Micing kit with three mics

  • Thread starter Thread starter schnobja
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schnobja

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Hey, guys.


I'm looking to get a good drum sound using three mics: two overheads and one in the kick. Can you guys give me some good starting points for positioning my overheads?
 
try placing the mics anyware from 3-8 feet from the cymbals, at least 4 ft apart, about chest hight pointed toward the drumers stomach.
then compress.
 
I only use 3 mics on my kit. I put 2 sm57s behind the kit, at ear level, about a foot away from my head (one on each side). I take my sticks and hold them end to end in one hand and use that as a measuring device to place the ends of both mics the same distance from the head of the snare. I stick an sm58 in the kick. Because the right sm58 is pointing in the opposite direction of the 57s, I made a phase reversed cable to use on the 58.

I try to keep both mics the same distance from the middle of the snare head, but only the left mic actually points at the snare. The right points towards the middle of the kit.

Works for me.

Ziller
 
If you keep your mics far enough apart and not pointed directly at the same point you shouldn't need to reverse phase. The one in the bass drum shouldn't need phase reverse unless there are two in there. Try micing from the inside and pointing the mic at the point that the beater hits the head. Try pointing it at the rim from inside. If your hi hat bleeds point it away from the hi hat. Try aiming the mic at the side of the drum. but the best bet with a 58 would probably be placing the mic about 1 ft away infront of the drum and down toward the carpet. YOU DO HAVE A CARPET UNDER THE DRUMS.

There is realy no wrong way to do it. Just experiment. try a better mic. put the 58 on the snare and buy an audio technica atm25 on ebay. I got mine at guitar center for $25 during one of their member's only sales.
 


This was 4 mics, but in the mix, I didn't really use the snare mic.

A CAD R11 in the kick, and two AT 4033's as overheads.

The 4033's were at either side of the kit facing in toward the snare, and about 5' off the ground.

I didn't phase reverse them because during a mono check of the overhead, I was losing all the low end in mono. You should ALWAYS check stereo micing in mono for phase problems. Mono is the only real way to tell if you have any phasing problems. If when you go to mono you lose a bunch of low end, then the mics need to be out of phase. Switch one and try again. Sometimes you may need to move the mics a bit to get it to work.

Anyway, 3 mics can work out pretty good if the mics are decent and you take some time to make sure they are placed right. You REALLY need to place them right in this situation because if say you have some annoying 7kHz on the cymbals, you could eq that out, but you would also be taking a lot of top end off the snare at the same time, which you MAY not want. You get the idea here?

Make sure your overhead are place right. I also suggest that you use large diaphram condensors in this situation. They pick up a "bigger" sound per se, and the transient response is very nice compared to small diaphrams.

Good luck.

Ed

Ed
 
Ed, that link didnt work for me; could u check it, or send the song to me? id like to hear it. thanks, -Nate
 
Sorry, I fixed the link, it will work now. It should be about 2mins long, but something is amiss with my server space. Anyway, 18secs here and a quicky download, but enough to hear the drums.

Ed
 
I'm going to try changing my current mic setup (one SM57 under the crash, right of the hat, left of the left tom, in front of the snare pointing toward it; one SM57 between my 12" & 13" toms; and one AKG D112 at the hole of my kick) to the 3 mic placement that Ziller has.

I'm currently pretty happy with the way the recording sounds but if I can get a better sound I'm all for that. I'll let you know how it goes if I get a suitable recording. Right now I have a hard time picking up the floor tom and the ride sounds a little weak. Hopefully this setup will allow me to capture more of my kit. I'm sure I'll have to tweak the trim on my mixer though... :(
 
3 mics slightly different setup

Hey,
I have not seen this mentioned yet so I'll post my own technique. I generally use an SM58 for the kick, placed inside; an SM57 for the snare, off axis from the high hat and approximately 10-12 mm from the edge of the snare and above it, and only one overhead, about ear level, off axis from the crash and pointing more towards the ride but also close enough to pick up the toms. I have a song I just finished with this technique and I think is a pretty good example of the results I've achieved. I'll have a link up in a day or to for your listening pleasure.
Blake
Steel Petals
 
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