Recording Drums – How to Record Drums
Recording drums is one of the most difficult things to do when you are recording a band. A lot of people don’t know where to start or what to do. Even though the type of drums you use and the placement of the mics are an issue, the biggest issue is how well the drummer plays. It’s going to be harder trying to record a drummer who plays out of sync compared to a solid drummer.
Micing the Kick Drum
Kick drums, or sometimes called bass drums, provide low end frequency and establish the beat of a song. They are a very solid focal point. Kick drum mics are large and provide a low end frequency range. For placement, kick drums mics need to be placed inside of the kick drum. So if your drum kit has a front skin, it needs to be removed. Place the kick drum mic about a foot away from the beater. It should be pointing directly at it and slightly off-center. If you place if directly in front of the beater it will put the kick drum mic under al lot of pressure. So use the mic placement if you want a nice punchy and precise sound. Bring the kick drum mic further away from the beater if you want a more open sound. Good choices for kick drum mics are the Sennheiser 421 and the AKG 421. Shure kick drum mics also work very well. These are just general guidelines for recording drums and you should experiment with the mic placement. The sound also depends a lot on the drummer that’s playing the drums.
Micing the Snare Drum
It’s hard to place a mic in the right spot for a snare drum because there is little room. Try to place it 1 inch in from the rim, 2 – 3 inches above it, and face it directly away from the hihat. When you face the mic away from the hi-hat, you will minimize the amount of hi-hat coming through the mic.You can put a piece of foam around the mic if a lot of hi-hat is still coming through. Mic the drum to the bottom of the snare drum if you feel like the snare sound still isn’t cutting through. The Shure SM57 works very well for micing snare and is used by many engineers. There are more expensive mics on the market but the Shure SM57 functions just as good or better. Of course there are other good snare mics that you should try as well to find the best one for you when you are recording drums.
Article courtesy of Drum Sets For Sale Now.
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