Drum recording: 3 room choices, 3 channels, 4 mic choices - pls lend your advice!!

[edgarbc1]

Low budget recording requesting some advice:

i have 8 channels which the band wants to record all together..
5 channels are eaten by sax, bass, harm, vox and gtr
which leaves only 3 for a drummer.

i have a couple of SM57s and a couple of Oktava mk319 LDCs
an Audix OM2 and a AT2020 to spare for the drums

drum set is:
snare, couple toms, 1 floor tom
bass kick and 1/2 doz cymbals

also we have a choice of recording in an office building space
which the room choices are:

room a) approx 15'x20' meeting room with drop tile ceiling, drywall walls
and door, 8' ceiling

room b) approx 17'x17' open hall, several offices around, glass panel
walls and doors and some drywall walls, 3 openings for adjacent hallways
8' ceiling

room c) industrial shop floor 60'x30', concrete all around, high approx 2 1/2
story ceiling guessing 25' up to roof, probably lots of reflection due to
concrete walls, but its a big open space.


Q1) Any suggestions on arrangement for micing?
Q2) What room would you track the band in (given they all want to
play together)

thanks for all your comments and advice!
Edgar

[flommer]

I'm not offering this as advice based on actually having recorded a situation like yours, but rather as a sponge for this type of info:

319s as OH mics, 3-4 feet apart, pointed at the snare and exact same distance from the snare. These will likely be the main component of the sound so position will be critical.. You can't have them getting too much of the cymbals or they will be useless.. I'd put them back over the drummer as opposed to right over the drums..

2020 in front of the kit, positioned to try to get Bass and snare as much as possible...

If you had a small mixer, I would put the 2020 on the bass and a 57 on the snare and try to get a reasonable balance, then mix that to a single channel..


I'd go for room C... Put down a carpet under the kit.. maybe in the middle, maybe towards a corner to get some reflections.. try walking around the room clapping or hitting a drum that you're carrying around. You are listening for the position with the least offensive reflections.. If the Ceiling is metal beams etc, you might want to put up a baffle/foam a little over the OH mics to take a little of that out... And baffles in front of guitar amps or whatever.. Nothing extreme...

Hopefully they will rehearse a little to give you time to move them around a bit as necessary

Just my $.02.. I'll be curious to hear what others think..

[edgarbc1]

thanks!
i do have a 10 ch mixer that i can use
regarding your idea for the 2020 and 57 and mix to 1 channel

Ceiling is metal, with lattice trusses and a 15 ton bridge crane overhead!
lots of metal for reflections...will take your advice on reducing them

thanks
E

[Craig F]

google 3 mic technique

room c
57 on snare
OM2 on kick (if it's what I think it is)
mk319 6 to 9 feet up some ware between 3 feet in front to 3 feet behind the drummer probably no more than a foot left or right of center line

[daeron80]

What flommer said. Definitely the big room!

Keep in mind if you mix your kick and snare together during tracking, you will most likely be able to separate them later. It will take a little time and effort, but since they don't usually play at the same time in most styles, you can probably get them apart later. So, two close mics on them mixed should be OK, unless the drummer is all ghost strokes and constant patter on the snare.

Don't be embarrassed to spend half a day getting the drum sound right. Track a minute or so, listen back, adjust, track a little, listen, tweak, keep going til it's right. And you probably know this but shoot for -18 peaks on drums. That way, on the real take, a few will sneak up to -12 maybe -6, but you won't have any overs, and you won't lose any impact due to hitting too hot.