Im buying the equipment to set up my comercial recording studio.
Rock / Alternative bands are my main target audience, so the drums are very important. Im budgetting for the mics / pedestals required for this task.
The best store in town is offering me a pack for drum recording, comprising up to 15 mics and all the necesary pedestals. Basically, the pack consists of directional telefunken M80s for everything except bass drum (MXL A55 and Cube), overheads (choice of stereo pair small diaphragm condensers) and room (stereo pair of large diaphragm, which are the most expensive).
What I want to know is, if the 10 (or up to 15) mic set up for drum recording is "too much", or if its the best possible configuration. Are these people only after my money? They say that the more mics, the better for mixing...
Thank you!
Some recomendations to good drum recording set ups are most welcome!
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I would suggest that you check out "Recorderman" (google it ) to
I would suggest that you check out "Recorderman" (google it ) to get you STARTED out in the right direction. As Boswell stated so eloquently ( he always does!), mic packages for drum kits are, for the most part, rubbish. There are a few exceptions out there, but they are not "budget". The fewer the mics on a kit, the less the troubles with getting it to sound right as also stated.
Like so many things in life, it's all in the positioning....:)
Am I the only one who read the entire post? That mic list includ
Am I the only one who read the entire post? That mic list included Telefunken M80's. These aren't' cheap mics. I'm surprised they paired these with an MXL for a bass drum mic though. Seems like a stupid choice. I would at least get an Eletrovoice RE20.
That being, said a bunch of sm57s would be a good investment for snare at the least. You could probably make them work for toms as well.
I like what Bos said, words of advice are always coming from him
I like what Bos said, words of advice are always coming from him. Spot on Moon, Recorderman ( a past moderator here), is a wealth of info and his video is choice. I wondered the same this Hue. What the heck is the Telefunken doing in this?
That being said, I have the Audix drum kit Audix DP Elite 8 : 8-piece Drum Mic Package and although I agree with Bos, the kit is pretty cool and sounds very good. If you wanted something that was a kit, I would check that out. The SCX1C sound nice on acoustic guitars and piano too.
He has a very full video on micing drums that is outstanding if you find it:
Those packs of so-called drum mics are targetted at loud boys in
Those packs of so-called drum mics are targetted at loud boys in their bedrooms and have no place in any commercial studio that hopes to command respect from its knowledgeable clients. You certainly don't need that number of mics to cover everything on a properly set-up kit providing you have got the studio acoustics right. The more the mics, the more you have to struggle with bleed and phase effects in the mix.
Does your studio have a drum room? What you should do is buy some standard mics for the snare, kick and overheads plus a few others you can use on toms. As you get to know the strong points and also the shortcomings of the mics you use, you get a feel for where you may need to enhance the set. Different band styles may influence which mics you use for what.
Don't buy a pre-packaged load of what someone wants to sell you. Grow your mic set as the studio grows. Properly chosen mics will have their uses on things other than the drum kit and will be an enhancement to the studio rather than an embarrassing waste of money.
Do a bit of searching in the archives here at Recording.Org. We have covered the topic of drum mics several times.
Have you thought about the pre-amps to use on the drum mics?