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Mic'ing drums?

jacobrownoly

jacobrownoly

Jun 16, 2007
257
32
#1
Hi, just looking for some mic'ing up tips!

I play in a wedding/function band looking for advice on what to mic up when its comes to the drums.

We normally play anywhere from 100-500 people and we always mic the kick, as we put almost everything through the PA the drums sometimes feel in the distance (not because the rest of the band are too loud, I think its more a balance problem)

Should we be using an over head mic or a snare mic?....any suggestions?

Many thanks.
 
#2
Hi,

If you are short on mics or channels, the down and dirty way is to mic the kick drum and then mount an overhead mic pointing at the snare. This mic should also pick up the toms and cymbals well enough.

Otherwise, here are a couple of resources that may answer some questions.

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Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
#3
Ideally you really should have a mixer with enough channels to allow you to devote up to a half dozen channels for the drum kit alone, in addition to the channels you'll need for miking instrument amplifiers, vocals & acoustic instruments, plus channels for direct feeds of keyboards, electronic drums/percussion, and bass. Smaller bands in particular have a habit of underestimating the number of channels they can use, and there's just no reason for it. Or they cheap out on the mixer, because they don't want to pay for more channels. :rolleyes:

That said:

* one mike for the kick drum (two for a double kick drum kit)
* one mike for the snare & hi-hat
* one or two mikes for the toms
* one or two overhead mikes for the cymbals

MM
 
#4
If your drummer has a vocal mic in a typical position, it will pick up a lot of snare and hi-hat.

What to mic (or not mic) has a lot to do with the room, too. Record your gigs and review them later to find out if the drums sound balanced, or distant, etc. Adjust micing to suit.
 
#8
Yep, that's pretty much my way too (mystic's description):

First: just kick

Second: kick plus one overhead

Third: Kick plus two overheads and snare mic

Fourth: Full pack of drum mics.

You move down the list as more is needed.

Keep in mind that you start to need an awful lot of channels, especially for the full pack of drum mics. In my theatre (where I work) I've got a 32 channel board. For many live band situations, if you're mixing from stage, you don't have that capability. In that case I'd probably use one portable mixer just for all the drum mics and send that feed to my main mixer, or (better) separate the kick out and send all the rest out of the portable mixer.
 
#9
The thing is we only really have 2 channels free for the drums, 1 is kick and the other sounds like from what I have read an over head mic.

If I mic the whole kit I would probably have to go out and buy more gate/compressors to deal with all the mic noise too.

For all gigs... if it is possible to get a great sound using just a kick and one over head then I would be really happy.

Many thanks for all the replies and advice!
 
#12
jacobrownoly said:
Hi, just looking for some mic'ing up tips!

I play in a wedding/function band looking for advice on what to mic up when its comes to the drums.

We normally play anywhere from 100-500 people and we always mic the kick, as we put almost everything through the PA the drums sometimes feel in the distance (not because the rest of the band are too loud, I think its more a balance problem)

Should we be using an over head mic or a snare mic?....any suggestions?

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

A good OHD will do ya fine. I use a Rode NT3 and like it. If I could afford it, I would use a Sennheiser 441. As it is the Rode will be here a while :-). You can go crazy with drum mics or do it simply. Sometimes, simply actually is the better method. Ideally i like a 4 mic setup, but I've done plenty of gigs with just a kick and ohd mic when I was channel constrained. It is easier to mix 2 as well. Much nicer if they are 2 really nice mics as well...
 
#14
I mic toms and kick every gig.If snare is weak i will mic it too but rarely does it need it. I never use an overhead nor have i ever heard a band that make overheads sound good.If to few channels are an issue i have never had any problems sharing one mic between 2 toms.
 
#16
I was subbing in with a group a couple weeks ago. I stepped out front during sound check and was thoroughly impressed with the drum sound coming from this little kit. Later I figured out he was using triggers. If it sounds good it is good. Doesn't matter to me what the drummer wants to use.
 
#17
Something to consider:

I always mic the kick. You have to mic the kick, or you have no control of where it is in the mix.

I always mic the toms. You don't always need to control the toms, but usually you do, and you can always set a slider on ZERO if you want.

If it's a small room, you probably don't need to mic a snare. Seriously. Snares are already loud enough, and they are usually of a frequency that travels.

In a larger room, mic the snare.

You should mic the high hat.

Overhead mics?

Are you kidding? The cymbals are already bleeding into every mic on the stage, unless you're on a concert-sized stage. Even then, they are bleeding into the other drum mics! There is almost never any need for overhead mics. If we were paying a sound guy, and he started setting up overhead mics for any venue smaller than a huge theater or stadium, I would stop him right there, and I would regret hiring him.

More mics means more mess, and more to mix. Always start out as simply as possible, and always go out front, and let your ears tell you the story. We have played more shows with the snare mic on zero than any drummer would want to know.
 
#18
With only two mics, it's tough. Kick for sure. You can try a second mic over the toms and snare area, preferable under the cymbals instead of over them. I've used a cardiod between and just above the rack toms, aimed at the snare. The problem is that without individual close miking, you'll still have that 'distant' sound.
 

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