Mic'ing drums

[danielheeger]

So, I've been doing recording and getting back around to drums. So far, mic'ing has been quite a pain. Drums seem to be a more difficult thing to do, at least for me.

First, I've been doing a bit of research online about what some more popular bands are using for drum mics. I keep seeing certain people use all the typical close mics, overheads, and room microphones. Also, most of the time I've seen that they are using ribbon mics. So, my first questions are: A, what are the advantages/disadvantages to using room mice, and b, what would be good mics to use as room mics? I already have a cheap MXL R144 ribbon. I don't know if that would be good enough. What would be a good ribbon mic to use? I'm not dirt broke, but I don't have thousands of dollars to go throw out on ribbons. hahah

Second part of the question is really not what this particular forum is about, but....
I have noticed some people use gating on drums, to keep certain drums from making noise until they reach a certain db level, unless I misunderstood. As for as gating goes, is there only certain drums I would want to do that on, and at what kind of thresholds and all that? Sorry about all the questions, but drums are a pretty new thing to me, and it's really kicking my butt.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hi Daniel,

Room mics:
With room micing people often make the mistake of placing more importance on the mic and position than the kit and the room.
If the room doesn't sound good then it's not worth micing it up.

I'm not trying to be defeatist or unhelpful; It really is that simple.

Even when using software drums that were recorded in ideal environments, I almost always kill the room mic channel. I think many do.

If the room sounds nice then it's a different ballgame and a nice ribbon or condenser can go along way. People will have recommendations, but the best mic for the job just comes down to preference and your specific scenario.

Gates:
You have the theory right. A gate prevents sound from being heard unless it exceeds a set threshold.
Once that threshold is exceeded, a preset release time determines how long the gate stays open.

A snare gate release might be very short but a low tom gate release might be long to get the ringing sound.
The ringing sound itself is below the threshold but the release allows it through; Same as a compressor release.

I think generally the aim would be to get a great sound from the overheads and then to supplement that with close kick/snare mics.
You may need to use gates on toms or snare, but your mission shouldn't be to make every track sound like it was recorded separately.
A lot of the time the bleed is core to the sound of your kit. It can help.

I don't know how much you've looking into overhead mic positions but you might want to do that.
A lot of people are very precise about keeping the snare and kick equidistant from each OH mic; I mean to the mm!
That can prevent issues down the line and keep everything focussed.

Hope that's useful.

 

[danielheeger]

Hi Daniel,

Room mics:
With room micing people often make the mistake of placing more importance on the mic and position than the kit and the room.
If the room doesn't sound good then it's not worth micing it up.

I'm not trying to be defeatist or unhelpful; It really is that simple.

Even when using software drums that were recorded in ideal environments, I almost always kill the room mic channel. I think many do.

If the room sounds nice then it's a different ballgame and a nice ribbon or condenser can go along way. People will have recommendations, but the best mic for the job just comes down to preference and your specific scenario.

Gates:
You have the theory right. A gate prevents sound from being heard unless it exceeds a set threshold.
Once that threshold is exceeded, a preset release time determines how long the gate stays open.

A snare gate release might be very short but a low tom gate release might be long to get the ringing sound.
The ringing sound itself is below the threshold but the release allows it through; Same as a compressor release.

I think generally the aim would be to get a great sound from the overheads and then to supplement that with close kick/snare mics.
You may need to use gates on toms or snare, but your mission shouldn't be to make every track sound like it was recorded separately.
A lot of the time the bleed is core to the sound of your kit. It can help.

I don't know how much you've looking into overhead mic positions but you might want to do that.
A lot of people are very precise about keeping the snare and kick equidistant from each OH mic; I mean to the mm!
That can prevent issues down the line and keep everything focussed.

Hope that's useful.

Yes, that was totally useful. You answered everything in one go. I really really appreciate it.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Great.

Welcome to HR.

If you want an idea of how some of the guys here work, take a look in the 'mix this' forum.
There are a handful of raw tracked sessions that you can download as wavs and pick apart.