbage in = garbage out
gold in = gold out

But the snare sounds exactly the way it does IRL.

I'll have to tell the next band who's coming over this Sunday to tune.
Forgot about that.. lol

<33
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top