Drum Mic’ing

The question came up based on my blog posting from a few weeks ago whether I’ve settled into a drum micing configuration that really stands out since that’s what I’ve been focusing on experimenting and improving.

I think the biggest difference in the drum sound I’m going for in this season has been a shift from an overheads-driven sound to a close-mic driven sound. Historically, I’ve always been one to make much of my overheads placement to get a cohesive, stereo image of the entire kit, and then supplement what’s missing and what needs more emphasis with close mics. The problem I’ve found with that technique is that it is so reliant on the drummer having a slammin’ kit mix before I mic anything. And the reality in the campus-model we are in at KCC is that this is not always the case with the wide variety of skills and experience in drummers that play for me.

I’ve been trying over the past few months a nearly 180 degree shift to relying largely on close mics for all of the drums and using overheads simply as cymbal mics. In this paradigm, placement of the overheads is still extremely critical because I want to reject the drum sounds from this mics as much as possible and only pick up cymbal sounds so the close mic tone will remain true and uncluttered when adding in overheads. This means the overheads are closer to the cymbals and much more spread to the corners of the kit then they would be in a overhead-driven micing technique.

Regarding mic selection, still the Beta52 on kick, although I’m relying much less, if at all, on the Beta91 in the house other than having a clicky kick tone for wedge monitors that maintains clarity there. On toms, so far my favorite tones have come from SM57s on the rack toms and a MD-421 on the floor. On our DW kit, the 57s just sound really true to what the sound of the drum actually is, and it is translating much better from drummer to drummer than anything else I’ve tried. I still plan to try a few other mics and aiming techniques that I haven’t gotten to yet. More on that later.