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What it do

microphones i have four...
Shure SM58
Shure PG 48
MXL 990
MXL Condenosr Mic 991

I have two tripod micstands with booms that i can use for over heads if need be, one low profile mike, and one generic mic stand

I'm plugging the mics into a firepod that is going to record in logice express 8

how would you mic the drums with what i gots

Dont Descrimante,
MC Piddle Deez Nuts woopdy woo

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anonymous Fri, 07/10/2009 - 20:12

edit: OH! there's only four mics overall! that's fine it still applies. If you mic the kick and the snare, i'd use the pg on the snare and the 58 on the kick. It's got a better bass response. lolz.

It's a little out of the ordinary for a drum mic setup, but it'll work. I'd recommend trying a few different micing techniques, and deciding what you like the best.

Start at the brginning, and put up your two condensers. Try a few different positions, but also remember to keep in mind that they'll have a lower Sound pressure level than the dynamics, so dont put then too close. Try the 991 (small) as an overhead, pointing down at the rack toms from just behind the drummer, slightly to his right. Then, place the 990 (large) in front of the kit, about 1.5 feet off the ground, pointed at the edge of the snare closest to the kick drum.

This micing technique is one that i've used on various recordings, and is not dissimilar to that used on Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' album, which sounds great, regardless of what you think of Amy Winehouse. With this micing setup, record some drums, listen, move the mics, record some more drums and so on. Try compressing the crap out of the top mic to bring out the toms, or try switching the mics. This setup may be dependent on how your room sounds.

Anyway, that's a creative technique that may or may not be what you're going for. An easy, standard setup would be, SM58 on snare (bout 3/4 an inch about the head and pointing about 2 inches in) and on kick drums (cut a hole in the kick and poke it in, pointing between the beater and the shell - if you point it at the shell, boomy! if you point it at the beater - THWACK! so a little of both...)and the 991 as an overhead, positioned the same way i mentioned.that way the OH mic will catch most of the kit (esp. with compression) but you can mix in some extra punchy kick and snare. This is similar to what SUM41 do live. They use a stereo overhead, 2 kick drum mics and a snare mic, compress the hell out of the OH's and mix it all together, and it sounds great.

The next step would be to mic each tom with a SM58, but you indicated that you didnt have the stands. If you really want a stereo recording of the kit, you could do two things. Either, set up the 990 as a second 'OH' or maybe even a room mic (ie placed in front of the drums 3-6 feet back - which will be fairly ambient) OR you could set up one of the SM58's to mic the toms. So, you'd have the 991 pointing at the rack toms, so the 58 would want to sit between the low rack tom and the floor tom, angled closer to the floor tom.

Oh, almost forgot.
If you find that with the kick snare and one OH tehnique is working, but you want a punchier kick drums, put a 58 on the otherside of the kick drum (the drummers side) and point it right at the beater. You'll need to reverse the phase on that mic in logic because its pointing straight at the other mic.

Last paragraph. With less mics/stands, most of your drum sound is going to come through ambient micing (OH's and room mics), so you need to mek the room you record in at good as possible, or bring your mics in closer to get more drums and less room. If your recording at home, play your drums in every room you could record in at listen for which one sounds better. worst comes to worst, pull in your mics to get more of the kit (but remember those SPL's!) - although then you have to simulate ambience via reverbs and the like, and they always suck more.

Im done. PM me for more.

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