#1November 9th, 2007 · 12:22 PM
55 threads / 30 songs
1,558 posts
United Kingdom
Drums & Mics 'n' stuff
Having posted on one of SilentSlaughter's threads (Sound System HELP!!) I mentioned about mic-ing up a drum set with 3 mics.  This led to a post by Denis, who casually mentioned that he'd use just 2 mics; one for the kick, and another overhead for everything else!

For me, I use three microphones: one for the kick drum; one under the cymbals pointing at the toms; one under the cymbals and pointing at the snare.  They're all unidirectional dynamic mics... nothing special, and they're used purely for a little sound reinforcement and to help recording live too (turned up much higher through the bus I send to my little recording gizmo!)

So my question to all of those that have, do, and can mic up a drum set for a live performance (we're not talking recording here) is....
       How many mics do you use for your live drum sound, and where are they placed?

(Yes, if you want to be pedantic then that's two questions I know!)
#2November 9th, 2007 · 01:38 PM
50 threads
259 posts
United States of America
i have a question would you place the kick mic inside the kick or in front of it?
EDIT: im gonna sound overly cheap but
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Nady-PTS515-12-400-Watt-2Way-Trapezoid-Speaker-Cabinet?sku=609002

lol $25 and they say there reliable and 5 stars but... idk it would be for vocals and drum backups.... you tell me what you think
#3November 9th, 2007 · 08:34 PM
28 threads / 20 songs
255 posts
Australia
Well when the venue we are playing at doesn't supply any mics, we use Four mics to mic the drumkit.
One about a half a foot away, facing the kick drum. 2 overhead abit forward of the cymbals to pick up the toms aswell and one for the snare/hi-hat, we squeeze it in between the snare and hi hat to pick up both.

We haven't really played anywhere that has needed anything louder than our guitar/bass amps and a 350W PA system but I imagine if you're in a really loud venue then you really would need to mic everything seperate on the drums otherwise the way we are doing it, the toms would probably fall out of the mix because they aren't really close mic'd.

IMO a good rule of thumb would be the louder the venue - the more mic's you use for the drums. Because really you can get away with not even having a seperate mic for the snare, just two overheads and one for kick if it's a smaller place. Also who can be stuffed setting up a 10 drum mic set and doing all the levels and positioning for a small place anyway? it would be unnecessary,  it really does depend on the gig.
#4November 10th, 2007 · 08:50 AM
371 threads / 187 songs
3,394 posts
United Kingdom
Hey Jim, Re: SilentSlaughter's threads, I didn't explain myself
clearly. I meant as silent slaughter was on a tight budget, he could
get away with two mics, as I have and produced good results.

In terms of how many mic's you use for a drum kit, it depends what your trying to achieve. to a certain extent the type of music your playing.

3 mics I suppose is the minimal amount to create a standard stereo effect.

I try to keep things simple so the answer to your question.

    How many mics do you use for your live drum sound, and where are they placed? If you have the means, one for each drum, one for hi-hate, & 2 overhead. This will give maximum control over the sound.

Cheers

Denis
#5November 10th, 2007 · 08:28 PM
160 threads / 88 songs
1,666 posts
United States of America
ok
I guess I'll chime in with what I used to do in the one band I was with. I had an 8 channel mixer, with 8 mics one at the bass, one at the snare,one at HH, one at the ride, one at the crash, one at the tom, one at the standing bass, one at the roto toms. this 8 channel mixer then went into the main mixer as one input. This way, I had control over all parts of the set, as well as a master volume for the set as a whole. I had another mic for vocals and one for bell, and triangle that was separate from the main kit.  Keep in mind that we only used this set up when we played major venues or where recording. Most places, we only needed one mic for vocals, one at the bass, and two mics set up floating above the kit, and below the cymbals, on the left and right. this gave as said before that extra oomph to the set...
BTW, the one for the bass drum was placed sticking into the hole in the front head.
       JimK
#6November 11th, 2007 · 09:32 AM
160 threads / 33 songs
1,965 posts
United States of America
http://www.drumdojo.com/tech/mikinglive.htm

there are a ton of drum info sites .. i even heard a clip of a drum sound it was huge sounding and the guy recorded it by mistake.. he had left a sm57 on with the recorder running but it was laying down on the floor behind the drum kit. 

it's already been said ..small venue you can get by with less mic's   

ideal situation .. a drummer that uses both mic's and triggers with a good drum machine.  it's easier to get a little punch into the pa at lower volumes. plus  you can get the same tones everytime. 

mic'n  if it needs to be heard then mic it.   if you don;t have enough mics  go by priority.. kick, snare , hihat,

you can get by with just a kick mic , snare mic and  a good overhead mic.   some guys just use overhead only.

 if you have mic's  facing in opposing directions you will need to reverse the phase/polarity.   so try to set up your mics where they are all facing in the same general direction .. then any mics  not facing that direction you will need to use phase/polarity reverse..   

we just bought the  audix  drum mic sets and they sound great.. smoked the sm57, they have been set up specifically for drums  so the eq curve is already set up ...



JimD   I like a drummer that can premix his rig as long as he knows what he is doing .. can get great drum sounds and levels..  also does not try to turn it up any during the show..
#7November 11th, 2007 · 12:31 PM
55 threads / 30 songs
1,558 posts
United Kingdom
Cheers guys!
Good response on this one so far

Yup, there are a whole host of sites out there that offer advice on how to record drums and what the best mic placement is.  And there's no doubt that the best method has got to be with the correct mic on each drum and cymbal, with some pretty nifty EQing and mixing done to get the best sound from the kit for the location.  If you have the time (and can really be bothered!) then that's going to give an awesome sound (and having the all the mics going into one mixer is just what I've seen suggested elsewhere, but have never seen a band in a small venue actually doing - I'm impressed that you did it Jim!)

I'm pretty happy with the sound I get with the limited mics that I use, really because I'm not trying to play to large audiences simply to provide a little "extra" to the sound (and be able to hear the drums reasonably well in any live recordings made).  I'm rehearsing in the studio tomorrow, so may try just 2 mics to see how that sounds; it'll be an interesting experiment at any rate.  The kick will be mic'd about 10" away and about 1" below the top rim, I'll use the other on the snare side, but also in a position to capture the toms slightly (I anticipate some hi-hat in the mix, but will cut out the highs in the eq.  I'm not going for a demo-type recording here, it's just to see what it sounds like.  But then I suppose you never know!!!
#8December 1st, 2007 · 12:42 PM
55 threads / 30 songs
1,558 posts
United Kingdom
As a quick follow up to this thread, I did try the 2 mic recording technique, but it was modified slightly from what I was going to do (above).

I ended up with one mic placed on the floor (in a holder, not just laying there!) about 6" away from the kick drum, the other mic was positioned above bu between the hi-hat and one cymbal pointing at a position between the snare and the toms.  This gave a surprising clear image of the drums that was much better than anticipated.

As the back-line at the rehearsal studio uses a mono powered mixer, there's little point in trying for a stereo placement of mics... and with the results I got from using just two mics I doubt that I'll try it any time soon.

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