Advice for first attempt at recording drums

[sandman357]

Hi,
So here is my first attempt at recording drums. The vocals, acoustic guitar and bass are just reference tracks and will be redone once the drums are nailed down. I messed up and didn't realize the over head mics needed phantom power so the cymbals are missing. The kick, snare, high hat and toms are there though. The drummer placed kick mic inside kick drum and clipped tom mics on under side of toms facing up, but on the outside of the toms not the inside. There are no skins on the underside of the toms, so I am thinking he should put the mic inside the toms.

The drum mics are guitar center specials... So probably on the lower end quality wise.

So focusing on the kick, snare, high hat and toms, do you have any advice for placement of mics when I re-record the drums or does it sound OK the way they are placed in this recording?

Thanks!

 

[seamonkey]

DrumMic'a! - Drum mic, Percussion mic - Schlagzeug Mikrofon - Sennheiser

You can listen to the samples, find the sound you like, and you'll know the microphone and placement used to capture it.

Or, just get some drums on a track and use a drum replacer. i.e.
Steven Slate Drums Trigger EX Drum Replacer and Sample Library Plug-Ins

 

[silky smoove]

A couple of thoughts based on my own preferences. YMMV

Kick
If you want it super deep, you may want to look at using something like a SubKick in addition to the inside mic. A single inside mic is great, but may not yield really earth shaking lows. If you need them, add a SubKick (or one of the zillions of cheap DIY versions), or do sample replacement. If you don't need ultra deep lows, the single mic will be fine. Placement relative to the beater will increase attack as it moves closer, or decrease it as it moves away. You can also mic it from the beater side to get tons of attack, but beware squeaky kick pedals as they'll ruin the track.

Snare
Batter side works well on its own most of the time. Some folks like a mic on the snare side for extra attack and ring, but it's not necessary.

Toms
I don't like the sound of toms mic'd from the reso side. I would move them up to the batter side. Have them fire just off the rims at about a 45-degree angle. The steeper the angle (i.e. closer to 90) the more ring you'll get.

Hi-Hats
If you dial in the overheads correctly you may find yourself not using this mic at all. I'll typically throw one on the hats and the ride as well, but frequently just mute them at mixdown. Get the overheads the same distance from either the snare or the kick (I use the snare as the reference). This will help with phase. Use a piece of string as a guide from the center of the snare to the center of the mic capsule.

General
Remember that mic placement on drums is as much about cancelling out unwanted sounds (i.e. the back side of a cardio or hypercardiod mic rejects sounds whereas the front and some of the sides pick up sound). Get it sounding good via a reference mix before you start fully tracking and you'll be much happier when you sit down to actually mix.

 

[jdwhitak]

A couple of thoughts based on my own preferences. YMMV

Kick
If you want it super deep, you may want to look at using something like a SubKick in addition to the inside mic. A single inside mic is great, but may not yield really earth shaking lows. If you need them, add a SubKick (or one of the zillions of cheap DIY versions), or do sample replacement. If you don't need ultra deep lows, the single mic will be fine. Placement relative to the beater will increase attack as it moves closer, or decrease it as it moves away. You can also mic it from the beater side to get tons of attack, but beware squeaky kick pedals as they'll ruin the track.

Snare
Batter side works well on its own most of the time. Some folks like a mic on the snare side for extra attack and ring, but it's not necessary.

Toms
I don't like the sound of toms mic'd from the reso side. I would move them up to the batter side. Have them fire just off the rims at about a 45-degree angle. The steeper the angle (i.e. closer to 90) the more ring you'll get.

Hi-Hats
If you dial in the overheads correctly you may find yourself not using this mic at all. I'll typically throw one on the hats and the ride as well, but frequently just mute them at mixdown. Get the overheads the same distance from either the snare or the kick (I use the snare as the reference). This will help with phase. Use a piece of string as a guide from the center of the snare to the center of the mic capsule.

General
Remember that mic placement on drums is as much about cancelling out unwanted sounds (i.e. the back side of a cardio or hypercardiod mic rejects sounds whereas the front and some of the sides pick up sound). Get it sounding good via a reference mix before you start fully tracking and you'll be much happier when you sit down to actually mix.

Solid advice. OP needs to understand that recording a good kit sound is an art unto itself. I played drums for 10 years and in various bands. For recording electronics are the way to go.