Which Drum Mic Technique Is Best? (With Examples)

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Күн бұрын

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@clicks59 6 күн бұрын

Thanks Kyle. Good video. Mic'ing the snare bottom wasn't mentioned. It can be helpful when trying to get more snare attack. when used in conjunction with a snare top mic. Note: the phase should be inverted on the snare bottom mic. Often kick drums are recorded with both kick in and kick out mics. Room mics can add another dimension to the drum sound. Mic placement and experimentation is critical! The genre of the music that's being recorded should be taken into account. Lastly, everything changes in the mix. Sometimes you'll need more detail and sometimes less.

@iamtheimagedoctor 6 күн бұрын

I've found that bottom mic'ing adds a lot of extra noise (just solo it up and see). This whole approach of mic'ing the bottome of the SD came from letting drummers make decisions and then trying to compensate for their unwillingness to listen to the producer. Nine times out of ten, just loosening the snares will give that attack.

@clicks59 5 күн бұрын

@@iamtheimagedoctor Mic'ing the bottom of the snare is a very common practice, regardless where it came from. That "noise" can be desirable when blended with ST. You could make the same argument with room mics. They can be useful in certain situations.

@iamtheimagedoctor 5 күн бұрын

@@clicks59 It is "common practice" recently (last 15 years) because engineers have lost the concept of how to mic drums correctly. Most new engineers haven't had the experience or the mentorship. Bernard Purdy, Hal Blaine, Steve Gadd never had a mic on the bottom of their snare drum. You say that "noise" can be desirable. Maybe I'm just old school but I like a clean, tight sound. I can't imagine Steely Dan sitting in the control room saying "What we need is more random noise in the mix." Room mics simulate the listener being in the room with the drummer. A mic on the bottom of the snare simulates the listener with his head between the drummer's knees. The old school engineers had it down: Good sounding drums in a good sounding room. Listen to Dave Brubeck "Take Five" iconic drum sound: two mics! Same with Art Blakey. One reason I'm sure Kyle didn't include bottom mic'ing in this video is because the drums sounded great, even with just the overhead and kick. What, exactly, do you think is missing?

@clicks59 5 күн бұрын

@@iamtheimagedoctor I'm old school as well. I totally agree with your concepts but I don't believe all of the sound coming from the bottom of the snare is noise. I would never use the track by itself in a mix though. I was taught that a SB track blended with ST, OH and rooms can give the snare an edgy sound which might be desirable in certain types of music. It's more of an effect just like room mics. You might not use them but they are another tool in the toolbox come mixing day. I was fortunate to spend several years in the studio with the guy who recorded and engineered this tune. He was my teacher. kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4icno2Co7Zqj8U

@JerridFoiles 5 күн бұрын

I came here to make a similar comment, but I also want to add that using a dynamic mic in the bass/kick drum and a condenser mic on the outside. Also when it comes to the inside mic, no drum is designed the same and different beaters affect the sound as well. Further that experimentation by taking the reso head off and moving the inside mic around to find “the sweet spot.” Overall, I find this to be a good video for beginners, but maybe a video sharing the more complex aspects of drum micing might be a good idea.

@jacksonmiller3016 4 күн бұрын

Tuning is also a huge factor when recording. just as a poorly tuned guitar will not sound good with other instruments, a poorly tuned kit will sound terrible in a mix. always make sure your kit sounds exactly the way you want before you hit record

@syjwg 3 күн бұрын

Never thought about those overhead mics arrangements! Got to try it with my low ceiling. Thanks! 🥁

@drumPhil42 5 күн бұрын

Overall an interesting and informative video. I wish the snare and toms had been recorded without so much muffling, as you can't hear the whole drum sound like that. I think we would have heard a more dramatic difference in mic placements without all that crap on the heads. I realize lots of people record drums this way (probably because it's easier), and the available room acoustics may have required some amount of drum treatment. But that level of muffling just seems like overkill. I'll admit I'm a drum tuning purist and outside of needing a dead, boxy '70's Motown vibe for a track, I'd rather take more time in the tuning, mic placement, and mix processing to get a sound than dumb down the resonance of a great sounding, expensive kit like this DW. You can't put back what you didn't capture at the start. With that minor rant out of the way, I really enjoyed how you methodically compared different mic placements, especially with the overheads and kick. Thanks for that, and keep up the great videos!

@AudioUniversity 5 күн бұрын

You make a good point - the overtones would have been more apparent had we left the damping to a minimum. I will say that the drums were tuned with care, but I'll hand it to you that the goal of the video would have been better-served with less damping.

