Re: Micing up a drum kit for live performace.
There are all kinds of ways to mic stuff up for all kinds of different gigs. I was just trying to supply a common sense approach to achieving a good sound with progressively more gear. I.E., what is the most important sequence if you were to add one piece at a time. As usual with everything drumming, it is a tradeoff, and you have to find what is acceptible to you. Unfortunately, the venue and sound guy for that event will probably have more say than yourself. I usually try to get as much stuff as I can, because I think drum sound is very important, but not every "engineer" sees it that way.
finnhiggins said:
My primacy argument was really with you having overheads before close-micing the toms. That's great in a jazz context where the stage volume is pretty low, b
Which is what I thought I said. Sorry if it weren't read that way.
My sequence was more of a logical, adding gear one piece at a time, as in if he added one mic at a time, what would he add. For me, close tom micing is always last (except for big loud gigs, like I said) because of the logistics.
A single overhead is fine (and maybe even better) for softer events.
As far as the Bass drum, snare drum and hi-hat mic in 2b, that is just to emphasis the importantness of those three elements of a kit. They are the three most used, so why not be the first to be micd, if you are on a mic budget, or not enough inputs?
I don't like "close" micing of hi-hats, but a nice condensor mic over in that area acts more like an over head for the hats and percussion elements (mostly the tamborine) I mount over there. I wouldn't use a mic hat on a simple 4 piece setup, rather a mic pointed at both the hat and the snare (losing seperation capabilities, but easier logistics).
If you are going to close mic toms, I really dislike putting one between two toms, because then you lose the ability to control the output level and mix it with the other mics.
As far as no overheads because the cymbals bleed through the other mics misses the point. First of all, high quality directional close tom mics pick up very little cymbal. Secondly, if you overhead the kit, you can adjust the overall ambiance of the kit, and have enough control and seperation for the cymbals that you can mix the cymbal volume in wiht the other instruments. This is why I don't like an "area" mic on toms, because you don't have the separation capability.