OT: Recording Drums - gear selection

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Dear Rainer,

It it were me,

I would use the

*D112  on the kick* (it's no problem to have that 4k peak;   just eq it 
out if you don't like the older styled click,
just make sure that you use a parametric and make the frequency band as 
narrow as possible before you
'remove' the peak'  (you probably do but if you don't,  make a very, 
very tight notch in your parametric and then
turn it up fully and slowly sweep your waveform with 
it...............the 'click' of your kick drum will obnoxiously
leap out at you..................then just take it back to 0db and start 
slowly taking it out until it sounds good to your ears.
The click also  may or may not be pronounced given that the drummer 
probably is going to use a felt beater and not a wood or plastic beater
and depending on whether , as Andy suggested, you mic from the kick side 
or the front side.  I can't be strong enough in advising
you to NOT use a 57 on the kick,  it sounds terrible compared to the D112.
By the way,  the 'click' of the bass drum from the 80's didn't just come 
from the D112's eq curve,  it came from the sensibility of
actually increasing the volume of the 4k peak.   People went so far as 
to tape quarters to their kick drums and using or wood beaters to
emphasize the click.  This probably came from the brief (mercifully) 
popularity in 80's pop production of the Simmons Electronic drums that 
had a very exaggerated
click sound.     Remember that the click also sometimes really helps the 
kick to have definition in a good way.  This is especially
true if the drummer has a  light touch on the kick or is using a 
particularly soft beater or has a particularly deeply (and flabby) kick 
drum sound.

I have to say that I can own any kick drum mic (and have) and I still 
prefer the D112.  Just remember that equalization is your friend.....lol.

*SM57 on the snare drum*  Place the microphone underneath the high hat 
(if possible) and pointed back towards the snare drum (and
away from the center of the high hat) so that the swivelling part of the 
capsule lies EXACTLY half on one side of the snare drum rim
and half on the other.  Point the mic towards the center striking point 
of the drum (to maximize that actual stick transient) and lift
it approximately 1/2" above the rim.

*SM57s one on each tom tom   *This is a trick taught to me by an audio 
engineer who worked with Jimi Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell:
Have someone take the 1st 57 on the high tom and, pointing it down, 
towards the center of the tom and approximately 6" above the head
(and NOT closer) sweep the mic across the top arc of the drum so that 
the drummer hits several times at each location.
One of the locations will stand out as being the best sound.   Lock that 
placement down with a boom stand and, keep ALL the microphones
turned on..........sweep the second SM57 over the floor tom (or 2nd tom 
tom if the drummer has three toms total) in exactly the same way.
Some where as you sweep the sound will suddenly sound full.  This will 
be because you have achieved the best phase coherence possible
given the circumstances.  If you have a third tom,  I highly recommend 
you borrow a 4th SM57.
Many engineers prefer a heftier mic (in terms of bass response) on the 
floor tom, but I find that it gives a drum set an exaggerated feel
that is not naturalistic.   I've tried every mic concievable on drumsets 
in hundreds of sessions as both a drummer and a producer
and those damned 57s just keep doing a great job of making a drumset 
sound like a drumset.

*AKG C1000S condensers as overheads  *(I suggest these because you have 
them and I don't know the other matched set you use
(C4s?  what are they.............if they are more accurate and detailed 
than the AKGs then, by all means, use them instead).
Use these on two really tall boom stands if possible.  Cross the 
boomstands over the top of the kit so that the  microphones criss cross
each other at roughly a 90 degree angle.......then position them so that 
they are looking down as evenly as possible over the cymbals.
You don't want them to close to the cymbals and, for obvious reasons, 
you can't get them very far away.
Again,   it's good to have someone criss cross the mics and slowly 
change positions (of where they are actually pointed) to see if you can
find a sweet spot.   Avoid right angles of the tip of the mic to the 
cymbal itself as you'll get crazy phase/doppler shifts as the cymbals move
when they are crashed.

A note:  really think about micing your Crashes.   There are now so many 
microphones on the kit that the ride cymbal and the high hats will
be picked up with no problem at all.     In the 80's we used to 
separately mic the hi hat but I almost never do anymore..............it 
involves
using noise gates and all kinds of things to deal with the overwhelm of 
cymbals in the mix when you do this.
*
ALTERNATELY:*
A really good ambient jazz micing set up frequently uses just a kick 
microphone and two overheards...........You'd be surprised how
good this sounds.

*A FURTHER NOTE: *   The tuning of the drumset is absolutely crucial to 
getting good sounds.
If your tom toms ring too much,  merely lift the microphone further from 
the head and DON'T TAPE or MUFFLE them,  unless you
are into that deader than anything Fleetwood Mac 'Rumors' sound which is 
very out of fashion these days.

As in all things 'microphone',  Placement is EVERYTHING,  so these are 
suggestions designed for a good tight drumset sound.
I break these rules constantly but I also am constantly looking for the 
new and exotic in drumset tones and micing strategies.
My favorite lately is the little over compressed stereo microphone on my 
old video recorder............I just get great sounding
drums out of it, but they are weird sounding drum sounds.

Good luck and contact me personally if I can be of further assistance.
yours,  Rick