kick mic placement

[N8theGr8]

im using an sm57 for my kick drum, running it through a mixer to comp. it clips a little bit on n-track, not too often, but all it sounds like alone is loud crappy thumps, no drum sound to it at all. ive got the mic pointed straight at the front of the kick, a little off-center to the right, and about 2-3 inches away. is this a mic placement problem or should i just turn the level down on the mixer? im not going to cut a hole in the front, these are outstanding remo powerstrokes on the kick, i love how they sound; a nice and full kick, which is what i want to reproduce.

 

[gabe]

hmmm....

If it's clipping, i'd turn down the mic trim and lower the gain on the mixer. Also, are you compressing at all? I too have the powerstroke heads, and I have a hole dead center in the resonant head and it sounds great IMO. I can still achieve that fullness which you are describing. I have recorded it with an sm57, and when combined w/ some compression and gating, it sounds great on it's own. If you do decide to cut a hole, I find that I have the best results getting the kick drum mic as close to the beater head as possible. Good luck!

=gabe=

 

[N8theGr8]

thanks, i'll have to try that. right now ive got 4 mics to work with, 2 sm57s and 2 RS's, still havent quite decided on what to use. i tried 1 sm57 on kick, on on overhead and i didnt like it much. i think i'll try XY and maybe an RS a foot or so from the kick. has anybody tried using RS's for overheads? that way i could get a 57 on what its best at, snare, as well as one on kick.