Recording drums with one mic

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sk8man121

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So, I'm in a bit of a predicament...
I am trying to record my drums with ONE vocal mic, because it's all I have on hand these days (don't ask why...long story). It will go directly into my tascam dp-01fx multitracker, and it will inevitably sound like shit. Does anyone have any tips as to how I can make the drums sound decent with the equipment I have on hand? There are some pretty decent on board effects on the tascam, but I'm wondering if there are any other suggestions that someone could give me.
 
I could have almost just used two mics (re20s, chest height, far from the kit) on some drum recording I did... try for at least 2, that way you get something of a stereo image..
 
I've done a fair amount of my drum tracks over the last decade or so using just a single omni mike about three feet above the snare, maybe a bit toward the floor tom. You might try that, though a vocal mike isn't going to give you the accurate low end you get from an omni. It will still give you a fair sampling of direct sound from everything but the kick and you'll get some kick sound, too. If you can kill off some room tone, too, that might help. Try moving the cymbals down low, so they aren't much closer to the overhead than the snare and toms. Good luck!

Cheers,

Otto
 
Record the drum(s) track twice. Once with the mic above the kit and again with the mic low in front of the bass drum. If the two tracks are tight they can be blended to sound fairly decent. It wont have much of a stereo sound but many people tend to center drums anyway so dont worry too much about this part.
 
For the actual drums: Record them one drum at a time and use something like Drumagog to replace (trigger) each one of them with a properly recorded sample. (I'm being serious). That's the only way you're going to get something usable out of a one-mic drum recording setup. I can only imagine how long that will take you....you would probably be better off programming your drums.

For the cymbals: After you have either programmed or recorded the drums one at a time and replaced (triggered) their sound with commercial-quality samples, go back and record your cymbals - ONLY. Different drummers need different accommodations to be able to do this well, but figure out what you have to do, and do it.

Then, with your mono, cymbal-ONLY track, double it and pan one copy hard left, and one hard right. Then, timeshift the left side forward 10ms, and the right side backward 10ms. You now have an apparently stereo cymbal track, now you need to ride the pan for it all the way through the track so that your hats come out more on the left and your ride more on the right (or however your drums are setup, I guess).

That may seem ridiculous and it will take you a loooooonnnnnnng time to do - but you know what? If you do it right - It'll WORK! No, really...it will work. The only thing you need to actually capture the real sound of is your cymbals, and with the doubling/time shifting/pan riding trick I described, you can do it.
 
I'd put it a couple feet in front of the kit. Then toy around with vertical placement until you get a sound you like. If you think you're tight enough with your playing, then you can record the part several times with the mic in the various positions and it might sound better. Unfortunately, you'd have to know how to play the part EXACTLY the same several times.
 
rent or borrow a few mics if you can??

I dunno, I used the recorderman technique one some overheads, and it got the whole kit pretty well with only two mics...
 
Not used this method for many a year but I used to hang a vocal mic a few feet above the snare. Just don't expect miracles with a single vocal mic!
 
take that mic, about 4 feet out in front of the kit, probably about 6 inches higher than the top of your bass drum, pointed at the snare, and see what happens. works for some setups, doesnt for others. otherwise, just stick it straight over the kit, then move it out a little bit, point it at your right knee.
 
Have the drummer play. Move around in the vicinity of the kit (closer or further away, depending on how much room sound you want). When you find a spot where the kit sounds good, put the mic there.
 
IronFlippy said:
I'd put it a couple feet in front of the kit.
Click to expand...
this is what i would do. if you position it right, you should be able to get a good balance between kick, snare and cymbals.

i would punt on the "stack 2 takes on top of each other" thing. however, it would be quite easy to overdub additional kick and snare tracks to help fatten out the sound.

likewise, why not just record the kick, then record the snare, then record the cymbals? put it together like they put "Rock You Like a Hurricane" together, and you might end up with better results than tracking a "live" kit with a non-ideal mic.


it will never sound like a 10 piece kit that's all close mic'd, though. and your drum sounds will only be as good as the room they're played in.


cheers,
wade
 
ah ha! i'm sort of an afficiando (sic?) of not having much equipment! :rolleyes:

over the drummer's shoulder pointing between the kick and snare drum. works every time!
 
mikeyhasnobones said:
ah ha! i'm sort of an afficiando (sic?) of not having much equipment! :rolleyes:

over the drummer's shoulder pointing between the kick and snare drum. works every time!
Click to expand...

i second that but you still need a decent mic to get a decent sound.
 
this is easey just put your drumset under a ceiling fan and hang a mic off it
turn on the ceiling fan on low while you record and that should get you a little bit of everything and a whole lotta nothing
:)
 
TyphoidHippo said:
For the actual drums: Record them one drum at a time and use something like Drumagog to replace (trigger) each one of them with a properly recorded sample. (I'm being serious). That's the only way you're going to get something usable out of a one-mic drum recording setup. I can only imagine how long that will take you....you would probably be better off programming your drums.

