To mic the drums...or not....

[Anonymous067]

I'm in a bit of a bind. I am working in a VERY (by very, I mean glass ceiling, brick walls, tile floored) live room.

The drumset is VERY loud acoustically, but, I feel that when we throw in all the other instruments, the drums sound "distant", loud, but still distant. I'd like to throw a couple mics on them, perhaps even running them at soft levels, just to keep that "snap" and "attack" of the drums.

I was thinking something along the lines of two overheads and a kick?

Anybody have any suggestions about miking a set in an extremely live room?

 

[DaveySimps]

I would say this is worth doing. However, I would suggest a kick, snare, and hi-hat (assuming you wish to keep to three mics). Overheads in this instance may give you to much of the cymbals. When in doubt, experiment and find what combination or mics and placement works best. This certainly may change based on the drummer and style of music as well.

~Dave

 

[Anonymous067]

Also...planning on putting an air wall (all I have available) behind the drummer, and Plexiglas shieldS in front. Yes plural...multiple...and 8 feet tall at that...

 

[lakota651]

I agree with Dave; play around with placement to see (hear) what works best for the situation. Personally I like having the overheads because I like to pick up the subtle stuff when things get slow, but thats really only works if you have compressors to throw on them. Otherwise, things will get out of hand quite fast, or you'll have the mics pulled back so far you'll wonder what's the point. Another technique I have had some success with is placing two mics, one on either side of the kick. about a foot back, at a height between that of the cymbals and the toms.

Bottom line: If you the time to play with it, awesome. If you have the channels and mics to spare, great. Its always better to have the mic setup and keep it muted, than to not have it and wish you did.

Best of luck with the gig.

 

[AlexD]

I would suggest having the kick and snare miced up. And maybe the toms and not have the over heads and the tom mics would pick up the cymbals, that is depending on how the drum kit is laid out. I agree with them definitely experiment with different ways to find something that works well with this room.

 

[Dionysus]

I'd certainly mic the snare, no matter what. That way if you need it it's there, if not it's not. I'd also mic the kick, and if you have nice kit mics do the toms, the snare can be nice too.
Would not bother with overheads.
And if you can't put up any sort of 'walls', at least put some blacks (drapes) behind and to the sides of the kit. Legs up further on stage would also help dampen the sound making it so that more of the sound you WANT is heard and less of that awful reverb. It will also help with feedback (keeps your foldback (if you are using any from bouncing around and going back into your mics)).

I am a big fan of the idea of hanging soft-goods in a room if necessary to help the room sound better.

 

[ngoik]

I have to agree with Dave. Deffinitly mic the kick, snare, and hat. If you do put up the wall and sheilds, you might wanna mic more, depending on how much it'll dampen the sound.

But i do agree with adding some mics to bring the drums up front a bit more. Good luck.

 

[Eboy87]

If you have the mics/budget, do a basic mic kit on the drums. If you don't use them, you don't use them. Kick, snare, HH, and an overhead will probably suffice. Better to have the mics there and not use them than not have them and find out you need them.

 

[museav]

I support those saying to do something about the natural sound. If you are trying to add a desired component to what is there rather than reducing an undesired component then you have to be careful of getting into a circular situation where you add more of one thing which then necessitates adding more of something else and so on until you've just turned everything up to try to 'overcome' the natural sound. You might indeed be better served by both adding some reinforced sound and trying to reduce the levels of the undesired sound.

I know a number of people that even with full micing on the kit use just the kick, snare and overhead mics for some pieces. Don't be afraid to experiment and see what works for you.