Miking the Drumset in Your Home Recording Studio

II you're like most musicians, getting great-sounding drum recordings seems like one oI the
world's great mysteries. You can hear big, Iat drums on great albums, but when you try to record
your drums, they always end up sounding more like cardboard boxes than drums. Fret not
here are some solutions Ior you.
The room
The room inIluences the drums' sound more than it inIluences other instruments'. II you're
looking Ior a big drum sound, you need a Iairly live room (one with lots oI reIlection).
You may be thinking, "But I just have a bedroom Ior a studio and it's carpeted." No worries, you
can work with that. Remember, you have a home studio, so you potentially have your whole
home to work with. Here are a couple oI ideas to spark your imagination:
O Buy three or Iour 4-x-8-Ioot sheets oI plywood and lean them up against the walls oI your
room. Also place one on the Iloor just in Iront oI the kick drum. This adds some
reIlective surIaces to the room.
O !ut the drums in your garage (or living room, or any other room with a reverberating
sound) and run long mic cords to your mixer. II you have a studio-in-a-box system, you
can just throw it under your arm and move everything into your garage or, better yet, take
all this stuII to a really great-sounding room and record.
O $et up your drums in a nice-sounding room and place an additional mic just outside the
door to catch an additional ambient sound. You can then mix this in with the other drum
tracks to add a diIIerent quality oI reverberation to the drums.
ick (bass) drum
The mic oI choice Ior most recording engineers when recording a kick drum is a dynamic mic. In
Iact, you can Iind some large diaphragm dynamic mics speciIically designed to record kick
drums.
%echnical Notes.
Dynamics do not usually have the same Ilat Irequency response as condensers. Instead
they tend to have tailored Irequency responses Ior particular applications.
Neodymium magnets are more powerIul than conventional magnets, meaning that
neodymium microphones can be made smaller, with more linear Irequency response
and higher output level.

uynamlc mlcrophones are versaLlle and ldeal for generalpurpose use 1hey use a slmple deslgn wlLh few movlng parLs 1hey are relaLlvely
sLurdy and reslllenL Lo rough handllng 1hey are also beLLer sulLed Lo handllng hlgh volume levels such as from cerLaln muslcal lnsLrumenLs or
ampllflers 1hey have no lnLernal ampllfler and do noL requlre baLLerles or exLernal power
No matter where you place the mic, you can reduce the amount oI boominess that you get Irom
the drum by placing a pillow or blanket inside the drum. $ome people choose to let the pillow or
blanket touch the inside head.
That said, you can place your mic in several ways (all conveniently illustrated in Figure 1):
O ear the inside head: II you take oII the outside head or cut a hole in it, you can stick
the mic inside the drum. !lace the mic 2 to 3 inches away Irom the inside head and a
couple oI inches oII center. This is the standard way to mic a kick drum iI you have the
outside head oII or iI a hole is cut in it. This placement gives you a sharp attack Irom the
beater hitting the head.
O Halfway inside the drum: You can modiIy the preceding miking technique by moving
the mic back so that it's about halIway inside the drum. In this case, place the mic right in
the middle, pointing where the beater strikes the drum. This placement gives you less oI
the attack oI the beater striking the head and more oI the body oI the drum's sound.
O ear the outside head: II you have both heads on the drum, you can place the mic a Iew
inches Irom the outside head. II you want a more open, boomy sound (and you have the
drum's pitch set Iairly high), point the mic directly at the center oI the head. II you want
less boom, oIIset the mic a little and point it about two-thirds oI the way toward the
center.


igure 1: There are several places that you can place a mic to get a good kick drum sound.
The kick drum responds quite well to a compressor when tracking. For the most part, you can get
by with settings that allow the initial attack to get through and that tame the boom a little. A
sample setting looks like this:
Threshold: -6dB
Ratio: Between 4:1 and 6:1
ttack: Between 40 ms and 50 ms
Release: Between 200 ms and 300 ms
Gain: Adjust so that the output level matches the input level. You don't need much added gain.
Snare drum
The snare drum is probably the most important drum in popular music. The bass guitar can cover
the kick drum's rhythm, and the rest oI the drums aren't part oI the main groove. A good, punchy
snare drum can make a track, whereas a weak, thin one can eliminate the drive that most popular
music needs.
Because the snare drum is located so close to the other drums, especially the hi-hats, a cardioid
pattern mic is a must. The most common mic Ior a snare drum is the trusty $hure $57. The mic
is generally placed between the hi-hats and the small tom-tom about 1 or 2 inches Irom the snare
drum head (see Figure 2). !oint the diaphragm directly at the head. You may need to make some
minor adjustments to eliminate any bleed Irom the hi-hats. This position gives you a nice punchy
sound.



