How to Record Drums?

[Big Smile]

Hi and thanks for any help.

I am recording a drum kit and wonder how to mic it.

Kit 3 toms (maybe +2 more)
One ride cym
One crash
Thinking about buying a splash
Kick has both heads with a blanket and hole cut out
snare
high hat

Mics (4):
Shure KSM27
Telefunken R-F-T AK 47 Nr139
Sennheiser e840
Neumann TLM-103

Also, how/should I record with compression, all mics or just the kick?
Will one compression setting work for all 6 songs or do I need to consider bpm when thinking about compression for recording?...or do I record everything dry?

Clearly, I am a beginner who wants to get it right.

Thanks so much!

[Park Seward]

In the beginning, Ringo's kit had two mics. One on the kick and one in the high center of the kit, pointed at Ringo's chest.

Later versions added a snare. These were all dynamics.

The final version had a mic for each head and a condenser under the snare and on the hi-hat with overheads. Think "Abbey Road".

So you can get as complicated as you want. It depends on the sound you are after. May will recommend dynamic mics for the heads and only condensers for the cymbals.

Like a room mic? Double mic the snare (with the bottom out of phase)? Heavy compression on the cymbals for an explosive sound? Up to you.

There is no one way.

[Craig F]

nothing like 251's one the toms except maybe a 251 on the snare top

[M.Brane]

Some nice mics, but kind of a bummer you don't have a pair of condensors for the overheads. You're not totally sunk though. Sometimes mismatched overheads can work with careful placement.

The last drum tracking I did I used a pair of SD condensors in X/Y for overs, dynamics for all the close mics, and a LD condensor as FOK (front of kit). I'm pretty happy with the results so far. Lots of mixing options which is good because the material ranges from traditional style jazz to heavy rock, and lots in-between. For the mellower jazz stuff I'm using primarily the overs/FOK while the heavier stuff gets more of the close mics.

[Naagzh]

Search "recording drums" on YouTube. There is a little movie made by Presonus that deals with mic choice and placement.

Yes, compression will depend on the tempo to some extent, but it's more "do what sounds good" than anything else. But it's advisable to record with no compression, and use plug-ins during mixdown. If you record a compressed signal to disk, there's no uncompressing it later.