Recording with 3 mics?

[The Legend]

So my band is gonna start recording demo's and we have 3 mics and no money.
So I wanted to know where to position the mics for a descent drum sound.

Thanks.

[sonor_lover1]

I have recorded my band with 1 mic before. My advise is to put them closer to the amps and stuff so the drums aren't to strong and to weak.

[NocturnalFlesh]

If you are talking about multi-tracking then I assume you're all going to record your parts separately, right?

If that's the case, from what I've learned about mic-ing drums is that i'm pretty sure most of your sound comes from the overheads. So if you have three mics, use two overheads and maybe one on the snare, or two overheads and one inside the bass drum, or even two overheads and one placed further back. I think John Bonham's kit used to be miced in a similar fashion.

I hope that helps. If you are just using three mics for all at once recording, then I guess do what Sonor said.

[The Legend]

Originally Posted by NocturnalFlesh

If you are talking about multi-tracking then I assume you're all going to record your parts separately, right?

If that's the case, from what I've learned about mic-ing drums is that i'm pretty sure most of your sound comes from the overheads. So if you have three mics, use two overheads and maybe one on the snare, or two overheads and one inside the bass drum, or even two overheads and one placed further back. I think John Bonham's kit used to be miced in a similar fashion.

I hope that helps. If you are just using three mics for all at once recording, then I guess do what Sonor said.

Yeah, Thanks, That what I'll do. Will I get the same sound if I place the mic outside tthe kick drum? Or will it be too different?

[KeyserSoze]

If the three are for you, two overheads and one bass drum. The OH's will get plenty of snare. If they are for the whole band, one for the vocalist, one for the amps and one overhead for you. Any way to direct in the strings? Line in from an amp or something?

[The Legend]

Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

If the three are for you, two overheads and one bass drum. The OH's will get plenty of snare. If they are for the whole band, one for the vocalist, one for the amps and one overhead for you. Any way to direct in the strings? Line in from an amp or something?

Yeah, theyre just for me, We're recording one instrument at a time, so Drums are with three mics. Any specific way to place the overheads? Closer to the ride? The snare? Anything?

[KeyserSoze]

It depends on your kit and the room. Experiment a little. Look up XY patterns. Also try one mic over the right side of the kit and one mic over the left, both pointing straight down. That gives me the sound I'm looking for but I play a biggish kit. A XY setup might be all you need, with the 3 mic on or in the BD.

[NocturnalFlesh]

Originally Posted by The Legend

Will I get the same sound if I place the mic outside tthe kick drum? Or will it be too different?

I'm not exactly sure. I've always removed the reso head and placed it inside the kick, close to the head. It gives me a more focused and "clicky" sound. If you were going for "boomy" then I guess you could place it outside.

Also, about the overhead positioning. I normally put one above the space in between my hi-hat and snare and and the other one above my ride. The sound is good, but I think my problem is that I'm using two different brands of overhead condensors and I think that's what affects my sound.

I think KeyserSoze or Anavarin have this thing down to a science. They know a lot.

[Lhsdrumrgirl07]

Personally I would only mic the kick drum is you had a beta 52 mic. Other wise I don't think you would get a really good sound. But that's just my experience.

[Lecifer]

I have used three mics before in a studio for rehersals and got a great sound. One in the kick, one on the snare, and the other overhead.

[oldmusicguy]

I'm not a recording engineer, but I do have a nice little digital recording set up in my rec-room. As it appears all the other posts have mentioned, you need to have one mic on your bass drum (BD). This will give you a good deal of flexibility when you go to mix down. Yes it will matter if the mic is inside or outside the drum, but one is not better than the other. See what you like. Personally, I have a fairly good directional condenser mic that I place about 6 inches off the floor, and about 4 to 6 inches off the front BD head. I record the BD dry and flat; if I want to mess with the sound I do it in the mix. (But, I've tried all kinds of stuuf to mess with the BD sound, record through a cardboard tube, put the mic in a box with the one open side towards the BD, etc... you get the idea.)

The second condenser mic I place about four feet above the drums, just about directly over the BD. That's all I use and I never had a problem with the snare getting through, nor with getting the mix I want.

Now I guess if you have the luxury of a third mic, you can decide if you want to focus it on the snare, or separate two over head mics so you can get a stereo separation in your recording. Personally, as long as the drumming is good, and the recording is sharp and clean, I don't think anyone is going to notice if you had one or two overhead mics... but that's for you to decide.

I did use two overheads one time just to get an effect. I had them on opposite ends of the kit, one above and about three feet away from the the hi-hat, one about the same, but off of the floor tom. I had some reverb on the hi-hat mic, and the other was dry, but had this dynamically controlled flanger on it. So, as you played around the set, the reverb was less, and this strange flange effect kicked in. It was fun for that recording, but I don't know if I'd put something like that on a demo, because it would be difficult to reporoduce live.

I know that some drummers are able to have an individual mic on every freakin' inch of their set and end up with a lot of individual drum tracks. That's great if you want to go to that much trouble, but I don't think it's necessary. I know of two guys who own local studios (one of whom was nominated for a grammy) and they often record drums with only two or three mics. They only use more drum mics if the client has some special request they need to accomodate.

So once again the old guy has rambled on. I guess it's time for me to take my medication and go to bed.

[JonnnyC]

my kit currently has 3 mics.

You should have 2 condensers and the third CAN be a condenser but a dynamic may be best.

IF you have 3 condensers dont try to group mic, mic up your bass drum and snare. The third should be around your rack toms.

For condensors mics put two over head, to get them in the right place, put two drum sticks end to end and put the over one of your shoulders (overhead of course) then place a mic here.

Get a piece of string and get somone to trap it in your bass drum pedal.
Then get the string while still being clamped to the mic that is placed and back to the centre of your snare. Trap it there also and move the string so it is tought over the other shoulder. This gives you an EXACT even distance between mics

After simply hit 1/4's and fiddle with your P.A settings to how you like

The third should be in your bass (but please be careful nto to blow your P.A by doing this! I have seen it before!)