Micing a Drum Kit w/ 4 Mics

A

ausgrindslaught

New member
Hey guys. My little grindcore band is ready to record properly (in a home studio). We learnt a lot recording (and mixing) for the first time 6 months ago, and now we think we're ready to give it another shot. I'm curious to see what advice you have for micing up a drum kit with 4 mics. Keep in mind this is grindcore, so check out sound groups like Nasum, Rotten Sound, Pig Destroyer, Splitter etc if you wanna familiarise yourself with the genre at hand.

We're using a Pearl Export kit, single bass drum, 2 rack toms, 1 floor tom. Cymbals: china straight in front/middle of the drummer followed around to the right by the crash and ride to the extreme right.

Anyway I'm got three thoughts at the moment:

#1: KICK / SNARE / RIGHT OVERHEAD / LEFT OVERHEAD

#2: KICK / SNARE / TOMS / CYMBAL OVERHEAD

Both obviously have limitations. With #1 I'll have a hard time making the toms sound any good, and 2 overheads when all the cymbals are on the right side seems self-defeating.

With #2 I wont have much control over cymbal placement, and then theres the issue of micing up toms: should I be using a close-mic'd dynamic, or a condensor mic placed at a different angle to the cymbal overhead ?

Anyway just wanted to hear your thoughts and experienced and get some advice.
 
I'd go for #1 everytime.

i'm no expert (only done a few demos) but i record drums with three mics and it sounds good, a really nice natural sound (maybe not ideal for grind)

Kick and 2 overheads, sometimes i make a kick tunnel which improves the kick sound to my ears.

For the oveheads i keep them as low as possible, about online with the cymbals so as not to pick up too much cymbal (which radiate sound up and down) and plenty of toms.

My point being: The Toms can sound brilliant in setup #1 with clever positioning of the overheads. (Obviously this relies on well tuned and well played drums, i have the advantage of a genius drummer)
 
yeah pretty much. should get very usable results with a little expermenting. There is a great thread somewhere about a 3 mic technique then adding a snare that is great. Try search, its late...
 
The toms should pickup well enough in the overheads, just make sure your snare is centered in the stereo image. Mic kick, mic snare, record.
 
ausgrindslaught said:
1x sm57
1x sm58
1x kick mic
and I'm going to hire an overhead or 2
Click to expand...


you may benefit from using large diaphrams instead of small, however, it depends on the situation
 
Option #1 for me thanks. I'd rent/borrow a pair for the over-heads and use them in x/y, the sm57 on the snare and your kick well...on the kick.
 
I use your #1 method for most apps. Unless your drummer is Dave Lombardo or Dana Carry or John Stainer. I wouldn't worry about close mic'ing toms.
 
Yes SM57 on the snare, your kick mic on the kick, and try and get a brighter pair of overhead mics if you're looking for a more aggressive sound. Shure SM81's would be a good choice. I've also liked AKG C414's, although I haven't used too many different large diaphragms for overheads. I do know that it's REALLY tough to get a bright or aggressive sound if you have neutral or warm microphones. And vice versa.

As for the drummer, I'd make sure he hits the toms and snares solid and consistent to get the most volume and tone out of the drums. It's especially important with minimal miking. Try raising or lowering the cymbals until you find the balance between cymbal and tom volume in the overheads.
 
I would say of course, kick snare and overheads, but most importantly I would spend time tuning the drums to sound as good as they can in the room. Also spend a good bit of time on the mic placement, as this can make all the difference in the world. Really have to experiment, but four mics should still do nicely.
 
I have used the 4 mic configuration a few times and it has worked great. Harvey Gerst suggested in the Mic forum the Behringer ECM 8000 as overhead microphones and you know what? They WORK!!! Not the best sounding microphone out there, but it is extremely linear and it gets the job done well enough and for a very low price (@€60). Of course, if you can get you hands on better OH mic's, then why not ;)?! Good luck!
Carlos
 
I have had great success with drummerman's 4 mic technique.

This site is helpful too but I don't like their ideas about overhead mic placement but it's good for overall info. I couldn't find the drummerman tutorial, boo, I suck. http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/

The technique that I used is as follows: kick (beta 52) about and inch or two from the beater skin off axis, actually it's about 3 inches below the beater pad. snare (sm57) upper left of the drum pointed at the impact area, placed as close to the skin as I could without the mic touching the drum head. overhead 1 (AT4040) placed about 30 inches above the snare or just out of the reach of the crazy drummer. overhead 2 (AT3035) over the right shoulder of the drummer.

The key to the overhead placement is to keep them both equidistant from both the snare and kick. I did this by taping one end of a string to the center of the kick and center of the snare and then by using both strings together I placed the overheads at the same distance from the source.

This actually created a nice stereo image of the kit when I panned the overheads hard left and hard right.
 
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