Micing drumkit heads

jt.mcrae

Senior Member
Just a quick question:

Why do we say "always tune the drums for the audience as they will be able to hear the drums better than you as the resonant head is facing them" and then go and mic drums from the batter side?

Ideally under close micing situations should we re-tune the kit so that the drums sound good to us rather than the audience?

Just something that has puzzled me for a bit and your thoughts opinions would be appreciated

Jackson
 
Just a quick question:

Why do we say "always tune the drums for the audience as they will be able to hear the drums better than you as the resonant head is facing them" and then go and mic drums from the batter side?

Ideally under close micing situations should we re-tune the kit so that the drums sound good to us rather than the audience?

Just something that has puzzled me for a bit and your thoughts opinions would be appreciated

Jackson

You mic the drums from the batter side in order to let the attack of the stick hitting the head to cut through the other instruments. You use an overhead mic or mics to capture the overall sound of the kit (including the resonance of the drums and the cymbals). Both should work together (I get annoyed when I go to watch a band and all of the drums are mic'ed but no overheads, the kit usually sounds like cardboard boxes with lifeless cymbals). Even in smaller venues, I mic the kit and we have it at least a little bit in the PA to make sure it comes through, especially kick and overheads.

I use in-ears with a cheap headphone amp (Behringer HA4700) that lets me listen to the main mix coming out of the speakers and also lets me dial in a custom monitor mix from my monitor channel on the main mixer, so I hear what the audience hears and if I need to boost the vocalist or acoustic guitars I can.
 
Sorry, forgot to mention that I don't tune my kit any differently mic'ed or unmic'ed. I tune for a good balance between attack and resonance, and mostly leave the toms wide open. I use Vintage Emperor batters and rarely use moon gel or o-rings or whatever.
 
Brad, would you please post a picture of your setup? I've actually got a thread running in the "show your gear" forum asking folks to show their in-ear monitor/metronome/loop setups.

Thanks!
 
Just a quick question:

Why do we say "always tune the drums for the audience as they will be able to hear the drums better than you as the resonant head is facing them" and then go and mic drums from the batter side?

Ideally under close micing situations should we re-tune the kit so that the drums sound good to us rather than the audience?

Maybe the saying is a meaningless old wives tail. I mean, it's not like the reso heads really face the audience that much, especially the floor tom.

Or maybe we should mic both heads, but don't for laziness or because it just isn't practical. Or maybe it's because most drummers already tune for themselves, not the audience, so we want to capture what the drummer hears.
 
Brad, would you please post a picture of your setup? I've actually got a thread running in the "show your gear" forum asking folks to show their in-ear monitor/metronome/loop setups.

Thanks!

I'll see about getting some pictures.

To describe in a little more detail, the main output on our mixer has 2 sets of main outputs with independent volume controls (which is really nice). The main set of outputs (controlled by the master fader) is sent to the PA, and the second set (controlled by a pot right above the fader) is sent to the HA4700 main inputs. Each of the 4 channels on the HA4700 has an AUX IN so we run the 4 AUX outs from the board (monitor mixes) to the appropriate AUX IN on the HA4700 (AUX 1 to channel 1, etc..). Now each of us can listen to the main mix, or we can turn down the main mix a bit and boost individual channels on the monitor mix.

For example, the lead singer / acoustic guiltarist has the main mix plus his vocals and guitar are boosted a little bit on AUX 1, so he hears the main mix plus a little bit more of himself. Everyone else pretty much just wants the main mix, but if we play at a smaller club where we only really need to run the vocals, acoustic, and a little bit of kick/OH through the PA, then I can dial up more of what I need to hear just in my AUX channel, the guitarist can have what he needs, etc...
 
You mic the drums from the batter side in order to let the attack of the stick hitting the head to cut through the other instruments. You use an overhead mic or mics to capture the overall sound of the kit (including the resonance of the drums and the cymbals). Both should work together (I get annoyed when I go to watch a band and all of the drums are mic'ed but no overheads, the kit usually sounds like cardboard boxes with lifeless cymbals). Even in smaller venues, I mic the kit and we have it at least a little bit in the PA to make sure it comes through, especially kick and overheads.

I use in-ears with a cheap headphone amp (Behringer HA4700) that lets me listen to the main mix coming out of the speakers and also lets me dial in a custom monitor mix from my monitor channel on the main mixer, so I hear what the audience hears and if I need to boost the vocalist or acoustic guitars I can.

Cheers. The use of overheads for over all not sound is something I never really considered for some reason. I always associated them with purely cymbals. But the whole idea of close micing for the attack and cut and then overhead for general tone makes a lot of sense.


Brad, would you please post a picture of your setup? I've actually got a thread running in the "show your gear" forum asking folks to show their in-ear monitor/metronome/loop setups.

Thanks!

I am so checking out this thread :) :)
 
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