Drum Mic Techniques

by Bob Idakaar

Snare
Mic placement should be 1-3 inches above the head, outside the outer rim but aimed at the center of the head. If there's too much of a pitched sound (like toms or timbales) and not enough snap, the mic may be too close. Experiment with the distance and position of the mic until you get closer to the desired sound. Some prefer the sound of a snare with an additional mic underneath the drum aimed at the snare wire (no closer than 2 inches). This under-snare mic should be compressed and switched out of phase. Some like this sound and some hate it, but it definately accentuates the snare sound of the snare drum.
A lot of engineers will make sure to bounce the two snare sounds together once recorded, or sometimes while recording. You could also try taping wadded paper towels or adhesive foam weather stripping to the head to get rid of any ringing. Tuning tricks: for a fat snare sound try tuning the bottom head to a lower pitch (really low) than the top head. For a cutting snare sound try tuning the bottom head up in pitch and keep the top head tuned lower.

Toms
The rack toms can be miked individually or as a pair, with a single mic placed between and above the two drums at a short distance. Usually, the toms are miked 1-2 inches in from the rim at a distance of 1-3 inches. Closer mic placement yields more of a dead sound, while more distant miking yeilds more of a live sound. For a more isolated sound between the toms, with less of an attack, you can remove the bottom head and position the mic 1-5 inches away from the top head inside the drum. The floor tom is usually miked using the same techniques. A good economy of mics is to use one placed inbetween the two rack toms, and one on the floor tom.

Bass Drum
Getting a good bass drum sound can be the most difficult and most rewarding part of recording drums. Because of the low frequencies as well as the proximity effect involved with using dynamic mics, a lot of different sounds can be achieved just by playing with the mic placement on the head. Often, drummers who have recorded a lot will have a precise spot they like to have miked. Large diaphragm dynamic mics designed for low frequencies are usually used to mike the bass drum. The drum head can be miked anywhere from the outside rim all the way to the center of the head, producing different sounds. Generally miking near the rim of the head produces more of the head sound, while miking toward the center produces more of the thud from the bass drum beater. Placing the mic closer to the head produces a warm sound, while miking farther away produces more of the high frequency click from the beater. Different bass drums will sound different, as well. You want to make certain that the tuning of the drum is producing as much of the desired sound, as well. A bass drum that sounds bad acoustically is doomed from the start. No amount of microphone placement can make a bad sounding bass drum sound great.

Hi-Hat Cymbals
You can pick up the hi-hats by bleed through from the snare drum mic, if the placement of the snare mic is pointed in the direction of the hi-hats. Or you can pick up more of the hi-hats by placing one of the two overhead mics used for the crash and ride cymbals over the hi-hats. But if a stronger hi-hat sound is desired you can also mike the hi-hats seperately. You want to avoid placing the mic in between the top and bottom hi-hat cymbals, as the sharp burst of air when the cymbals meet will be captured through the mic.

Overhead Cymbal Miking
Overhead cymbal mics are used to get more of the high frequency sound of the cymbals, as well as get an overall blended sound of the snare, toms, and hi-hat. There are three main techniques used. One is using an evenly spaced pair of microphones, above the cymbals pointing down towards the cymbals, or drums. You can also use a single figure-eight pattern mic, with the dead spot of the figure eight pointed down towards the middle of the kit, and the two sides of the figure eight pointing left and right.

Drum Mic Techniques