The ULTIMATE drum overhead mic placement guide (or close enough!)

[@Joedoriamusic]

Great video and info. You are appreciated

[@troutstudio]

This was an excellent demonstration. I record my kit constantly and I struggle with overhead positions. I have a stereo bar, so I'll give the ORTF a shot. Btw, I am guessing English is not your first language, so respectfully, I'll say that in English, you "look at" something; however, you "listen to" something. These are confusing areas of English, but a lot of people won't tell you these things. Thanks very much for sharing your expertise.

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

You have guessed correctly, haha. Thanks for telling me. Also, ORTF is an incredible technique. You should definitely try it. It might work in your recording environment. If not, you have to experiment with various techniques positions, and heights. Happy recordings!

[@musicbydavidyoungs]

Great video man, no waffle, no promo, just well explained and easy comparison - thanks!

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Thanks so much David!

[@pedroahets]

That room sounds fantastic!!!!!! Amazing video!!! Thanks!!!!!

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Thank you very much!

[@Danilo-dx4yw]

Exactly ... I was blown away with how high overheads sound! .... Very well balanced ...

[@stoobieman]

Great video, thanks for posting

[@BillRayDrums]

Thank you very much for the in-depth explanations! I like it that you gave the "extreme height" demo, as a sort of "control sample" for the XY, ORTF and Spaced Pair demos.

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Hi Bill! Thanks so much for watching. Yeah, whenever I watched overhead vids, I always thought that I wanted to listen to more positions and heights but they never showed that. So I did it myself! Haha. Keep grooving!

[@electriceyeswatching4415]

Excellent to the point demonstration.

[@hip-hoprapstorage4440]

Where does your pfp comes from ?

[@nikitaptashko3430]

thank you, a lot of combinations, very informative

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

You are very welcome!

[@napkinshoplifta5163]

ortf close over the snare was my favorite followed by recorder man at 2 1/2 sticks. Interesting to think about whether I just prefer the sound of ortf in general or if it is just working really well in your space

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

First of all, really good username. Second, I do love ortf. It's my favorite for most things and the one that I try the first! Also, the recording environment was pretty good so most of these would work nicely there.

[@shanesplanetshane3795]

ORTF is my goto. I have a sprawling rack kit with lotsa of cymbals and toms. A pair of LDC tube mics in cardoid/ortf above the snare, works well for me. Once I got the right overhead mics and preamp for them, my tom mics are almost a mere formality. I'm getting good results with 40" over snare ortf (angled with toms and cymbals), a beta kick, a top/bottom I-5 snare set, a near room ribbon behind the kit and a near room LDC about 120' (3to1 of overhead distance) front center kick at chest high, aimed forwards. Tbh, a great natural sound can be had with just 2 overheads and a kick. Spaced pair is just REALLY wide sometimes and doesnt collapse as well. I use okatava mk12's on rack toms and a couple mondo mics for underside floor toms.

[@drewsleyy3836]

Thank you for this!! XY "low" sounded pretty good, but if you're going for natural sounding wideness + retaining punchiness, my favorite had to be medium ORTF over the snare (5:49). Will have to try that!

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

You are very welcome. And yes, agreed! I love ORTF!

[@funnyminky]

The Glyn Johns setup certainly achieves a full and balanced sound of the kit, I also liked the stereo pair high up - this achieved a good stereo sound with a nice room sound

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

People tend to sleep on the minimal mic techniques but they forget that legendary songs like 'When the levee breaks' were recorded like that. Obviously, there are many other factors contributing to the result, but it goes a long way to show what you can achieve.

[@CarloDaniel007]

Spaced pair for the win! Thank you can’t wait to use this on my next session. Great info.

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

You are very welcome! Yes, if you want a lot of separation, spaced pair is what you need! Best of luck and have fun with your experimentations at your next session.

[@jonhattanrai]

Very nice! This is great, well done, and well explained. This should have more views.

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Thank you! Oh well, what can you do? At least I got a comment!

[@riffpickle7541]

Great video. Exactly what I needed to hear.

[@starless9829]

XY ----- 3:05 ----- 3:14 ORTF -------- 5:52 ----- 6:01 AB1 --- 8:56 ----- 9:05 AB2 ---------- 9:27 ----- 9:36

[@Itsallawesome]

ORTF close to snare is easily the nicest sound. Bright, wide, tonal, and controlled. Spaced Pair sounds good too, a little bland though. XY is my least favorite.

