The ultimate drum recording challenge.

[VomitHatSteve]

OK, here's my setup. I have 2 Samson s12 microphones, a Behringer Eurorack mixing board, an M-Audio audiophile sound card, Audacity, and Livewire.

The drum set consists of a bass drum, three toms, one snare, one high hat, two cymbals, stick clicks, and maybe a cowbell.

My "studio" (AKA bedroom) is about 14'x14' and full of sound dampening surfaces such as my bed and bookshelves.

What would be the best way to mic and record the trap set? SHould I just try to mic the whole room? Should I mic the room and one specific drum(s) such as kick and cymbals? Will I have to mic individual drums and do many seperate takes and tracks?

Whoever best answers wins! The prize is...um... I suppose a bump to your rep...if you're in the Eau Claire, WI are, You could get some fruitcake too...

 

[Carter]

Im assuming that you have the audiophile 24/96 with 2 ins, so that makes it hard to mic all components, usually I will mic the snare, kick, and two overheads.

This is possible for you (with two more mics) if you want to send a sub mix from your mixer, but then you have no control over the seperate drums. So for what you have I would mic the snare and the other mic for your overhead.

 

[scrubs]

1: have someone play the drums. walk around the room and find the spot where the drums sound best (good balance). set up your mics as a stereo pair there.

2: carefully place the mics as overheads, from behind the kit, literally over the drummer's head, equidistant from the snare, similar to the technique described here.

3: single overhead, plus either a snare or kick mic, depending on what sounds more deficient to you when listening to the overhead.

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

Here's a tip: don't try to record in a square room. It really accentuates the resonant frequency of the room. Try to set up baffling to make it 14x11 or something.

 

[chessrock]

With only two mics, I'd look for a spot in front of the kit, and use a stereo XY pattern.

Reason I say out front is because it's the only place where you're likely to get a full enough balance.

If you put 'em overhead, then you lose the kick. Put 'em off to the side somewhere and you lose the kick and the tom. Place them out front, and you'll lose just a little bit of the snare attack, but toms and kick will be nice and powerful, cymbals shouldn't be too brash ... and overall it will make for about the best possible balance you can reasonably hope for with only two mics.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

With only two mics, I'd look for a spot in front of the kit, and use a stereo XY pattern.

What is a stereo XY pattern?

Thank you all for helping me with this!

 

[tourettes5139]

Here ya go:

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Wow! That looks expensive! It can be jury rigged with regular stands and duct tape, right? (seriously, I don't have clips, so I use duct tape.)

 

[jkokura]

Wow! That looks expensive! It can be jury rigged with regular stands and duct tape, right? (seriously, I don't have clips, so I use duct tape.)

Yes that's possible...but the key is to make sure the mics are at 90 degrees from each other and they shouldn't touch...take your time taping and make sure it's sturdy too...

Jacob

 

[LemonTree]

Wow! That looks expensive! It can be jury rigged with regular stands and duct tape, right? (seriously, I don't have clips, so I use duct tape.)

Forget the shockmounts and look at the position of the mic's, that's XY stereo. I'd go about 4 feet out in front and just above snare level and have a listen then ajust from there