Recording drums with only one condenser...

[gilwe]

I just read an interview with Phill Brown who engineered the two "Talk Talk" great albums "Spirit of Eden" and "Laughing Stock". Well, the went on recording the drums using a Neumann U47 placed 30 feet away from the drum kit to create the feeling that the drums are away behind the whole group. Listening to these really two great albums I can say the drums are presented in a very natural way and are nicely balanced.

How many of you ever tried this kind of setup for recording drums and how good can sound quality and mix really get when using only one condenser for this purpose ? (or at most an additional mic for bass drum)

 

[wjgypsy]

well, for one thing, my studio isn't 30 feet across! (hee hee) but all i know is this: if you want the drum sound to sound more "real" and "warm" use 1 or 2 room mics along with the close mics to get a good sound.



zeke

 

[Markd102]

I think there are three main ingredients needed to do this well (apart from the U47).

1. A quality player
2. A quality, well tuned kit
3. A really nice sounding room.

Basically if your drums don't sound good and well balanced acoustically, then you're not going to have much luck with one room mic.

 

[int]

If I were to 1 mic a drumset I would put the mic out front of the kit (or wherever it sounds best) and have the drummer figure out the balance via headphones, if he's worth a damn. Otherwise, mic and pray.

 

[DigitMus]

I have successfully miked a drumkit with a single mic once. The mic was a Neumann M149, the kit, room and drummer were all excellent. I didn't do it from 30 feet, but was somewhere in the 15-20 foot range. On other occcasions, I haven't been able to pull it off, but have been successful using just 1 condenser + a kick mic.

Scott

 

[Stefan Elmblad]

I have recorded drumsets with only one microphone..in fact I've recorded a whole band with just one but that's another story.

The good thing with drums (as opposed to band members) is that they dont move, experiment with mik placements and record small takes of various settings until you find the sweet spot. Easy enough, but it (usually) takes a lot of time. Try ALL spots, sometimes the best balance between all drums can be found in weird places.

 

[Recording Engineer]

Listen to what Markd102 has to say. Plus, the others about experimental mic placement.

By the way, compression "effect" has big-time help in this situation too. The most common? Of course, the 1176 4-button trick.