Hey!

Welcome To:

 Christopher Sauter's

Guide to Drum Set Recording

Hi! My name is Christopher Sauter

And I'm here to give you tips and guidelines on how to get a great recording out of a Drum Set.

(P.S. - Please don't forget to vote for me at the bottom of this page if you've found this guide helpful!!)

Here's what you need:

1.  A talented drummer - because even the most expensive drum set can't play itself.

2. A tuned drum set - just like you would tune a guitar, it's just as important to tune your drums too.

3. Microphones, and something to record to: Protools, DAW system (digital audio workstation), tape.)

4. and These guidelines to help you get started!:

A standard Drum Kit can include a:

 Kick Drum, Snare Drum, 3 Tom-Toms, 2 Crash Cymbals, a Ride Cymbal, and a Hi-Hat

First off, for organizational purposes, try and use color coded cables so you don't go crazy trying to figure out what cable is connected to which microphone, just in case of a problem. The more mics you use, the harder it becomes to keep all the cables organized, unless they're color coded! (I've seen engineers use up to 20 microphones to record a single drum set!)

The overall theme of this guide can be summed up in one word: Balance - To get the most realistic recording of a drum set, I record each single drum with two separate microphones in two different positions, one mic for the top, and one mic for the bottom. This technique captures the drum from two different perspectives, and when you blend these two mics together, you get a very balanced sound that is truer to the actual sound of the drum. Recording with two microphones captures a more natural sound than recording with one microphone because humans are used to hearing things with two microphones (their ears) Well, Here's the Guide!

THE DRUMS:

1. We'll start with the foundation of the drum set: The "Kick Drum". The kick drum produces the lowest frequencies found in a drum set, and should be recorded with a microphone that is capable of accurately capturing those low frequencies. Some great kick drum microphones to place inside the kick drum are the: AKG D112, RE-20, and the Shure Beta 52a. Just to name a few, but don't hesitate to experiment! You never know what might just wind up being the perfect mic for the situation. For the outside of a kick drum, you can use a large diaphragm condenser microphone such as an "AKG C414" or a "AT4050"

When I record a kick drum, I place a microphone inside of the actual drum, right in front of the beater, and I also place a microphone outside of the drum. The reason you use two microphones is to pick up two different sounds and then blend them both together to get a "balanced" kick drum sound. The mic inside will pick up the "click" of the beater hitting the head, while the mic outside of the drum will pick up the bass frequencies of the kick drum (because lower frequencies take a longer time to fully develop than higher frequencies, so placing a microphone further back will pick up more bass than the microphone that is right next to the beater) Example:

 -PLUS-  -EQUALS =  Isn't That Great?!

2. Next, we'll move on to the backbone of the beat: The "Snare Drum". The snare drum produces less bass frequencies but has more midrange and higher frequencies. It is a lot smaller than a kick drum and has thin metal chains running underneath it called "snares" hence the term Snare Drum. These snares are what give the drum its unique sound. Great snare drum microphones to start with for miking the top of the snare are: The world famous Shure "SM57", Audix i5, Sennheiser E905, and even a Sennheiser MD441. For the bottom of the snare, to pick up the high frequencies of the actual "snares" you can use a small diaphragm condenser microphone (these microphones do a great job of capturing the snares because they have an extended high frequency response, which lets them pick up more treble than dynamic microphones) Good mics to start with are the: Shure SM81, AKG451, or an Audio Technica 4051. The top microphone will capture the "crack" of the stick hitting the skin, and the bottom microphone will capture the "snap" of the snares underneath. Blending these two mics together will give you a very balanced snare drum sound.

When Recording a snare drum, a nice trick is to have the top microphone run in line with the actual snares on the bottom of the drum, it will pick up a slightly sharper sound that way, but always experiment! You never know what might sound great! So if you were to mic the drum from the top,

it would look like this:

..and just to give you an X-RAY VIEW (I feel like I have superpowers now...) this is how it would look if the top head was clear, and you could see down to the bottom of the drum where the snares are:

Most of the time, the sound of the Hi-Hat will bleed into the snare drum microphone, so it's beneficial to have the snare drum microphone pointed 180 degrees off-axis with the hi-hat. (That means that the Hi-Hat is behind the microphone, and the mic is pointed directly at the snare drum, this way you can make the snare drum louder in your mix, while keeping the hi-hat at the same volume.

For the bottom of the snare drum, you can place the microphone at the same angle as the top microphone (on an angle from the side), or you can place it directly below and on-axis. Which ever you like! There's no wrong way! EXPERIMENT! (not too get too technical, but don't forget to flip the phase of the bottom snare microphone to avoid frequency cancellation! There should be a phase flip button on your console or microphone preamp). Also, remember that how close/far you want to place any of these microphones is up to you...closer will give you a sound that sounds...well...closer... and a little further away will give the sound of the drum some time to develop...however, too far away won't be good because then the snare drum mic might start picking up too much of the hi-hat sound, and the outside kick drum mic might pick up too much room sound. Experiment with the distance you place each microphone from each drum!

