[lord_bunny]

Maybe I'm overboard but the best drum sound I've ever gotten featured four room mics.

My room is fairly large with tile flooring, plenty of 703 on the walls (which aren't parallel) and a drop ceiling.

I used Blumlein 414's out front 10' and NT2's just as far back but at the edge of the drum kit, or spaced around 6'-7' apart, with the blumlein in the middle. The overheads were R84's spaced equal distance from the snare but fairly close to each other. I like the dark mics close to the source and the brighter mics further away (the nt2's are really bright)

Kick BETA52---------->GR MP4H
Snare SM57----------->GR MP4H
Tom 1 MD421---------> Soundworkshop 1280b
Tom 2 RE20---------->Soundworkshop 1280b
Hat 451-------------->Soundworkshop 1280b
Ride 451------------->Soundworkshop 1280b
OH L R84------------->GR MP4H
OH R R84------------->GR MP4H
Room Blum L 414 BULS>Aphex 1100
Room Blum R 414 BULS>Aphex 1100
Room Wide L NT2------>Soundworkshop 1280b
Room Wide R NT2------>Soundworkshop 1280b

I recorded it with a pencil mix in mind, so the hi hat mic was -34db or something... just enough to hear it bring the hat into focus... the guy had these wonderful 60's dark and quiet hats that sounded good with the 451.

I like the idea of the four room mics because the room sounds good firstly, but also because I can later boost the wide ones to add a lift to a particular section, or take them all out for a tighter, darker sound.

For my money it was the most natural sound I had ever gotten, even in comparison to minimal mic set-ups i've used. It just sounded like standing in front of the kit to me.

I also mic'd the toms and snare from 2" up and 2" away from the drum head... so lots of bleed which I think helped.