two questions about recording drums

  • Thread starter Thread starter karambos2
  • Start date Start date
karambos2

karambos2

New member
I have to record drums next week. I've never done it before. I've got one Neumann TLM103, one Shure SM57, two Shure SM58's and one Sennheiser 421 at my disposal (note: no bass drum mic)

I don't mind buying a bassdrum mic but which? The AKG D112? The Sennheiser E602? Something by Peavey? That's my first question.

Then my next question is: how? I've got a 16 track mixer and a soundcard with two ins and two outs. I figure one mic for the bass (centred) the SM57 for the snare (panned slightly right) one SM58 for the toms and the Neumann for an overhead. All the mics connected to the mixer and then sent to a subgroup going to the soundcard.

Does that sound good? Bad? Any further suggestions?

Cheers
 
You have the Sennheiser MD421. That's one of the standard kick mics.

Ditto for the 57 on snare.
 
Like Mark7 said the MD421 will be your kick mic.

Depending on the type of music you are doing, you may be better off commiting one track to the kick and the other to a mono blend of snare and overhead.
I am a recording Drummer. If I am doing songs that don't require a lot of cymbal work or toms I'll often record with just a kick and snare mic. The snare mic always has enough hi hat bleed to be fine. Recoding with the fewest mics possible is quieter (background noise) but even more so , gives more depth to your sound because of a bunch of mics fighting with each other.(Unless you have a great room to record in).

Having said that you can always mic everthing up and after a few takes make a decent stereo mix to record live to 2 tracks. You wont be able to make any changes in kit relationships later though.

I would suggest putting the MD421 inside the front head of the kick (you have a front head dont you?) about 6-8 inches from the beater (closer if you want more snap). The Snare mic (SM57) about 1 inch off the head just inside the rim pointed slightly toward the center of the snare. If you come from below the hi hat area it will minimize the amount of hat sound in the mic. Moving it toward the front of the kit (near your toms) will increase the amount of hats in the snare mic. Adjust to taste.

Don't make the error of trying to totally isolate each drum sound. It is a KIT! It is perfectly natural for the bleed to be there, use it to your advantage. Use other mics to add other aspects of your kit (Toms-Cymbals) only if deficient.

Hope that helps some.

Tom
 
Hi all,

really great advice. Thankyou all.

I've ended up with a Beyerdynamic opus 99 for the bass drum.

I have another question now regarding the "direction" that one should point the mic in when recording the snare (and toms). I've heard conflicting advice. Namely:

1) you should point the snare mic directly at the drum and
2) you should point the snare mic "across" the drum.

which is correct?
 
Both!

It depends entirely on the sound you are going for.
Pointing a mic perpendicular to the head close to the edge will give you a lot of tone and not a lot of stick sound. It can tend to soundthick and mudy but when added to an overhead mic work OK.

Pointing the mic slightly off axis toward the middle will give you more attack and a little less body sound.

Experiment and see which one is more appropriate for your kit and mic selection.
 
Mic'ing drums is alot like cooking a gourmet meal. When you cook a gourmet meal you don't follow a recipe exact, you add things and season to taste. Mic'ing your drums has variable factors to it but it all boils down to WHAT YOU LIKE to hear.
To illustrate what everyone talks about of the sound of the drums you might try mic'ing everything and record the whole kit, if it is possible to do so. I have found recording in as little as 4 tracks, subgrouped of course, helps you to find the sound you might be looking for because the ability to fine tune the whole kit. Meaing you can compare actual sound versus bleed sounds. Sounds that are bled from other mic's sound different then the mic placed over the drum itself. I learned how I like to mic my drums and what sounds good by experimenting with mic placement and tuning using a comparitive method. Again all this is a matter of the type of sound you like. Remember, everyone hears things differently according to their likes just as food tastes different according to what you like.
Good luck!
 
I'm a drummer of 22 years and have been recording for about 5 years. I just started mic'ing my drums instead of recording with my ROLAND kit so I am learning alot about mic'ing. if you mic your kick and snare and have an overhead mic you can really get a fair sound.

If you meant that you only had two tracks for the drums to be recorded to, I highly recommend that you figure out a way to get 3 tracks b/c you need independent tone control for each track. Once you start adding music to the mix around the drums it will change alot and you'll have to compensate each drum and overhead in individual ways.

wurd
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top