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Yeah, I love ORTF too. Possibly my favorite stereo technique in general! Spaced pair works really well on certain applications. I'll always give it a go if I think it will work.

[@okaight7248]

amazing video, thanks for all your time and research! The spaced pair pointed towards the snare was super interesting. It's obvious but the snare was so much louder in the OH, would be great if you are limited to a few mics. I think the original AB stereo pair was the best IMO for my needs. The pointed towards snare one while awesome wouldn't really work for what I do, and the closer one starts to pick up details on the cymbals that aren't particularly nice sounding, I noticed especially on the ride being super ringy.

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Thank you very much. I think that you have absolutely grasped the concept! As I mentioned at the beginning of the video, one technique does not work every time. You have to find what works for you, your particular set-up, recording environment, equipment and project! Well done!

[@GreatKukuruzo]

Hit 100 like. Great job, many thanks for the video. I'm going to record our drummer while I don't know much about drums world as I'm a guitarist. Your clarification makes it much easier to understand

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Lucky number! Thanks! Best of luck with your recording.

[@pegtownmanproductions9106]

Great video. Very informative. I really liked the stereo image of ORTF. Question with the first spaced pair facing down are they directly over specific parts of the kit?

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Thank you very much. Not above anything specific, but since you don't want an insane distance between the mics (because it'll sound too wide), you will be above the cymbals anyway. And that's what you want because most of the sound of the cymbals will come from your overheads. Make sure the cymbals are not overpowering/covering the rest of the kit though. Play with the distance and make sure your mics are equal distance from whatever you choose (snare or kick).

[@firstname3078]

I know this video is old, but could you please state what model those mic stands are? I am assuming they are also K&M like your lower stands? Great video! Thanks.

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Old? It's only three years old! Yes, everything in the video is K&M.

[@fearthetruthband]

Hello, when positioning the XY overhead mics over the snare drum, do they have to be directly over the center of the snare drum? Or can they be somewhere over the snare drum and the first rack tom (so the mics are not directly over the center of the snare drum)? Thanks!

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Hello! It's fine, you can position them to where you described too.

[@DYK-Music]

Excellent assessment, thx

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Much appreciated. Thanks

[@fearthetruthband]

When positioning the overhead mics in xy over the snare drum, do they need to be directly over the center of the snare drum? Or can they be positioned somewhere between the snare drum and first rack tom (so the mics are not positioned directly over center of the snare drum)? Thanks!

[@bobalbin3659]

Thank you.

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

You are very welcome 🙂

[@hmstack6049]

An outstanding job! Straight to the point! Thanks a lot!

[@LowCMusiq]

Great video! Very helpful

[@gabevan5227]

Do you always use the pads on your KM84s for overheads?

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Not really. It depends on the genre and the player. I only use them if I have to.

[@Dwolfmusic]

Wouldn’t positioning the ORTF setup with kick and snare in the centre be better than having the kick or snare not centered in the stereo image?

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

Hi Dirk. If I understand correctly, you mean to place the mics in a way that will be in the middle of the snare and kick? Equal distance from both? If that is what you mean, placing the OH in a way that both the kick and the snare are in the center, that would result into one mic being closer to the snare and one being closer to the kick. That would 100% give you phase issues and a weaker sound; certainly not the best one you could have recorded. Personally, I always prefer centering the snare because of the way that I treat the overheads. I roll off a bit of the low end on my overheads (I don’t like how the room/Reverb sounds in the low frequency) and that results into not having to worry about phase issues with the kick. But I leave enough of the low end to still have a bit of the beater slap sound. By centering the snare, I make sure I don’t run into phase issues with that and the snare is already where I want it in the stereo field. And then I do most of the treatment in the mix for the kick. Please take into consideration that this is simply what I do and I don’t claim that this is the only way of going about it. Centering the kick is a common practice and that is the reason why I wanted to demonstrate all possible scenarios. Even the exaggerated height positions, it’s good to know what they sound like. Hope that helps.

[@sebguyader]

You could try rotating the XY or ortf mics diagonally, so that their axis is perpendicular to the snare/kick axis, this way even in the center both capsules will be at the same distance relative to both kick and snare.

[@Nivej8180]

Which capsules ( Schoeps ) for the condensers?

[@ConstantineMusicComposer]

MK 4 capsule (Cardiod)