Microphones and Drums...

_JohnB330ci · June 30, 2016

Hey there, so I'm a drummer, and I've been wanting to start livestreaming and recording covers of me playing drums, now I was initially going to grab a Alesis DM10X Mesh kit, but after playing on an electronic kit, I didn't really like it, unless it got into the Roland price stuff, which is... Yeah £5000+ Which I'm just not going to pay for.

So, in terms of micing up my Acoustic drum kit (http://imgur.com/LHrSA54) what would be the best approach, for example my budget is around £700, so what would be the best mics, would it be best to run into an Interface or Mixer? Just general things like this, also what should I do in terms of cancelling out reverb in the room the kit is in, I normally open the door to let the sound bounce out, to cut down, but should I put up acoustic padding as well? The kit is linked above, and I know generally you'd have individual mics for each piece of the kit, then overheads for the cymbals.

I'm asking here because every other site I've asked on has been ridiculous overpriced pieces of hardware, which I refuse to pay for, and I know I don't need. So simply, if anyone has experience, can you point me in the right direction?

flowalex · June 30, 2016

This blog post and video might help with what you want, but the one time I set up mics for a drum kit we used 1 for kick and then one for the right side and one for the left. https://reverb.com/uk/news/video-how-to-record-drums-with-1-2-3-4-or-5-microphones-with-brian-deck

_JohnB330ci · June 30, 2016

3 minutes ago, flowalex said:

This blog post and video might help with what you want, but the one time I set up mics for a drum kit we used 1 for kick and then one for the right side and one for the left. https://reverb.com/uk/news/video-how-to-record-drums-with-1-2-3-4-or-5-microphones-with-brian-deck

I've heard of that method, but know that close mic'ing a kit is better, and I'd prefer to do that, otherwise certains aspects of the kit can become phased out, as say, a ride cymbals volume might need to be higher than the low tom's, but you can't isolate that with just a single microphone on the right side. Thank you for the link as well!

flowalex · June 30, 2016

No problem, I mostly don't deal with percussion so I don't have much experience with them, I usually deal with actors (Shudders)

kasugatei · June 30, 2016

For the drum microphones, I would go with Audix. They are rock solid and just sound awesome. For overhead, Oktavas are great for the budget.

Also, I would suggest you to DIY bass traps (especially for room corners). You can make them for super cheap. You basically need some rigid fibreglass, something to make frame (wood, steel studs etc.) and cloth to put over everything. Sponge things don't work that good and they are not cheap.

Also, it will be A LOT trial and error until you get the desired sound but just don't give up

Cheers

ALwin · June 30, 2016

I'm on my phone at the moment, let me link you something for now.

http://en.wikiaudio.org/Recording_techniques:Drum_kit

ALwin · June 30, 2016

16 hours ago, SherifsDog22 said:

snip

OK I am at my desk now.

As you see in the link I posted previously, there are several ways to record drums. But before you consider investing in any mic setups, do you have an audio recorder/interface that can connect multiple mics? If the answer is NO, look for something with at least two mic inputs and no more than eight. I doubt you need more than eight for a single drum set recording.

The basic setup you can do is a two mic stereo recording setup. Or you buy something like a Zoom H4n which comes with two stereo mics built in and two XLR ports for a total of 4-channel recording. A Zoom H4n can be paired with a Shure SM57 as a snare mic and AKG D112 as a kick mic. The stereo capsules on the H4n can be used for capturing sound from above head. The H4n's built in mics will take the place of the overhead mics in this diagram.