CHOOSE YOUR WEAPONS
Next comes determining how many mics you will need to work with and where you should put them on the kit. First, sort the mics by type; use dynamic microphones (moving-coil mics, not ribbons) for close-miking duties and condenser mics on everything else.
There are several reasons that dynamic mics are generally preferable for close-miking. They can better handle the extreme SPLs generated by hard-hit drums, and they're less likely to be damaged by stick hits. In addition, dynamics typically provide better rear rejection, and they often feature a presence boost around 5 kHz, which helps accentuate the attack of the stick striking the head. Because they are directional mics positioned close to the drums, they can enhance the low end as well (thanks to the proximity effect).
Fig. 7: When miking both the snare drum and hi-hat, you can minimize leakage by using directional mics and angling them slightly away from one another.
Condenser mics are typically more sensitive and accurate than dynamics. Thanks to their extended frequency response (especially on the high end) and more accurate handling of transients, they capture the true sound of instruments better, whether at close range or from a distance. That makes them ideal for hi-hats, overheads, and room mics, as well as for miking percussion arrays.
Alas, condensers are also more costly and fragile than moving-coil mics. You should think twice about putting even modern condensers, some of which can handle surprisingly high SPLs, within reach of flailing drum sticks. With drummers whose playing you trust, however, you can use condenser mics on kick, snare, and toms and get great sounds. The only potential problem is leakage — no matter how tight the polar pattern, condensers usually capture more sound than you want coming from the rest of the kit (and the room).
As for microphone sizes, the only rule you need to follow is to reserve your largest-diaphragm mic (usually a dynamic) for the kick drum. Ideally that will be a mic designed for bass drum or other low-frequency duties. But if all you have is an assortment of handheld dynamics, you should audition them all to see which gives you the lowest, most authoritative kick sound. The same goes for determining which mics are best for the snare and toms; you just never know until you've tried each mic in each position.
It's advisable to reserve a few hours for mic testing before the session begins, especially if you're new to drum recording. Only by systematically testing various positions with each mic (and keeping careful notes, of course) can you determine what's going to give you the best results.
ONE, TWO, THREE?
Do not despair if you have only one microphone, especially if it's a condenser. You can get a great drum sound from a single, high-quality condenser mic placed strategically near the drum kit. In this case you are mixing drum levels on the spot, so listen carefully to the tonal balance as you position the mic. You are also mixing ambience — the further back the mic is from the drum kit, the more room sound it captures.
Start with the mic a few feet in front of the drums, five or six feet above the floor, and tilted down a bit so as to include some kick drum (see Fig. 1). That's usually a good single-mic position because it lets you get the most kick in the mix. Other viable positions are behind and above the drummer. Try recording a minute or so of drumming from all three positions — in front, behind, and above the kit — and compare the results. Then make your decision based on what works best for the music. If the song features an important tom fill, for instance, you might prefer the overhead position because it highlights attack from the toms.
If you have two identical or very similar mics, you also have two good options: either put one mic on the kick drum and the other positioned as just described, or use the pair as stereo overheads. Allow the musical style to determine which approach is better. For example, you might take the former setup for a dance tune, and the latter for a jazz ballad.
THE STEREO EFFECT
Stereo recording is a huge topic unto itself, and one deserving of study by any recordist. But it's especially worth the effort when you are limited to only a few mics, or any time a natural sound is desired. (For more information on stereo recording, see “Double Your Pleasure” in the June 2000 EM, available at
www.emusician.com.)
Two simple but effective stereo-miking techniques are XY coincident and AB stereo. Both techniques require two identically modeled microphones, preferably a matched pair of condensers (although I've captured some great-sounding drum-overhead tracks using mismatched mics; generally speaking, though, use like mics).
Directional polar patterns — cardioid, hypercardioid, and supercardioid — work best for XY coincident techniques, whereas any polar pattern can work for an AB pair (though traditionally, each mic is set to the same pattern).
The XY coincident technique is usually easiest because the two mic capsules are positioned as closely together as possible (coincident). That eliminates time-of-arrival (phase) differences between the left and right signals, thus maintaining the frequency response even when the signals are summed to mono.
The “XY” refers to the orientation of the mics, which often are adjusted with a 90-degree angle between the two caps (see Fig. 2). But don't hesitate to experiment with the angle — I often stretch it out to 110 degrees or greater to get a more dramatic stereo spread. Typically, the XY pair is positioned a few feet above the drummer's head, pointed down at the kit. Raise the pair higher to capture more room sound, or lower to get a closer, more focused kit sound. Also, experiment with the mics positioned a bit behind or in front of the drum set.
The AB stereo setup, also called a spaced pair, is more challenging because of the risk of phase discrepancies between the left and right signals. But this bugaboo can foil any drum recording employing two or more mics — not just stereo tracks.
The trick in avoiding phase discrepancies is to heed the 3-to-1 rule, which states that the distance between any two mics should be at least three times the distance between the mics and the sound source (see Fig. 3). In rooms that are small, acoustically dead, or both, I prefer omnidirectional mics for spaced overheads; in larger, more reverberant spaces, I typically opt for directional mics.
COUNT THE WAYS
If you have three mics and two of them are identical, use the like pair as overheads and put the third mic on the kick drum. There are several workable positions for the kick mic: in front of the drum, slightly inside it, all the way inside it, and behind the drum. Try them all out, and get familiar with how each affects the sound differently (see the sidebar “Milking the Kick Mic”). Then you're more prepared to handle whatever comes your way — an unusual-sounding drum, a funky-sounding space, or whatever.
If you have four mics including a like pair, use the pair as drum overheads and put the other two mics on the kick and snare drums, which typically are the two most important drum elements in the mix. (The snare-drum mic can be positioned to pick up some of the hi-hats as well — actually, it's hard to do otherwise. Just pull the mic back a tad and give it a slight tilt toward the hats.)
By the way, I use this four-mic array on a regular basis, both for demos and albums. Not only is it fast and economical, but as long as the first three components (drummer, drums, room) are sounding good, this mic setup is often all you need. It gives you individual control of the main drum elements (kick and snare) and provides a true stereo image to fill in the rest of the kit. The resulting tracks, when well mixed, can sound huge — and in some cases indistinguishable from a fully miked kit.