Additional drum mic positions to try ?

[Lee Cardan]

Howdy

I'm getting bored with my standard rock mic'ing setup and would like to try something new. Doing a new band starting next monday so I'd like to give something a go

What I usually go for is:

Kick In
Kick Out
Kick Beater (maybe)
Snare Top
Snare Bottom
Toms 1-4 (top skin)
Spaced pair overheads
Room mic
Ambient (distant) mic


I've had a guy on two occasions now support this setup with a mic he called Ringo, positioned similar to the Glyn Johns side mic. This really brought all the close mics into focus and gave some body and substance to the kit - but for whatever reason I've never been able to replicate it! But i'd still really like to try out a few more things

Also, I had played with a mic facing the kit, like front of kit, about waist high and a meter in front of the kit, but never really felt like this offered anything of use

So, any thoughts?

[Czybulski]

Have you tried ORTF for overheads?

I once put an MD21 (vintage dynamic omni) above the drummers head with good results.

From another thread I still have this in mind: Put an electric guitar in front of the kit and track what comes out of the pickups (i.e. amp or DI). I've never tried it, but I find the idea very tempting.

Mic taped to drummer's chest is also something people sometimes do. Never tried it though.

[LesPaulStd91]

Stick a omni LDC in between TOM 1-2, about midway below the tom-skins and above the kick-drum.

Can be a very balanced kit sound, albeit a bit midrangey, but if you compress it to bits and mix to taste it can add some glue,

cheers
LPS91

[nigel saunders]

Originally Posted by LesPaulStd91

Stick a omni LDC in between TOM 1-2, about midway below the tom-skins and above the kick-drum.

Can be a very balanced kit sound, albeit a bit midrangey, but if you compress it to bits and mix to taste it can add some glue,

cheers
LPS91

As above - a pair of cad179 omni between floor tom and rack tom above and to the side of the kick - wicked sound through ubk fatso

[fifthflaw]

Pzms or omnis on the floor in front of kit or pointing directly at the floor sometimes cool as a squashy gluey thing

[Lee Cardan]

thanks so far fellas

Haven't really developed a taste for ORTF on overs yet, I've tried it in the past but never really been wow'ed by it - likewise with XY. Tell me, what do you like about it (vs spaced pair)? This drummers uses a lot of cymbals

The other ideas sound cool, I may well give them a shot

Anyone had much good with the over the shoulder thing?


I really want something that will focus on the body and punch of the kit - and not grab a whole lot more cymbals I already have

[frans]

If you got too much cymbal wash in the room, try to have a room mic behind a closed door. Here it's the door towards the staircase... which is as big as a house... pointed at the door it's way more snare/kick/toms than anything.

[Showcase]

Originally Posted by Lee Cardan

Howdy

I'm getting bored with my standard rock mic'ing setup and would like to try something new. Doing a new band starting next monday so I'd like to give something a go

What I usually go for is:

Kick In
Kick Out
Kick Beater (maybe)
Snare Top
Snare Bottom
Toms 1-4 (top skin)
Spaced pair overheads
Room mic
Ambient (distant) mic

Pretty much same setup here, never X/Y on OH, I like to get pretty close to cymbals with OH`s and rely on ambience mics to capture the kit instead, usually mic under toms aswell!

Could be very interesting thread to get new approaches on drum miking

Originally Posted by Lee Cardan

thanks so far fellas

Haven't really developed a taste for ORTF on overs yet, I've tried it in the past but never really been wow'ed by it - likewise with XY. Tell me, what do you like about it (vs spaced pair)? This drummers uses a lot of cymbals

Comparison here:
Comparing overhead drum miking techniques | recording hacks

[matskull]

I keep hearing about PZM mics, they seem fun to experiment with.
Is there any good and cheap PZM mic out there?

[Gav G]

I usually put a mono room mic (usually a Coles 4038) behind a gobo or screen and have it quite low to the floor.. like knee hight. It doesn't get any direct sound and when you blatter it with an 1176 (2 buttons in) it sucks in all the ambience of the space without becoming harsh.

I went through a patch of putting a mic in the studio bin... Usually a 57 in a little metal bucket and putting it somewhere in the drum room. It make quite a unique sound.. quite resonant and boiing-y. Again, wild compression is the key to making it interesting.

..but having a "wildcard" mic is always worth having, just in case it turns out to be genius.

[Czybulski]

Originally Posted by Lee Cardan

thanks so far fellas

Haven't really developed a taste for ORTF on overs yet, I've tried it in the past but never really been wow'ed by it - likewise with XY. Tell me, what do you like about it (vs spaced pair)? This drummers uses a lot of cymbals

The other ideas sound cool, I may well give them a shot

Anyone had much good with the over the shoulder thing?


