drum mic question.. how to get the best live sound out of 2 mics
 

Hello... I am using a Studiolive 16.0.2 board with QSC K12s and a K sub in our system. I have 2 channels available for drums. I have an AKG D112 for my kick drum and I was kicking around ideas for the 2nd channel. I could just put a 57 on the snare and let the other stage mics pick up the cymbal bleed, or I could invest in a good overhead mic and go with a single overhead, behind the drummer, angled towards the center of the kit, obove the cymbals. Any other ideas? Suggestions for a good overhead mic? not pairs, just a single mic. I have a pair of behringer overheads that I've recorded with and gotten good sounds out of.

Is the drummer behind a spit shield (plexiglass cube)?
And does the drummer use IEMs?
A good omni overhead, and one mic for the kick might just do it.
Omni's get overlooked but there are appropriate uses for them live:
http://www.dpamicrophones.com/en/Mic...crophones.aspx

I have good luck mic'ing a drum kit with a kick mic plus a single overhead AKG C100S. As an additional bonus, it can operate on an internal 9V battery - you don't have to worry about phantom power.

I'd go with a "Ringo Drums" set up. one on the kick, one overhead.

Plus one on this. Snare will carry so no need to mic it.

No plexiglass shiled. Drummer used iEM

I'd do bass drum and overhead, too. And shields suck and I absolutely hate them. I want to hear the drums live. I don't want them in my monitor. And when we've used shields in the past, I can never hear the drums. If you can't get a good sound without a shield, I suggest retirement.

Here's a vid of a 2 mic setup that will allow you to capture a full stereo image. Requires some placement to do properly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X_kMItRI2s

I'm with the majority...kick drum and overhead. 'BOOM'!

How hard Cymbol hitter is the drummer.

You could also mic all the drums and submix them on another portable mixer, sending the stereo submix to the PA. It really depends on how much control you want over the individual drums and how loud the drums need to be in the PA.

Just for the sake of a different approach i'll suggest an omni
in the "knee" position (omni placed in the center of the kit, right around the drummers kick drum knee) and either an additional kick or overhead.
I've used this quite a bit in the studio as well as an additional mic live, and it can be excellent (my fav mic for this so far has been a shure ksm 141). In the knee position, the mic is fairly equally distant from all the shells, you get great attack and low end, and the cymbals are not an issue even if the player is a basher.
Great with a dab of compression and eq to taste.
Add the outside kick for more lows or overhead for more air.
(Obviously this might not work if your drummer is one of those guys that puts a cow bell in the knee position).

Although an SM57 is not the first mic I'd choose, don't be afraid to use a dynamic as an overhead. I mix a house band on Mondays and just use the bar's D112 on kick, my AKG D770 as an overhead, and a CAD clip-on mic to fill out the floor tom a bit. It's a small bar that doesn't really need an overhead, but there are fill speakers at the far end that really benefit, so I really lean on it. Since I can hear the overhead clearly at the far end, I can really tell how a dynamic mic picks up the shells well, thicker than my Rode NT5's which I love on overheads when the kit is fully mic'ed. The D770 is much brighter, cleaner, and fuller than an SM57, so it's particularly well suited.

The best part is with no snare mic, there's no delay phase issues between the snare mic and overhead, something that I find very fatiguing, more than most.

I use 1 kick mic and one overhead with decent results for live recording.
I put the overhead near the drummers right shoulder/ear pointed center kit.

Live recording example.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pc0wlf70lwlx55k/Der_Kommissar%20Master.mp3

With only 2 mikes ? M-S

I'd get a bigger board and mic everything. Or just do what Testing 1 Two said and get a submixer.

Depends on the genre, but usually one on the kick, one between the floor tom and ride cymbal, pointed across the kit.

I would cheat the overhead mic to the side of the hi-hat vs the ride.

Ride cymbals carry like crazy but I find hi-hat presence is often lacking in drum setups with minimal mic'ing.

JMO and YMMV.

i don't suppose this drummer sings? if so, he's already got one overhead in there!

I also would go with a D-112 on the bass and an overhead pointed at the center of the kit (snare area). For live, I would not go for an omni. It could lead to ugly bleed and feedback. Recording - omni could work.