@dynamix_ent1022 3 күн бұрын

@@AudioUniversity do you personally reverse the polarity of OH mics (L-R configuration) in live set up?

@musicmwmusic 8 сағат бұрын

This video is impeccably formatted. Excellent work! Thanks for this. Aside: I am curious to hear what the whole kit sounded like in that space fully miked, lol!

@jason.martin 6 күн бұрын

Great test and shootout, amazing how mic position really changes the tone

@swainsongable 6 күн бұрын

Thanks for another great video. I've never personally recorded drums, all my experience is live in small venues - which creates a host of other issues, especially if using condenser mics. Nevertheless, we often live stream through the board so require mics to pick the kit up. I hear more cymbal with the overheads low, and I like that, and it gives us more snare and toms. I also mic the kick at or in the port, but really like the idea of the mic on the beater skin in certain circumstances. I only need to mic the kick when we're not livestreaming (because most drummers are not very good at adjusting themselves into the mix 😉)

@brockmannolaf7182 10 сағат бұрын

Bassdrum Batterside sounds great. But the best sound to my ear was with the BD-Mic further away in front of the drum. Surprisingly good! at 7:00

@slofty 5 күн бұрын

The Kompact is great because it is voiced very similarly to the original and isn’t overly ‘crisp’ like the Mk. II. No more needing to shell out for a 40 year old mic that needs rebuilt! Also I was bummed that it has a plastic body until I realized that 1) it is glass-fibre loaded and thus amazingly tough for how light it is and 2) it refuses to resonate no matter what you throw it on.

@TheNoladrummer 4 күн бұрын

One helpful hint: the further away your OHs are, the higher you should tune your toms. That helps the transients pop out. You may need to use bigger toms to retain the body of the drum. Just tune them to the same pitches and you’ll be happier with the balance of your sound.

@goodtimejohnny8972 4 сағат бұрын

The drum is a very complex instrument and when recording it you have to understand how it functions to decide where to place the mic for the desired outcome. Tuning of the drums and how the drummer plays them is just as important as mic choice and placement. The lowest aka the fundamental note of the drum comes through when the drum is struck in the middle. The higher frequencies aka the resonating note comes from the edge of the head. As an example my floor tom fundamental is 74 hz while the resonant is 111hz. So if mic placement is at the edge tone is way higher than it actually is. The same results if i strike on the edge and not the center. Also the kit that was recorded needs better tuning for sure. That high tom was especially noticeable to me.

@HoustonRoad 6 күн бұрын

Now I’m all ears on this VLOG!!

@ivybeard8337 3 күн бұрын

What a great video. The comparisons were perfect. If I have to nitpick (this is the internet after all) it would be that the snare is dampened by the wallet and floortom with…oh what do you call them…you know what I mean. Sure, it’s not “cheating” but ringing drums are going to present some challenges when it comes to unwanted sounds bleeding into the mics. Anyway. Thanks for the video :)

@Dwija108 6 күн бұрын

Nice, detailed video. A lot of useful information for anyone new to studio recording.

@SethCrowderMusic 6 күн бұрын

These are genuinely so helpful thankyou!

@DALTRON666 5 күн бұрын

Such a beautiful mapex saturn 3 🤤. I have one myself

@trebleboost7 6 күн бұрын

This is excellent. I am a newby at mic'ing drums and after a mild non-desctructive 'flooding'of my studio space I just reset the kit and mic's and am going to be dialing them in. There is a lot to mic'ing drums isn't there? I had made the mistake of using a stereo AT822 as an overhead not realizing it was a close proximity stereo mic. I now have one AT4033 I am going to try as an overhead, AKG D112 for BD, SM57 on snare, AT SD condenser on HH, 2 of the old Radio Shack 'Sennheisers' on high and mid toms, and Yamaha classic MZ204? something on low tom, Oh and one of the RS's on the beater side of BD. I have the similar setup with low ceilings, and when re-setting I had the kit in a corner (it's a decent sized space) but found it was way too much build up, so I moved back to original set up in more of an open space in my L-shaped room so there is a lot of open space around the kit without dominating the space. Getting ready to dial it all in and this is very helpful!

@richardtremblay7634 4 күн бұрын

Videos like this should be about different sounds/placements not which one is better. It’s always subjective. There will be many different responses no matter what

@korkenknopfus 5 күн бұрын

Very educative comparison, thank you.

@KristoffKuche 6 күн бұрын

I had a dozen standard 421's but those kompakt 421's look like the ticket . Many thanks for the content !

