Recording a Drum Kit
Click on the diagram for a bigger picture…
1. XY Pair Overheads
- Condensers, preferably matched
- Excellent stereo image
- Phase cancellation kept to a minimum
2. Spaced Overheads
- Condensers, preferably matched
- Simple set-up; 2 mics about 5 feet from the ground and 5-15 feet in front of the kit
- With close mics; spaced omnis several feet above the kit, 2-5 feet apart
3. Bass Drum
- Large diaphragm dynamic mic
- Closer to the head; adds warmth and fullness
- Moving back; emphasises high-frequency 'click'
- Close to beater; emphasises hard 'thud'
- Off-centre mic; captures characteristic skin tone
- Damping the beater head with a blanket can tighten a dull tone's transients
- Cut at 300-600Hz; reduces dull tone
- Boost at 2.5-5kHz; adds 'click'
4. Snare (top head)
- Dynamic
- Cardioid or Hypercardioid
- Aimed just inside the top rim, about 1" away, or
- Aimed toward the centre of the head, pointing away from adjacent drums or cymbals
5. Snare (bottom head)
- A condenser gives a 'snap' to the spring sound
- Crisp or bright tone; reverse the bottom mic's phase (∅) and combine the two mics on a single track
6. Hi-Hat
- Condenser
- Placed above the top cymbal; helps pick up sharp stick attacks
- Edge; crisp, hissy sound
- Centre; metallic, more stick 'click'
- The hi-hat movement can 'blow' air onto the mic; angle the mic slightly above or below the cymbal's meeting point
- Point mic away from the snare to increase separation
- The hi-hat and snare can be picked up simultaneously by one mic; place the mic between the two, facing away from the toms
7. Toms
- Dynamic
- Individual 'dead' miking; about 1" from the top head and 1" to 2" in from the outer rim
- Individual 'live' miking; increase the height to 3" to 6"
- 1 mic can be used for both rack toms; place the mic between the two at a short distance
8. Alternative Tom Miking
- To reduce leakage and get a deep, driving tone; place mic inside the tom, 1" to 6" away from the top head
- Can sound 'boxy' with a lot of resonance
9. Ambient Bass Drum Mic (PZM)
- Full, natural sound
- Can be used instead of, or as well as, a dynamic mic
- Subject to spill problems
- Always position the mic stands so that one of the three legs lies directly under the boom arm to prevent toppling
- Make sure the mic stands don't touch any of the drum or cymbal stands to avoid mechanical shocks to the mic
- Don't put the microphones where the drummer might hit them -- the mic will probably survive but the speakers might not!
- Condenser mics can be used in place of dynamics on the drums; their transient response and high-frequency handling is superior, resulting in different tones
© Matt Bellingham 2003 – 2006
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
