[rockrev]

Well, we could talk all day about mic'ing a drum set, but by far the one thing that I consider a must is the importance of room mics. Unless you want the super dead late 70's kit, room mics are something that just can't be duplicated 100% with plug-ins (there are some good ones, but nothing beats the real deal).

I prefer using M/S to X/Y as I like to have a strong center image (in case I want to crank the room sound and still have focus). My M/S setup is also more of a "front of the kit" room mic setup as opposed to the "back of the room/outside the door" ambience setup (which is usually X/Y). I usually place the M/S setup about 8 feet away, level to the drummer's chest, and aimed dead center. My mid mic is almost always a Rode NTK (the tube saturation levels out the elements of the kit and adds major balls to the kick) and my side mic is usually a Gefell UMT70. I also compress pretty heavy while recording, so they're ready to go for mixing (maybe a little EQ then).

Anyway, that's my .02. I'm sure you'll find a lot of other ideas from others. I will mention that you can always use a single omni pattern microphone to capture a good mono room ambience. Compress the crap out of it and pull it way back in the drum mix . . . it will make a big difference in the sound. That's one option to a stereo setup.

Later,

rockrev