3. Onward to: The "Tom-Toms" - These are the drums that the drummer uses to fill in the space when transitioning from one part of a song to the next, hence the term drum "fills". Just like the snare drum, I place microphones on the top and the bottom, to capture two different perspectives of the drum and then blend them together to get a "balanced" tom-tom sound. (See I told you the word BALANCE was key to this guide!  And don't forget to flip the phase of the bottom microphone! Same thing as the snare...)

Great microphones for the top and bottom of Tom Toms are: Sennheiser E604, Sennheiser, MD421, SM57, Audix i5, and don't forget to experiment and try other mics too! The top microphone will capture the attack of the stick hitting the skin, and the bottom microphone will capture the resonant frequency (the pitch) of the actual tom-tom. Blend to taste!

 

4. Then, there's the dreaded: "Hi-Hat" - Many people would like to say goodbye to this piece of the drum set because a lot of people have a difficult time getting a good recording of it. Other people refuse to place a microphone on it at all... But before you say bye to the hi-hat, try these two techniques:

Miking the hi-hat from the top, 6 inches above, pointing the microphone towards the bell (the middle) can sometimes get you a great sound, OR, which I've heard is more successful, actually point the microphone AWAY from the hi-hat, pointed towards the floor! This is an unorthodox technique, because you are technically recording the sound of the floor, but if you get it just right, you can actually get a really great "wispy" clean cut hi-hat sound...give it a shot! You might be surprised!

It's a really strange technique, I know...but experimentation is a MUST...how do you think Einstein became Einstein? He thought in new and different ways than everyone else, and that's what you should do too...

***Something to be careful about, is miking the hi-hat from the side, because air shoots out from in between the two cymbals that make up the hi-hat, so if you mic it from the side, you might pick that air up in the recording and you probably won't like the sound of it. I'd say do it once, to see how it sounds, but in most cases you won't be recording a hi-hat like that.***

 

5. So we got all the drums down, now we move to the: "Cymbals" - Since the cymbals produce mostly high frequencies, you would be fine with using a small diaphragm condenser microphone to pick them up. (However, many people love the sound of large diaphragm condenser microphones, so try both!) The standard technique for recording the cymbals is to place two microphones over the head of the drummer. Commonly called the "Overhead" mics, these are two standard ways to set them up: The "Spaced Pair", and the "XY" configuration. The "Spaced Pair" consists of two microphones "spaced" apart to the far left side, and the far right side of the drum kit. In your mix, you would position these Left and Right mics respectively in your Left and Right speakers for a very wide stereo image of your drum set. The other technique is called the "XY" configuration and it uses two microphones usually placed above the center of the drum kit, with the capsules of the mics criss-crossing.

These two standard techniques look like this:

 "Spaced Pair"  

  "XY"   

In the above picture of the Spaced Pair technique, the microphones are pointed directly down towards the cymbals, but also try angling them as well. This angled way might give you a bigger snare sound, because they're angled in at the snare, but you might get less cymbals in your sound, SO EXPERIMENT AND TRY THEM BOTH OUT!!

You can set up an "XY" configuration in a bunch of different ways. You can make the tips of the microphones touch, slightly criss-cross, or have the tips go past each other and completely criss cross. Take a look:

          -Touching-          

                     -Slightly Criss Cross-                  

-Completely Criss Cross-

The overhead microphones are very important to place properly, because they are not only capturing your cymbals, but they are also capturing the overall sound of your entire drum set. You may also want to set up "Room" microphones if you are recording in a room that sounds great. Setting up "Room" mics are much like setting up a spaced pair, but you would place them in front of the drum set, and not above it, and you could place them as far back as the room will allow you to, spaced to the left and right corners. Adding these microphones to the mix will give you the perspective of listening to the drums from the other side of the room and can add a great overall realism to your final sound.

So! To sum up:

1. The best microphone technique in the world is not going to tune your drums for you, TUNE YOUR DRUMS! (That's a whole other guide in itself!)

2. The best drum set in the world is not going to play itself, and the microphones are only there to capture the performance, not improve it. It's possible to have an amazing recording of a terrible performance, and vice versa. Make sure the drummer knows how to play and make sure  you know how to record. (and now you do...)

3. Use two microphones on each drum to capture a more realistic balanced sound! We humans hear with two ears, and I firmly believe we should record everything with two ears too. (ahem...microphones)

4. Follow the techniques above, and you'll be well on your way to capturing a very detailed, realistic, and professional sound from your tuned drums with an experienced drummer behind them!

5. EXPERIMENT... that's the only way you'll ever learn and grow, in Life and in Drum Miking Techniques.

Good luck and God Bless!

-Christopher Sauter