what kind of music?
what kind of room?
what kind of mic/pre/track resources?
what sort of aesthetic?

Is there an ideal? Sure... at least one for every other engineer out there.

I.

How long is a piece of string?

That's a pretty open-ended question, and any answers will be subjective so here's mine.

Good player, well-tuned kit, nice-sounding room as few mics as possible and no close micing. The kit is an instrument, not a bundle of many. I go for a big natural picture.

After hearing a sample of Fletcher's 3-mic technique on the recaudiopro cd, I read up on it over at mercenary.com. Tried it out tracking last weekend, and I'll never go back. Phasing? What's that?

Take the time to set the mics up right and get the sounds you want before you hit record. The thing mixes itself; there's nothing to fix. No EQ, no reverb, no compression needed.

I used omni's for the overhead and side/rear mics and a condensor for the front-of-kick. Fletcher makes several suggestions in his article though, so practically any bottom-feeder (like myself) can do this.

That's my answer. There are many others, and none are wrong. YMMV.
-kent

Well, I'm recording without compression. I got the clean signals and I can change after everything like I want. I checked what Mr.Recorderman( or recordman?) said and I have now the best drum sound ever. Check http://www.prorec.com and Barry Rudolf shows the same with photos(!!!).
With only 3 Mics you get your dream. For Music like Latin, soft rock,rock I don't think you need more. For hard music I think you need more. Check the overhead position and I'm sure that you love it.

Peace-Vagelis the Greek ;)

well I appreciate the input the ideas and the info for research.
and for the smart alicks, well not everyone can be as versatile and witty as some of you.
open ended question...
yea but I think it was the best i could come up with being that I'm not a pro engineer, or even close.

just wanted some guidance is all, I think theres plenty of rooms available for joking and horsecrap, I see a new string every other day on these forums for mindles chatter and the like.

if A person can't come to these forums and ask dumb questions without being ridiculed whats the point of having them.

Ok, ok, I've heard enough about this 3 mic on drums BS. YES it can sound great. Is it the only way to record a kit? NO. And as a matter of fact, if you don't have a pretty good drummer and a good sounding room, it won't work as good as lots of mics going to many tracks. I have gotten killer drum sounds with one Coles. I have gotten equally killer, but different sounds, double micing every piece and then some. My standard technique is kick, snare, stereo overheads placed front and behind looking at the floor tom, and a few compressed mics scattered around the kit. If that doesen't give me what I want, I have no problem adding tom mics, hi hat, whatever. Don't only live in the 3 mic box cause it's "cool". Allright, enough ranting.

I read somewhere about a Gun's & Roses session where they used 24 mics on the drums. Top & bottom mic on every drum. Sounds like a phasing nightmare, but they sure sold a lot of records.

It really depends on the style of the song.
even if I'm going for the 3 mic sound, I'll still record more tracks just in case.

Joz

Yeah, it's not the way to go if there are problems with the room, kit or player. On my first 3-mic session, I was blessed with goodness in each area. I don't say it's the only way for everyone. It's just nice to hear the kit breathe for a change.
-kent

dave, i think the 3/4 mike drum schtick is very relevant to people (like me) who have to fit a three piece onto 8 tracks

i'm sure that if i had 24 tracks to record the drums, i would

I mix often drums with only 3/4 mics. But I never record only 4 mics. It's good to have otions.
The bigest problem I see with 4 mics on a drum set: you better have some rocking mics and preamps!
When I started recording I had 8 tracks at max. I always submixed drums. So it didn't change a lot as I got more tracks. I only had to submix later (at mixing).
I learned a lot doing "live-submixing" drums.

Originally posted by McSnare:
Ok, ok, I've heard enough about this 3 mic on drums BS. YES it can sound great. Is it the only way to record a kit? NO. And as a matter of fact, if you don't have a pretty good drummer and a good sounding room, it won't work as good as lots of mics going to many tracks. I have gotten killer drum sounds with one Coles. I have gotten equally killer, but different sounds, double micing every piece and then some. My standard technique is kick, snare, stereo overheads placed front and behind looking at the floor tom, and a few compressed mics scattered around the kit. If that doesen't give me what I want, I have no problem adding tom mics, hi hat, whatever. Don't only live in the 3 mic box cause it's "cool". Allright, enough ranting.

Many moons ago (Tascam 3440 4 tr)I once had a killer drumsound with one RS PZM and no phase problems :D

My philosophy is on recording is use as many mics as you have available ( track count obviously an issue ). Then on mixdown you have the choice. Often placing free mics/tracks in strange positions ( facing the top corners , or against a reflective screen ) can help add strange ambiences that bring the mix to life. Basically record to give yourself as many choices later as possible.

It's aesthetics in my case, Mr. Fission. And the windfall for me is not having to sort through a thousand options to find a good sound.

Does Shakespeare look good in braille?
-kent

I've gone the 3/4 mic route a few times but like McSnare said, it's not the be-all end-all of recording drums. For roots rock, mellower rock or jazz it's usually great. It ain't gonna work for hard rock or modern pop where you need impact.

Originally posted by McSnare:
...stereo overheads placed front and behind looking at the floor tom...

I'm trying to get a mental picture of where they are... can you be more specific?

Thanks

This is tricky to describe cause it depends so much on how the kit is setup. Think of the front mic as kinda of if you were close micing the mounted tom but you backed it up and raised it a bit higher, maybe just above the plane of the crash cymbal usually to the right of the mounted tom as you look at the kit from the front side. The back mic should be at the same height as the front and looking at the floor tom and ride cymbal, placed to the right of the drummer as he sits at the kit. Hope this helps.

Got it! Thanks. I'll have to give this a try.

Hey guys, I just read my earlier post and I didn't mean to come off as hardcore against minimal micing for drums. Really you can get great results with 3 or 4 mics, I just wanted folks new to the game to know that there are an infinite number of great ways to record drums. Also, don't be afaid to "cheat" even if the 3 or 4 primary mics are sounding killer. For example, I have sometimes had my primary 4 mics be perfect but I need a bit more from the floor tom so I added a Coles somewhere underneath the floor tom. You can still bus everything to 3 or 4 tracks and still be a minimalist hero. At the end of the day, nobody listening to the song cares how many mics were used on the drums, but they will react to a great drum sound.