Bottom Head drum micing

[james.ca]

My kit is a mini kit and the mics are in the way on the top of the heads .
I've decided just mic from the bottom heads ,the drum shells aren't that deep I hope I'm not losing to much tone .
I hope to go for some Apex 165 mini condencer mics in the future .
James.ca

[themikesonata]

I have had to resort to miking the bottom heads many times in live applications due to drummer set ups, fear of my mics getting smashed etc... and usually with fair results...

but, as for recording.

Miking drums on the bottom heads is scary to me, because obviously the pitch difference between the heads and how well the tuning of the kit is maintained. I am sure a well tuned kit with tedious mic placement could sound alright.

just my 2 cents. Good Luck!

[Nutmeg II.]

How about just backing tham of a bit?
The drums will sound much more balanced as a side benefit.

[dbbubba]

I am always amazed at how good kick, snare and two judiciously positioned OHs can sound both live and in the studio!

I have also been surprised that I can split two rack toms with one mic and get better results than I seemed to think years ago.
Once I had plenty of channels and mikes (WAYYYYYYY back in the late '70s) I always mic'ed each tom.
Recently I have been in situations where I had so many band/orch inputs that I had to either go with only OHs or split the racks.
The live sound was fine in both cases and the recorded sound is fine as well.

[Musiclab]

I mic top and bottom for along time I didn't and then I tried it and liked it, so now it's pretty much the standard for me

[ssaudio]

Originally Posted by dbbubba

I am always amazed at how good kick, snare and two judiciously positioned OHs can sound both live and in the studio!

I'm with you all the way there

1 mic per pair of toms works very well too...

[ScumBum]

Hey try this...........take the bottom skin off and put a mic inside the tom , or just a bit outside the tom like micing a kick . The Ramones did this alot , thats how they got that booming floor tom . Check out their videos on youtube , they did this live too .

Also this makes it a little easier only having one head to tune .

[adamcal]

[quote=ssaudio;2054375]I'm with you all the way there

1 mic per pair of toms works very well too...[/QUOTE


Right up until the drummer hits one too soft and the other too loud

[ssaudio]

Originally Posted by adamcal

Right up until the drummer hits one too soft and the other too loud

It's been a long time since I dealt with amateur hour.
However if you are talking about the two drums being hit at the same time then even having 2 mics will fail - think about it