I recently purchased 2 condenser mics and an sm57 to record my bands drumset with. The 3 mics work great, but I'm still looking for a mic to record the kick drum with. I put the two overheads (condensers) up and the 57 on the snare, and the kickdrum barely picks up. Along with that, i want to have multiple tracks recording each individual mic on cubase. I am running through a fp10 firebox which has monitors for each mic. Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Adam
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If you don't get another mic, you will have 3 mics so you should
If you don't get another mic, you will have 3 mics so you should have 3 tracks in Cubase (if you set it up right), two overheads for stereo panned left and right and both of which capture the snare, hihat, cymbals and toms, and one kick mic (sm57), and you can adjust the volume of each of the 3 independently. If you get a fourth mic, then you have four tracks to adjust independently of each other.
If I was you I would try to get the best sound you can from just the two overheads all by themselves. Do lots of experimenting with them alone. Move them around, move them up and down. Try them as a crossed pair, as a spaced pair, ORTF, try them using the recorderman technique. Compare the differences. That's how you learn. Once you've found the placements that give the best sound you can get with just two, then use the other mic, if you still need it, to supplement that stereo overhead sound. Maybe the best place for that other mic is between a couple of toms? Maybe it can be placed to capture the kick and the floor tom too? Start with the overheads all by themselves and then use the third mic to address whatever needs addressing. If you can get a good sound with two mics, you will not only learn a hell of a lot about microphone placement, how to detect and solve phase issues, etc., but you will have a huge head start on a good overall kit sound when the day comes that you add 5 or 6 more mics and close-mic the entire kit.
Either get a 4th mic or put the 57 on the kick and let the overh
Either get a 4th mic or put the 57 on the kick and let the overheads pick up the snare (they will certainly pick up the snare better than they will capture the kick). You can also investigate the "recorderman" technique (google it) for recording the entire kit with only two microphones.