Need audio help on where to place 4 mic's to record my kit

BigDinSD

BigDinSD

Gold Member
Can you suggest where I can place my 4 mic's to record my kit? I have the Zoom H2 recorder, but will be using that to capture my audio from a Behringer mixer (4 mic inputs).

From past experience, I know I will at least need a bass drum mic in front of the BD reso head. My question then is where I would place the other 3 mic's?

I have overhead boom stands and (3) Audio-Technica M4000S microphones (more for vocals I suppose).

I also have 4 PL35 Electo-voice mic's from the EV 5 piece drum-mic kit.

Thanks again!
 
If you could get 2 other people...one to play your drums, one to move a mic around the room...you listen with headphones into the mixer and see where in the room the mic needs to be so your drums sound the best. Every room has different sonic issues, and the only way to find out the best place to put your overheads, in that particular room, is by actually doing test recordings with your mic in all kinds of different places. Once you know your room and where to position your mics within that room, then you are set. But you need to experiment to find out where the sweet spots are.

FWIW, I'm finding that my overheads pick up a more balanced sound when they are not over the kit, (cymbals too harsh) but away from the kit, getting the net sound. YMMV.
 
Here's your answer. Check this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrH_3SCyJ2Q



Look for info about the Glyn John's recording method and it's variations.

With four mics, a good choice is to go with 2 overheads (placed the Glyn John's way, like in the vid), and close-mic kick and snare.

You can get amazing results with that.

Cheers
 
larryace said:
FWIW, I'm finding that my overheads pick up a more balanced sound when they are not over the kit, (cymbals too harsh) but away from the kit, getting the net sound. YMMV.
Click to expand...

Yeah, when I had placed the OH mic right over the throne, almost in the middle of the kit it picked up too much cymbal noise.

diegobxr said:
Here's your answer. Check this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrH_3SCyJ2Q

Look for info about the Glyn John's recording method and it's variations.

With four mics, a good choice is to go with 2 overheads (placed the Glyn John's way, like in the vid), and close-mic kick and snare.

You can get amazing results with that.

Cheers
Click to expand...

I'm liking that strategy. I'm assuming the 2 overheads would my Audio-Technica M4000S microphones or are the EV PL35 Electo-voice mic's better there?
 
Re: Need audio help on where to place 4 Mic's to record my kit

I experiment with different miking techniques all the time. Just recently I was using either a one microphone or two microphone array for capturing the entire kit. The loudest drum of the kit is the snare drum and that 's the sound the dominates the rest of the kit. The bass drum usually needs help mostly because of its lower frequency content. I find the best solution to using four microphones would be a spaced overhead pair, bass drum close microphone and for my purposes, a hi hat close mic. The overheads are placed about four or five feet above the snare drum but pulled back a bit to get them away from the overpowering high frequency attack of the cymbals. They usually end up about 2 feet on either side of my head and like I said 5 feet above the kit. The bass drum microphone is 4 to 6 inches away from the bass drum resonant head coming in from the very edge of the hoop and positioned to be able to "see" the entire surface area of the head. The hi hat microphone is looking down at the top cymbal, but pointing outward away from the kit. If you feel that you need to bring your snare drum out of the mix more so than the hi hats, just position the mic with about 1 to 2 inches of its element over the top hoop looking across the head of the drum. This should get you past the ringingness of the drum into a more meaty sound. These are very basic placements and can improve with a lot of experimentation. The placement of the overheads with vary quite a bit with the reflectivity of your room. With less microphones used, what you're actually doing is mixing your kit with the directional or polar pick-up pattern from each of the microphones encompassing more than a single drum or cymbal into each microphone.. it's basically a tedious balancing act.

Dennis
 
Do you guys think I should use the Audio-Technica M4000S microphones as overheads?
I do have a dedicated bass drum mic, and I think I'd use one of the EV PL35 Electo-voice mic's in the snare and HH area unless otherwise suggested...?
 
Re: Need audio help on where to place 4 Mic's to record my kit

I've never used either one of these, but according to the specifications on the Audio Technica, they roll off the upper end quite quickly just over 12,000 cycles. This dynamic microphone will eliminate the "airy", open quality that some Condenser microphones are known for.

Dennis
 
Re: Need audio help on where to place 4 Mic's to record my kit

audiotech said:
I've never used either one of these, but according to the specifications on the Audio Technica, they roll off the upper end quite quickly just over 12,000 cycles. This dynamic microphone will eliminate the "airy", open quality that some Condenser microphones are known for.

Dennis
Click to expand...

Cool. Thanks audiotech. I guess could use either for either. The Freq Response for the Electro Voice is: 50 Hz - 16,000 Hz
 
Place one of your microphones as a kick drum mic, in front of the bass head. Place mic #2 on your snare drum, about 6 inches from the head and 2 inches in. Place mic #3 over the middle of your toms, but about 3 feet above your kit. Place mic #4 near the beater of your bass drum, pointing up, getting the click of the kick and the oomph of your floor toms.
 
JesusMySavior said:
Place one of your microphones as a kick drum mic, in front of the bass head. Place mic #2 on your snare drum, about 6 inches from the head and 2 inches in. Place mic #3 over the middle of your toms, but about 3 feet above your kit. Place mic #4 near the beater of your bass drum, pointing up, getting the click of the kick and the oomph of your floor toms.
Click to expand...

Where exactly should mic #2 be?

mic #3 could be interesting. It would be away enough from the crashes and ride, and give the floor toms some love...never thought of placing it there. Very promising...
 
BigDinSD said:
Where exactly should mic #2 be?

mic #3 could be interesting. It would be away enough from the crashes and ride, and give the floor toms some love...never thought of placing it there. Very promising...
Click to expand...

I apologize for mistyping... I meant the snare mic should generally be 2 inches in from the rim, and about two fingers' apart, or 2 inches, from the head.

haha, sorry about that one


also, I want to say... I recorded my last two albums with a four mic set up. I usually did a snare mic, a kick mic, and two overheads. I figure the experimentation of the tom mic and (what i've got good results from) the 4th mic by the kick drum beater could provide some interesting results..
 
JesusMySavior said:
I apologize for mistyping... I meant the snare mic should generally be 2 inches in from the rim, and about two fingers' apart, or 2 inches, from the head.

haha, sorry about that one


also, I want to say... I recorded my last two albums with a four mic set up. I usually did a snare mic, a kick mic, and two overheads. I figure the experimentation of the tom mic and (what i've got good results from) the 4th mic by the kick drum beater could provide some interesting results..
Click to expand...

Ah - good. Didn't want to hang the mic 2 inches above the center of the snare head! :)
 
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