I've been recording a lot more drums lately, and want to know your thoughts on overheads vs. underheads, as in mics underneath the cymbals. I usually use one condenser over the entire kit for cymbals and toms, and another dynamic mic under the second crash, ride, and (in my case) china. I find that I get a really great cymbal sound out of this underhead. I'm using an extremely cheap Samson R21 with a lot of midrange. I'm working with a very limited mic locker. Can anyone offer their experiences and preferences? Do you use all over, all under, or some mixture?
Underheads vs. Overheads
- Thread starter AJ679
- Start date
witzendoz
Senior Member
I have seen it done and it worked well, the engineer in that case used ribbon mics under the cymbals, the ribbons being fig8 rejected a lot of the drum spill. I recently went to a live show where they did not use overheads, they had cymbal mics pointing side on the cymbals and a ride mic under, this also sounded very good. Just shows there are many ways to get a result.
Alan.
Alan.
Rejects spill a treat, and can work.
If it's an either/or choice I think you'd probably get more mileage out of overheads for a full kit sound (inc toms, snare etc), but underheads could work if you played with the placement for long enough...
Very much depends on what mics are in your limited locker.
If it's an either/or choice I think you'd probably get more mileage out of overheads for a full kit sound (inc toms, snare etc), but underheads could work if you played with the placement for long enough...
Very much depends on what mics are in your limited locker.