I really want something that will focus on the body and punch of the kit - and not grab a whole lot more cymbals I already have

ORTF is fairly easy to set up without the phase worries, so is xy. I personally like the idea of having a good picture of the whole kit on OHs, but that's just personal taste I guess.

frans, your idea with the "door-blocking-cymbals" sounds like something I will want to try one day!!

[Drumsound]

A mic right over the BD shell, pointed towards the snare and distorted can be super cool. When I do that my track sheet reads "Trashy."

[NickNagurka]

I got a few....

Try an SM7 over the kick drum, close enough to get some proximity effect and then point it at the shell of your snare. Slam to taste. Mono picture of kick and snare.

How about a bidirectional mic under the snare? Flip it so it faces both beater side of kick drum and the underside of the snares. If you have the "-" side facing the snares and the polarity of your kick drum is good, you can get some very interesting low end.

Ever use an omni dynamic mic for your room sound? Something like an EV 635a would do the trick. Even better, place it right on level with the kick drum. Ideally, the kick with trigger your compression on the room mic.

How about M-S overheads?

[NickNagurka]

Aha, and another I forgot...Omni condenser inside the kick drum. Very natural low end with zero proximity effect.

[Bell Head]

Originally Posted by NickNagurka

Aha, and another I forgot...Omni condenser inside the kick drum. Very natural low end with zero proximity effect.

That's a real nice one sometimes one of those things I whished i'd tried sooner. I had success doing this with a drummer using brushes once but next session with a heavier hitter- distortion city


Something to try is having a pair of mics in line (looking down from above) with the drummers shoulders about a foot out from each shoulder. Point them at the kick drum or point the left mic at the snare and right mic at the floor tom. Go up to head height or above for more cymbals and down to waist height for more kk/snr. Works with omnis and cardios and gives a nice natural tone. For the kick I like to put a ribbon mic also in the same line with the drummer. In other words just off to the side of the drum stool somewhere between knee height and ankle height.

[fifthflaw]

Originally Posted by matskull

I keep hearing about PZM mics, they seem fun to experiment with.
Is there any good and cheap PZM mic out there?

They are really cool on drums I need to try them as room mics on a few other things. I'm using a realistic one. They're cheap on eBay and do the job well. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[MarkRB]

Strange looking one, but nice when you smash it, is a mic about half way down the outside of the Kick shell, snare side, pointed at the floor about 45 degrees and 6 inches from the floor.

Get loads of tone from the kick and a nice splatty snare from the "snares".

[jordanvoth]

I've recently gone back to "XY" overheads, liking it so far, case by case isssue as always but the last project I used it on sounded really nice.

Micing behind doors has been mentioned but also a really cool technique.

I had a cool idea that I'm going to try. I'm going to get a small half sized locker and put a cheap omni in it and place this locker in front of the kit. See what happens, at the worst I have a place for my mics.

[andyfreeman]

For a different take on snare mic'ing, try a 57 on snare pointed at the drummer's.....um.....manhood, parallel to the top snare head and 2" or so away from it. Imagine the arm of a record player alongside the platter. The mic will be between the floor tom and snare.

It's a way to get more attack off the top head (my responses to the less smacky drum thread notwithstanding) and maybe - MAYBE - reduce the hihats.

(Note: drummer's manhood may present a rather small target. Just use your imagination. Or - wait.....don't.)


-A

[Sofa King]

the two "oddball" positions I use are one peaking over the front edge of the bass drum, and one between the floor tom and bass drum pointing up towards the snare.

hopefully the picture helps.

best,
Sean

[nigel saunders]

Originally Posted by matskull

I keep hearing about PZM mics, they seem fun to experiment with.
Is there any good and cheap PZM mic out there?

Radioshack Pzm can be had for 40ish pounds on eBay. There is a cool mod to make it balanced and connected to an Xlr and also use higher voltage batteries. More volume less noise. It should show up on a search for Pzm mods.( I have Done it - must be easy!) As well in front of the kick on the floor you can try a stereo pair clamped together a few inches to few feet perpendicular to the top of the kick -nice Tom sound and pillowy kick

[Tomas Miller]

Hybrid of the PZM and omni inside the bass drum.. Try putting the PZM inside, can be very cool. Try it with a DPA 4061. These little mics have incredible headroom.

I once gaffed a PZM on a wall about two feet up directly in front and just slightly stage right of the kick just to gather some low frequency information with incredible results for a bass heavy reggae group. Had to eq it pretty hard but the end result was really nice coupled with the other kick mic we used.