For the cymbals: After you have either programmed or recorded the drums one at a time and replaced (triggered) their sound with commercial-quality samples, go back and record your cymbals - ONLY. Different drummers need different accommodations to be able to do this well, but figure out what you have to do, and do it.

Then, with your mono, cymbal-ONLY track, double it and pan one copy hard left, and one hard right. Then, timeshift the left side forward 10ms, and the right side backward 10ms. You now have an apparently stereo cymbal track, now you need to ride the pan for it all the way through the track so that your hats come out more on the left and your ride more on the right (or however your drums are setup, I guess).

That may seem ridiculous and it will take you a loooooonnnnnnng time to do - but you know what? If you do it right - It'll WORK! No, really...it will work. The only thing you need to actually capture the real sound of is your cymbals, and with the doubling/time shifting/pan riding trick I described, you can do it.
Click to expand...


Dude, this is just insane... and no offense!! But you're recording music. When you go hear a live band, you are hearing the drums, etc., and you are hearing the room. The room is important- it's half of what you hear- and you only have one set of ears- not "close ears", and "ambient ears", etc. No, you only have the ones attatched to your head, and they are more than likely far away from the drums. The drums have had extensive experience in that room before the sound has reached your (only one) set of ears. Therefore, the room is exercising a great deal of influence- more than you may realize- on what you are hearing. Let's not be unmindful of where we are- we are in a physical space.

Put the mic where it sounds best, and record the track. You are done.

The guy only has one mic.
 
sloom said:
Dude, this is just insane... and no offense!! But you're recording music. When you go hear a live band, you are hearing the drums, etc., and you are hearing the room. The room is important- it's half of what you hear- and you only have one set of ears- not "close ears", and "ambient ears", etc. No, you only have the ones attatched to your head, and they are more than likely far away from the drums. The drums have had extensive experience in that room before the sound has reached your (only one) set of ears. Therefore, the room is exercising a great deal of influence- more than you may realize- on what you are hearing. Let's not be unmindful of where we are- we are in a physical space.

Put the mic where it sounds best, and record the track. You are done.

The guy only has one mic.
Click to expand...

Actually you are wrong. You do have more than one set of "ears". Your brain is trained enough to help you hear things more legibly. Similar to how your eyes focus. Thats why people with hearing aids have such a hard time hearing in loud rooms etc.


IMO, get a few more mics, they are cheap. I could have bough 5 mics for what it cost me to fill my gas tank yesterday. Its going to be too much work to get something usable when you can just by a couple cheap mics and be on your way.

Or borrow them. If you lived closer to me I'd lend you whatever you need. I'm sure you could find some.
 
just rent another mic...they're very cheap to rent something like an sm58
 
VSpaceBoy said:
Actually you are wrong. You do have more than one set of "ears". Your brain is trained enough to help you hear things more legibly.
Click to expand...


This sort of supports using a simple stereo pair, according to "The Recording Studio Handbook" (John Woram). Check out the chapter called "Microphone Technique": A stero pair (I know we're not really talking about a stereo pair up to now) tends to hear the spacial relationships between sections of the ensemble. Using lots of mics tends to necessitate re-creating the original (or desired) space (now "lost information") during mixdown.

I only put this forward to challenge your suggestion (yes?) that more mics on a drum kit is essentially right-thinking. I've read the chapter, and it's very sensible logic.

On the other hand... a band I recorded with last summer used mics all over the place, in a pretty open (read: bleeding!)situation, and the guy who did the mix afterward was impressed with the nice job of capturing the signal into the Fostex HD recorder they were using. So I can't say you're wrong, and wouldn't. It either works or it doesn't!

I just think that one mic, well-placed, just might do a nice job of getting the kit onto disc. Why not just do it and find out?
 
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