Room Mic Placement?

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Newbie dude

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I know this is a terrible, but if I wanted to record a whole drum kit with only one mic[ shure sm-57], where the the best position to place it to get a good sound?
 
This may seem obvious,..but,..put it where it sounds best. No-one can tell you where that mic is gonna sound best in your space. You have to experiment and listen. If someone tells you,.."oh one 57 for drums,..put it 3 ft. awy from the snare at 45 degree angle,..blah blah blah" There full of shit.

By the way,..depending on the material,..you may get all the drum sound you want with one mic. Whatever works and sounds good.

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood
 
Tape it to the drummer's chest.
Actually I've wanted to do that but have'nt. ;) But it can sound pretty good in and around the drummer's head.
 
I have recorded my drums with just one mic, and I have a buddy that made an e.p. using just one mic for everything. He used it for his vocals, guitar, bass, and drums... and the one mic just happened to be a sm-57 :D

Anyways, if you can afford to buy another mic (even if it's a real cheap-0) I think you'd be better off. That way you can put the other mic in the kick and use the 57 overhead.

Buying another mic would really help you out. Because just an overhead mic is not going to pickup any bass drum (unless you happen to recording a cocktail kit or something). So, you're going to have to get creative with placing you mic.

If you can't afford to buy another mic.... here's the postion I used to record my kit with just one mic. (And like somebody else said, this probally won't work for your room / kit, but maybee it will give you a starting point).

https://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/JazzMasterWil/drum.jpg

(Please excuse the horrid artwork). I hope this helps :D
 
You're right I should of phrased that differently..... When I recording with just one overhead mic, I didn't get enough bass drum for the style of music I play.
 
The flaming lips recorded The Soft Bulletin with just one mic for drums (although i'd bet it was a really nice LDC) and managed huge drum sounds, including the bass drum. I'm not sure where they placed it though.
 
Kasey said:
The flaming lips recorded The Soft Bulletin with just one mic for drums (although i'd bet it was a really nice LDC) and managed huge drum sounds, including the bass drum. I'm not sure where they placed it though.
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where you read this?
 
Kasey said:
The flaming lips recorded The Soft Bulletin with just one mic for drums (although i'd bet it was a really nice LDC) and managed huge drum sounds, including the bass drum. I'm not sure where they placed it though.
Click to expand...

There was a thread on here somewhere a few days ago where they took one drum track (one mic) and made stereo drums with it INCLUDING a full bass drum. Takes a lot of work, but it can be done........

I've done tracks with just OH's, and I believe some of Bonhams drums are one mic (albeit a stereo mic) - he had a pretty full bass drum sound as well.
 
NL5 said:
There was a thread on here somewhere a few days ago where they took one drum track (one mic) and made stereo drums with it INCLUDING a full bass drum. Takes a lot of work, but it can be done........

I've done tracks with just OH's, and I believe some of Bonhams drums are one mic (albeit a stereo mic) - he had a pretty full bass drum sound as well.
Click to expand...


Interesting. Seems kind of pointless though :rolleyes: Why put yourself through the misery of recording a mono track drum set and try to make it sound stereo. just listened to some of those flaming lips tracks, that type of drum mixing could be done much easier just recording in stereo in the first place.
 
frankieballsss said:
Interesting. Seems kind of pointless though :rolleyes: Why put yourself through the misery of recording a mono track drum set and try to make it sound stereo. just listened to some of those flaming lips tracks, that type of drum mixing could be done much easier just recording in stereo in the first place.
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Absolutely. :D I mic the bejeezus out of the drum kit. We have done scrtach takes for writing where we just ran overheads, and we were surprised how good they actually sound.

If you only have one mic though, it can be done............
 
If you do decide to go with an LDC (which is what I used to use to record my drums with just one mic) check out the Samson C03, it's only 100 bucks and it has 3 different patterns..... I've also gotten decent results with it on acoustic guitars.
 
JazzMasterWil said:
You're right I should of phrased that differently..... When I recording with just one overhead mic, I didn't get enough bass drum for the style of music I play.
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Then you need to lower it a little, and aim it at the drummer's kick drum knee.



Tim
 
JazzMasterWil said:
If you do decide to go with an LDC (which is what I used to use to record my drums with just one mic) check out the Samson C03, it's only 100 bucks and it has 3 different patterns..... I've also gotten decent results with it on acoustic guitars.
Click to expand...


Ugh!! Disgusting!! You used the terms "Samson" and "LDC" in the same sentence in a positive light! :p


Tim
 
Tim Brown said:
Then you need to lower it a little, and aim it at the drummer's kick drum knee.
Click to expand...

Good deal man. I'll give that a try. A lot of times I just need to do a "rough draft" of a song. And if I could just a decent result doing that, it'd save me a lot of headaches. I'll give that a try for real....... :)

Mic placement is one of the hardest thing for us newbies.... It's the kind of thing that only comes with trial & error, and patience. And I can only do so much "trial and error" before I loose my patience.

Anyways, I've been thinking about upgraded to a computer based system, and some of the usb options in my price range can only record two mics at a time. If I could get a really good overhead sound with one mic, and a really good kick sound with the other, I'd be in heaven. (And I wouldn't have to spend as much money on a interface that can handle more mics :D )

Tim Brown said:
Ugh!! Disgusting!! You used the terms "Samson" and "LDC" in the same sentence in a positive light!
Click to expand...

Ok, ok I know it's not the best ldc in the world, but I'm in newbie bliss with mine. It's the first condensor mic I ever bought (and my other two are horrid little cad "pencil condensors" that came in a cad drum mic package..... yuck :( )

So far it's been pretty useful. I use the "super cardioid" pattern for acoustic, the "omni" pattern when using it as an overhead and (I know this will sound dumb to some of the more experience guys out there) but I'll turn my amp around so it faces the wall and use the "figure 8" pattern to kind of get some slapback kind of sounds..... To my untrained ears, it makes the guitar track sound a little fatter.

If it makes you feel any better I'm having up for atleast one (hopefully I can get a pair though) of Oktava 012 mics and if I can at all swing it, a beta 52.
 
recording my bands practise at church last friday, this is what i did:

1 sennheiser e845 about 7 feet above the floor tom, pointing to the middle of the kit
1 sennheiser e845 on the other side, also about 7 feet high
1 akg d190 about 2/3 feet in front of the kit, facing at the top of the bass drum.

at one point, i muted everything except the akg in front of the kit, and it sounded surprisingly good! so i guess you just gotta see what sounds good. it may not be what you thought would.
 
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