mics for recording drums??

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ollie99

ollie99

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I am looking to record drums for some tracks but I'm not sure what to use for the best professional sounding quality. I will be recording in a room with furniture and a rug but hard and mostly bear walls and ceiling.
At the moment I have a pair of Behringer C-2's and I'm looking to get 2 more mics to get a better sound. what 2 mics should I buy? and any tips and advice on where to place the 4 mics would be great :)
my price for the 2 mics is around £150, maybe a bit more.
Thanks :)
 
If you are planning on using the C-2s as overheads, the next two logical mic choices would be a kick mic and a snare mic. Some popular snare mics are the SM57 and Audix i5. Some popular kick mics are the Shure Beta 52A, the AKG D112, and the Audix D6. Do your research on those mics (and others), listen to some sound samples, decide what you think would be best for your purposes, and don't be afraid to buy used :)
 
Yeah definitely you will want to hear those mics he suggested. Some people love the D112, then others (myself included, although I still own one) hate it.
 
I'm just starting out with all of this and also use C-2s as overheads. They sound fine to me (a bit harsh perhaps), but I know they get shit on a lot. A matched pair was just $60 new I think.

If you go with any 2 of the 5 mentioned above, you should be in business. I'd think you'd want to start by placing one C-2 about 36"-40" above the snare pointing directly at the center of the head. Try the other off to the drummer's right maybe 4"-6" above the floor tom also pointing directly at the center of the snare head. The other C-2 must be the same distance from the snare as the 1st.

Try the snare mic a couple of inches above the outer rim pointing downward at the head. Small changes in height and angle can make a big difference here.

I haven't figured out the kick part yet. Probably depends a great deal on whether you have both heads, or a hole in the outer head, how the drum is tuned and what kind of kick sound you want. Currently I just point a mic at the outer head an inch or two away off center - kinda like I'm mic'ing a guitar cab.

Better yet - try googling "recorderman" or "Glyn Johns" techniques. One of those is what I am trying to describe above. Just can't remember which one.
 
Options?

This is probably too old to post to, but your mic choice and miking style depends on the type of music your recording.

If it was me in that situation I would buy a Shure SM-57 for the snare which is listed at $99 on Sweetwater and if your really strapped for cash I would get two of those (one on snare the other on the kick, no its not the best option but it sounds like you don't have a lot of other options), but if you want to spend a little extra cash I would go for a Sennheiser e602 for the kick drum, which is listed at $160.

And I find that the Glyn Johns technique (as mentioned in another post) works best with large diaphragm condensers and only works well if you have a great sounding room and a great player.

You could also throw a 57 on the snare and a 602 on the kick (assuming this is what you go for) and one c2 as on overhead above the middle of the kit and use the other as a room mic that you can just compress the snot out of. Or just do a spaced pair for overheads.
 
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