Question about Over Head Mic Placment for drums.

  • Thread starter Thread starter chadsxe
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chadsxe

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I am tracking drums this weekend in a not so ideal room so I have to close mic everything outside of the over heads. I am going to mic the kick, snare, tom1, tom2, tom3, two over heads, and maybe the HiHats. My question involves over head mic placement. For those who took the time to partake in the Public Mix Contest #4 on the Mp3 Clinic forum https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=134055 and download the audio files you will know what I am talking about. One of the overhead pics up the Hihats more then anything else and the other one pics up the ride more. Is this what I am shooting for when using over heads? I though one overhead mic was suppose to be over the left shoulder and out a little bit while the other was suppose to be behind the right shoulder and out. If this mic setup was used I wouldn’t get a localized hihat and have to add a hihat mix right? The thing is there was no Hihat mic used in the Public Mix Contest. What kind of over head mic placement was used to localize the hit hat/ride but still give a stereo image.
 
The thread that Fletcher is linking to has a great idea from Fletcher himself in it about how to have "overhead" mics, but not have to deal with the inherent problems overhead mics will have in a low ceiling room. I have used the "in front" method several times in small studios with low ceilings, and can attest that it works quite well. (really, ignore Ethans suggestion....most people WILL NOT pay the kind of money they would need to to make a ceiling "fully absorbent" like he is suggesting...........)

If I don't get enough ride or hi hat on the "overhead" mics, I will mic them seperately. I have seldom had to do this. Generally speaking, I am looking for mic placements that give a good stereo image, but DOWN PLAYS how loud the hi hat is! LOL

Good luck.
 
So much for my wide and behind spaced pair technique.

I've used scd's up high and behind a tad with the mics pointing sort of to a cymbal nuetral zone on the opposite side of where the mic is. I move em around until I get a balance of the cymbals in the stereo field and then check for phasing. Then move them again to minimize phasing, red tape on the floor goes where the stand was to make sure I don't go back to previosly bad places. Every thing is measured to be equidistant. Low Cut usually to take some kick out on.

Sometimes it works....

Sometimes it don't....

SoMm
 
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