New to drum recording

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Bews

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My friend wants me to record his drums, and I've been wanting to get into drum recording so I'm going to get some mics for it. But I'm just wondering what the best way to mic up a rock style drum kit. He has one kick, a snare, three toms, i ride, 1 crash, 1 china and his hats.

My initial plan was to use 7 mics, two overhead condensers, one kick mic, a shure sm-57 on the snare, and individual dynamics on each tom. And then run all of those through a PreSonus FirePod (I need to buy one of those too, I want to track all my mics separately, of course.) Now, I'm hearing maybe shouldn't use so many mics because of how difficult it is to get a good sound. So I'm just wondering what the best way to record rock style drums would be. Thank you.
 
For rock style drums I'd do what you were thinking of.
You don't "Have To" use all the tracks if they dont add anything. Once they are recorded, listen to just the kick and snare mic, then add overheads, then add tom mics to taste only if they are needed.You may want to trim some of the high end off the toms and compress the snot out of them or something.
I agree that the fewer the mics you can get away with the cleaner the sound is, but sometimes dependant on the kit or song you may want the option of using some tom mics to add some beef to the kit.

Tom
 
Personally, I'd get the over heads sounding good and then add the kik and the snare, but that's a minor difference. In the end, you'll end up needing them to all sound good together anyway.

But, honestly, man, if you're new to recording drums, I would go with 4 mics, nothing more. In fact, even if you're not new to recording drums, I'd still go with just kik, snare and 2 overheads. You're inviting all kinds of phase issues/problems with every mic you add. With proper mic placement, you should get a great sound out of the overheads and then add your kik and snare.
Just my opinion and that's the way I work. But like Tmix said, you can always use every mic you have and you're not obliged to use those tracks in the end.
 
i've found that you can adequatly mic a drum kit with 4 mics (two overheads, a snare, and a kick), but for a much better sound, consider 5 mics. two overheads, a snare, a kick, and then place a mic on a stand at a place in the room where the kit sounds the best. have your friend play his kit, and walk around the room until you find a "sweet spot". place a condenser mic (a vocal condenser works well for this) at that point at about ear level. it'll add a ton to your overall drum sound.

if you have enough mics and enough tracks, mic each of the toms (or at least the floor tom) with a mic as well, but keep the room mic too.
 
Alot of it depends on the room.

I use 8 mics on a kit with a kick, snare, one rack tom, one floor tom, two cymbals and a hi-hat.

You need to be aware of phase issues. Use the search function if you need info.
 
I have found it pretty neccessary to double mic the snare, top and bottom
 
Lately I've been bringing it back to basics and getting a better sound. OH's, kick, snare and now a room mic
I'm thinkin the key to a good sound (after tuning and a good room) is OH placement. Ya get a good stereo blend here and it seems the rest of the kit just falls into place.
And the room mic has become my friend. :) It seems to add a crispness and depth.
Of course, having a decent room helps... :D

FWIW......
 
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