Yet another drum micing question

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DropD

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Ok, suppose I have a drum kit miced with 4 mics (bass drum, snare, 2 OHs) and the sound is pretty good. But suppose I have a 5th mic available, actually a dynamic AT Midnight blue (the cheap ones). Also, suppose I do have an extra input on my stereo mixer... What would I do with the 5th mic? I thought, maybe the tom, but he has 4 toms (yep, 1 bass drum, 4 toms!) so I would need at least 2 mic, or I could mic the hi-hat, but I suppose a dynamic wouldn't do for that job. Am I better using only the aforementionned 4 mics or is there a use for a 5th mic? The sound of the kit is quite good with the 4 mic, there's 2 thing that could be improved though: the snare mic picks up too much of the snare, so even if I have those two XY paired OH that gives a good stereo imaging, the hi-hat is not panned enough to the right. I was using a cardiod mic for the snare. The other thing i don't like is that the toms have a weak sound because they are picked only by the OHs. They're loud enough in the mix, but close miking them would probably give a stronger sound. Anyway, what should I do with a 5th mic in your opinion?
 
If the 5th mic is not that great, I would not use it. Get the best drum sounds you can with the overheads - this is going to be your main mix. As mentioned, Mic the snare and kick. After setting your overheads in the mix, bring up the level of the snare and kick enough to make them have more meat, but not too much where they drown the toms.

The main thing is to experiment with different mic positions. It may take a few tries to find the right sounds.
 
I agree with fishmed. If your mic sucks drop it.

I would use a mic on the Hihat if in your music, it plays an important part.

You wrote that your snare mic picks up to much snare ?!?!
And why is that a problem ?

As to the tom problem - how do you place the XY mics ?.
Are you pointing them downwards at the set ?
Are you panning the OH hard left and right?
How high are they above the kit. Try 3 three feet

Good Luck
 
About the hi-hat bleeding through the snare: it's not that important, but it puts the hi-hat at the center, I'd like it to be more at right.

The OH were maybe 2 feet over the toms, panned hard left and right, one pointing in the ride/floor tom direction, the other between the hi-hat and the toms.
 
Yeah, I have to add, that the best drum sounds ive ever gotten were with 3 mics, 2 overheads and one on the kicker, I try to keep it to a minimum, less to mess up, and when u have something that sounds good, dont mess with it.. u know the saying, if its not broken, dont fix it...
 
If you have another mic, spare channel and spare track on your recorder do it. Distance mic it, put it outside, on the floor, in the kick drum.. If you have the opportunity for any other device to capture sound.. do it. Never know, you may end up using a bit of signal.
 
Okay, don't laugh at this, try it. Works well for me. 4 toms, assuming 2 rack, 2 floor. Get close and splash the 5th mic. Put one mic between the two racked toms, one mic between the two floors. One in the kick and adjust your snare mic, or get an omni and place it on the upper left side of the snare so some of the cymbals will bleed over. Don't aim the tom down, keep them almost parallel with the floor. This way, you'll pick up the cymbals pretty good. Before you lay tracks, roll up the 10K on the eq on the tom mics. This will ring out the cymbals a little more. This spacing will eliminate phase cancellations.
Like I said, don't laugh.....
 
Whoops, this is what I meant:
Don't aim the MIC down, keep them almost parallel with the floor. This way, you'll pick up the cymbals pretty good. Before
 
Drop D- don't feel so bad- I'd be happy if my drummer only had four rack and one floor!
Instead I have to deal with, (L to R):

set of timbales
roto toms
three rack toms
two floor toms
and a mounted 22" gong bass drum
and directly behind a percusion table!
not to mention a sea of cymbals and chimes
(including but not limited to- 3 chinas, a gong, extra hi-hats, and bells and chimes and triangles!!!)

As to your question, I'd try the fifth mic under the snare to get more "snare" sound in addition to the attack of the top mic.
 
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