@JamesTLangford 4 күн бұрын

I use shure 64 clips on drums the mounting options are awesome

@fredfox3851 6 күн бұрын

If I only had a stereo pair of mics, I would put them several feet in front of the kit, about snare/tom height, below the crash cymbals if possible. The traditional overhead only placement, emphasizes the cymbals too much while making the kick drum almost invisible.

@iamtheimagedoctor 5 күн бұрын

Interesting note: The kit is set up that way so that the drummer can reach all the drums and cymbals equally, so the best place to put a mic to get all parts of the kit equally would be right above the drummer's head. I even experimented with duct taping a PZM mic to the drummers chest. It actually worked great but interfered with the drummer's playing ability!

@fredfox3851 4 күн бұрын

@@iamtheimagedoctor I agree that the overhead technique as shown here, is the most common. Prominent cymbals work better for jazz than rock. On my multi piece drum kit I use close mics and standard overheads as well. Additionally I have an AEA R88 in the full kit position, as if I was sitting four feet in front of the drummer. When I solo that mic it gives me a balanced natural sound even on the two floor toms farthest away.

@in.der.welt.sein. 6 күн бұрын

I noticed the crashes getting a lot harsher the lower the overheads were.

@norbertsmallegange6331 13 сағат бұрын

I use overheads but i aim just to get the trebles, so on my mixer i apply a lowcut as high as i can set it , in my case 1000 hz,, the rest is miked direct

@okaight7248 2 күн бұрын

I was pretty surprised that the edge Tom mics were a bit more flat and balanced sounding than the center pointed ones. I would have assumed that edge mics had a lot more low end sustain but they seemed to be a lot tighter

@ZackMester 5 күн бұрын

Wow I’m surprised how much cleaner the kick sounds at a medium distance

@3L3V3NDRUMS 6 күн бұрын

Awesome video! That's how I'm doing it!

@kommunismusarbeiterjonny 6 күн бұрын

I have the e614 and I seem to have an issue with how fast they distort. An issue I never had with 184s or the haun mbc440 (which btw are fantastic sdc you should check em out )

@norbertsmallegange6331 13 сағат бұрын

Try to acquire some me-64 mics.....

@U2WB 5 күн бұрын

Great video ! I have a question: What kind of shell-mount mic holder is that at 8:00 ? I bought a set of AKG Session 1 drum mics, and the included shell clips position the mics too far into the middle of the rack toms, to where they’re in the way when I play. So far I’ve not found any clips that slide away like these; they all slide up and down and so the problem persists.

@AudioUniversity 5 күн бұрын

These clips come with the mics, but I believe you can buy the MD421 mount a la carte.

@U2WB 5 күн бұрын

@ Yes ! I already found them and ordered from Musicians Friend online. Thank you !

@juancarlosdelasotta6375 4 күн бұрын

Very nice video , very helpful😊

@helmanfrow 3 күн бұрын

You missed an opportunity to present a groove with two different mic placements, eg mics close, pointed at rims, distant overheads vs mic pointed at centers, pulled back with close overheads.

@Scott-uq4on 4 күн бұрын

The toms, snare, and cymbals sound pretty good with the overhead mic's, but the kick drum sounds very weak.

@TurgutAlpBekoglu 4 күн бұрын

Thanks for sharing..

@1loveMusic2003 5 күн бұрын

That snare itself doesn't seem to have very much low end punch. Probably better for funk than rock.

@JerridFoiles 5 күн бұрын

I find it to be over dampened. The tape, the wallet… tune it up and let it sing.

@CodeKyoko 6 күн бұрын

Decreasing the distance of the OH pair from the kit will also increase the stereo width of the recording. As the config is brought closer, the outer elements of the kit (HH, cymbals, and FT) will be located closer to the extreme bounds of the Stereo Recording Angle (SRA), producing a wider recording. This can also achieved by increasing the angle of the XY or selecting a more directional polar p. The standard XY with cardioid capsules has an SRA of ~180 degrees. Using supercard capsules and angling the XY beyond 90 to 120 degrees will decrease the SRA from ~136 to 105. This is pretty close to the ORTF which has an SRA of ~95 degrees

@ichbrauchmehrkaffee5785 2 күн бұрын

one word of criticism, maaayybe, it's not the best idea to muffle the snare with a wallet to elliminate overtones, while demonstrating how mic placement changes overtones in the recording. I barely heard a difference between those setups. Couldn't really tell them apart with my eyes closed.