Drum Mics
Picking up a set of drum mics is one of the hardest, yet most important decisions for a drummer to make. There are so many different brands and models of drum microphones, that a long, drawn out process of researching seems necessary before making a purchase. In most cases, the more money you spend, the better your drums will sound through a full PA system, or a recoding situation, HOWEVER, despite how much you spend on your drum mics, they will not make your drums sound any better than they do acoustic! By this, I mean:
- If your drum set was $200, a set of expensive drum mics aren’t necessarily going to make them sound like a mic’d Drum Workshop set.
- If your drums aren’t tuned properly, an expensive set of drum mics aren’t going to help.
- Drum mic placement is a very important factor in reproducing the sound of your acoustic drums.
- Lastly, and in most cases, the most important, you can have the highest, best sounding drum set on the market, and the best set of mics, but if you’re playing a live show and the speakers aren’t up to par, or the sound system has no EQ, Crossover, or a good rated power amp, your drums will not sound any better.
The placement of your drum mics is crucial to get the right sound out of your drums. Mics with clamps that connect to your rim are convenient, and for the most part will angle the mic and point it in the right direction. When micing toms, usually pointing towards the center of the drum is ideal, though in some cases, the edge is just as good. If no bottom head is present, try putting the mic inside the drum pointing at the center of the batter head.
When you mic a Kick drum, there’s several ways to achieve a good sound, it’s more about the preference of the drummer/sound guy. In most cases, people will tell you to put the mic in about the direct middle of the kick drum on the inside, pointing directly at the batter spot. This, to me, creates too much of a “click”. Try moving it closer and closer to the hole of the resonant head, eventually getting the head of the mic half in, and half out of the kick drum hole. This makes all of the air inside the drum rush directly around the mic when the kick is struck, creating a perfect balance, in my opinion, of “click” and “BOOM”. Experiment with this, as every drummer has a different taste of how they want their drums to sound. Personally, I like to feel the kick drum before I hear it. This way, it cuts through, without disrupting the sound of the guitars and vocals that are also coming through the system.
The snare drum is another tricky drum to mic, similar to the kick drum. Ideally, the top AND BOTTOM heads should be mic’d, however, I only mic the top. Shure SM57 mics are still one of the best microphones to use when micing the snare drum. If you’re using the top and bottom method, it’s a bit tricky. Experiment with this, and you’ll understand what I mean. (the top and bottom mics will somehow cancel each other out in most typical situations. some delay is needed) When micing the top head, point the mic towards the center of the head, and move the mic farther and closer to the drum to find the sweet spot of the drum.
When recording or using overhead mics, they should be above the cymbals, and approximately the same distance away from the snare drum. This makes it so the snare bleed over in the overheads are both identical, and the cymbals still get picked up on each side. I’ve had quite a bit of success using these methods of drum micing, both at live shows, and in the studio, and none of the methods are in stone. I’ll find myself moving mics around and trying different positions at different shows, depending on how many drums I use, and how many mics and cords I have available to me. Sometimes I find better ways in different scenarios, such as smaller or larger sized stages, The insulation in the room, and so on.. If you have access to a studio (or studio equipment like a Presonus recording interface) it’s merely an experiment game! You can find MANY different ways and methods that work with any given setup.