Recording drums, help me mic my drum kit

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Oh! Henry

New member
So I'm going to be recording a 4 piece drums kit next week for my rockabilly project. Got some new skins tuned up real nicely, Not the best/biggest room, but I have some blankets and bass traping up and although the ceiling is kindof low, it's made up of acoustic tile so it does absorb more than regular drywalled ceiling. I have my living room available also which is bigger and taller, but I won't have the same bass trapping as my basement studio space, but will be able to move around some blankets. Would you guys recomend using the bigger space or stay in the smaller treated space?

So far, I've done some decent tracking using recorderman technique augmented with snare and kick mic. Generally speaking the sound was well balanced, but I was left wanting more from my toms. This time around we have a few swing songs with a jungle beat going on toms so I'm gonna want to spot mic them. Here's what I have available in my mic closet:

Shure SM58
Shure SM57
Heil PR40
Fathead II (x2)
Oktava mc012 (x2)
GAP R1 Mk3 (active)
AT 4040
78 shure vintage green bullet

I have a 8 input soundcard, and my plan was to go with Fatheads on overheads, Heil for the kick, oktavas on snare and hihat, shures on the toms, and either the GAP as a room mic, but will maybe experiment with the green bullet for a more low fi room sound. I'm just curious to see what your opinions are as far as mic choices, and where you would place them?
Thanks
Henry
 
This doesn't really answer you actual question, but since you mentioned being happy with "Recorderman" except for the toms, I'll throw out a suggeston. I do this with all my drum tracks.

I also use Recorderman (actually a hybrid of Recorderman and Glyn Johns, but anyway....). After I record my 4 tracks, I take my overhead track, copy it to another track, and then cut out everything but the toms on the copied track. Instant "Tom" track. You can then do whatever you want to your tom tracks without disturbing your overhead track.

Not really your question, but maybe something that will help you.
 
Hey Rami

Yeah, I remember reading about your technique on another thread, and I found it interesting. I did manage to process my tracks to bring out some nice low end from my overheads, I hadn't thought of doing it on a modified individual track though so that idea is always possible. I figure that since I have 8 inputs available, that I have nothing to loose by spot micing (or miking for those that don't like rodents ;)
 
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Oh! Henry said:
Hey Rami

Yeah, I remember reading about your technique on another thread, and I found it interesting. I did manage to process my tracks to bring out some nice low end from my overheads, I hadn't thought of doing it on a modified individual track though so that idea is always possible. I figure that since I have 8 inputs available, that I have nothing to loose my spot micing (or miking for those that don't like rodents ;)
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Oh, well yeah. If you have the option of spot micing, then go for it. My "solution" is for someone who doesn't want to go out and buy 3 or 4 more mics along with the mics stands and cables, but still wants to have the ability to manipulate his toms on a separate track. :cool:
 
I use both recorderman and Glyn Johns together all the time. I'd use the Oktava's in recorderman and set up the fat heads in Glyn Johns. Mic snare & kick and you've covered most everything with only 6 channels. Important to pay attention to phase but as long as you set the Glyn Johns at some multiple of the recorderman mic distance you should be fine but always check phase just to be sure.
 
Interesting! Never thought of using both techniques toghether. How does using both techniques together complement each other? Do you process the track differently?
 
Simman said:
I use both recorderman and Glyn Johns together all the time. I'd use the Oktava's in recorderman and set up the fat heads in Glyn Johns. Mic snare & kick and you've covered most everything with only 6 channels. Important to pay attention to phase but as long as you set the Glyn Johns at some multiple of the recorderman mic distance you should be fine but always check phase just to be sure.
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Can you explain this? I always say that I use both, but what I mean is that I'm still only using the 2 mics (plus kik and snare), it's just that the shoulder mic isn't quite at my shoulder like Recorderman, but it isn't quite by the floor tome like Glyn Johns either. What do you mean by using both techniques?
 
RAMI said:
Can you explain this? I always say that I use both, but what I mean is that I'm still only using the 2 mics (plus kik and snare), it's just that the shoulder mic isn't quite at my shoulder like Recorderman, but it isn't quite by the floor tome like Glyn Johns either. What do you mean by using both techniques?
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Sure let me see if I can explain. Mic on kick and snare are self explanatory. First I use SDC setup in Recorderman. Measure the distance of the OHs to the drums. Then I set up another set of mics (ribbons usually but could be any mic -if not using ribbons LDC are my choice) . I position these mics using Glyn Johns method at a distance some multiple (usually 2 - 3 times) of the recorderman mics distance from the drums. This helps with phase alignment but always check. Hight on the "Johns" mics vary depending on what you want more of (toms or cymbals) but they usually get a pretty good image of the kit. In essence the Glyn Johns are more like room mics since they capture more "room" in the drum image. I generally set the height at mid rack tom and use the snare as the center point of the mic configuration but depends on song.

So I have 2 channels of recorderman OHs, 2 channels of Glen Johns "OHs", 1 channel kick, 1 channel snare - record all - send each mic to separate track and mix to taste.

Hope that explains it but if not, I'm happy to address specific questions.
 
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In your case, the Fatheads will be darker and with the different mic method you get a completely different image of the kit. Processing varies depending on the song.
 
Cool. Bottom line is try EVERYTING! :D I've even tried sticking a mic in a metal bucket but there was beer involved in that one :drunk:.
 
Well, we had our recording session, and I went with the standard tom micing with OV on the drums. I gave the glyn + recorderman technique a try but I didn't I quite get the idea of using both together. There was a difference in their sound, but I atribute it more to the different type of mics (Fathead and Okktave 012) rather than technique. It did however help me decide on my overhead mics and their placement so the experiment had it's uses.

I have little to no experience in drum recording, but learned alot about mic placement. The snare was a challenge but finaly decided on an AT4040 on the side of the snare just barely looking over the top of the rim, gave a nice balance of top attack and some bottom sizzle! wound up using a GAP R1 for a room mic since I wanted something cleaner for this session, but got to experiment with an old Turner mic for the room. Gave a really nice old school rockabilly vibe, will definatley use on another session!

Now on to the upright!!!!
 
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