igure 2: The proper placement Ior the snare drum mic.
Adding compression to the snare drum is crucial iI you want a tight, punchy sound. There are a
lot oI ways to go with the snare. The Iollowing settings are common and versatile:
Threshold: -4dB
Ratio: Between 4:1 and 6:1
ttack: Between 5 ms and 10 ms
Release: Between 125 ms and 175 ms
Gain: Adjust so that the output level matches the input level. You don't need much added gain.
Tom-toms
The tom-toms sound best when using a dynamic mic. For the mounted toms (the ones above the
kick drum), you can use one or two mics. II you use one mic, place it between the two drums
about 4 to 6 inches away Irom the heads (Figure 3 shows this placement option). II you use two
mics, place one above each drum about 1 to 3 inches above the head.


igure 3: iking the mounted tom-toms with one mic.
Floor toms are miked the same way as the mounted tom-toms:
O !lace a single mic a couple oI inches away Irom the head near the rim.
O II you have more than one Iloor tom, you can place one mic between them or mic them
individually.
II you want to apply compression to the tom-toms, you can start with the settings Ior the snare
drum in the preceding section.
Hi-hats
The hi-hats are generally part oI the main groove and, as such, you want to spend time getting a
good sound. You'll probably have problems with a Iew other mics on the drumset picking up the
hi-hats, particularly the snare drum mic and overhead mics. $ome people don't bother miking the
hi-hats Ior this reason.
Hi-hats oIten sound too trashy through the snare drum mic. II you mic hi-hats, make sure that the
snare drum mic is picking up as little oI the hi-hats as possible by placing it properly and/or
using a noise gate (a dynamic processor use to Iilter unwanted noise).
You can use either a dynamic mic or, better yet, a small diaphragm condenser mic Ior the hi-hats.
The dynamic mic gives you a trashier sound and the small diaphragm condenser mic produces a
bright sound. You can work with either by adjusting the EQ. Try adding just a little bit (4dB or
so) oI a shelI EQ set at 10 kHz to add just a little sheen to the hi-hats.
!lace the mic about 3 to 4 inches above the hi-hats and point it down. The exact placement oI the
mic is less important than the placement oI the other instrument mics because oI the hi-hats' tone.
Just make sure your mic isn't so close that you hit it.
Compression isn't usually necessary when tracking the hi-hats unless you have a drummer whose
volume level is inconsistent. In this case, try using the same snare drum settings.
Cymbals
You want to know one secret to the huge drum sound oI Led Zeppelin's drummer, John
Bonham? Finesse. He understood that the drums sound louder and bigger in a mix iI the cymbals
are quieter in comparison. $o he played his cymbals soItly and hit the drums pretty hard. This
allowed the engineer to raise the levels oI the drums without having the cymbals drown
everything else out, absolutely brilliant!
Because the drums bleeding into the overhead mics is inevitable and the overhead mics are
responsible Ior providing much oI the drums' presence in a mix, playing the cymbals soItly
allows you to get more oI the drums in these mics. This helps the drums sound bigger.
Ask (no, demand) that your drummer play the cymbals quieter. Also use smaller cymbals with a
Iast attack and a short decay. Doing these things creates a better balance between the drums and
cymbals and makes the drums stand out more in comparison.
$mall diaphragm condenser mics capture the cymbals' high Irequencies well. You can mic the
cymbals by placing mics about 6 inches above each cymbal or by using overhead mics set 1 to 3
Ieet above the cymbals.
The whole kit
ost oI the time, you want to have at least one (but preIerably two) ambient mics on the drums iI
Ior no other reason than to pick up the cymbals. These (assuming you use two mics) are called
overhead mics and, as the name implies, they are placed above the drumset. The most common
types oI mics to use Ior overheads are large and small diaphragm condenser mics because they
pick up the high Irequencies in the cymbals and give the drumset's sound a nice sheen
(brightness). You also may want to try a pair oI ribbon mics to pick up a nice, sweet sound on the
overheads.
To mic the drumset with overhead mics, you can use either the X-Y coincident technique or
spaced stereo pairs. !lace them 1 to 2 Ieet above the cymbals, just Iorward oI the drummer's
head. !lace X-Y mics in the center and set up spaced stereo pairs so that they Iollow the 3:1 rule
(the mics should be set up 3 to 6 Ieet apart iI they are 1 to 2 Ieet above the cymbals). This
counters any phase problems. !oint the mic down toward the drums and you're ready to record.
Figure 4 shows both oI these set-ups.




igure 4: Overhead mics capture the cymbals and the drums.

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