DRUM MIC PLACEMENT

preferred drum recording mics and their placement

basic drum microphone setup (photo)

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I've had great success recording drum sets with this mic placement.
Pop, jazz, rock, funk, soul - they all sound great with this setup.
If the drums are properly tuned then all you need to do is watch your levels!
(A little EQ can help tremendously here, but in complicated sessions
you can often get away with adding EQ later. That will make
the session much simpler for less experienced engineers.)

There are lots of mixdown tricks for drums,
but the purpose of this page is to illustrate
basic drum mic placement for session recording.
- Richard Karst
November 1999


BASIC DRUM MICROPHONE SETUP
Above: hi-hat: AKG 414 -- snare, both toms: Shure SM 57 -- overhead: Neumann KM 84.
Below: bass ("kick") drum: Electro-Voice RE-20

|| bass ("kick") drum || snare drum || hi-hat || toms || overhead mics ||

Preferred mics:

shown: Electro-Voice RE-20
Bass drum ("kick" drum):
AKG D112
Electro-Voice RE-20
Shure SM 7
Shure SM 57 (not recommended because there's not enough low end, but it's okay if it's all you have.)
bass ("kick") drum || snare drum || hi-hat || toms || overhead mics || basic drum microphone setup
shown: Shure SM 57
Snare drum:
Shure SM 57
-- for extra crack on the snare, mic the bottom head close to the rim with one of these:
Shure SM 81
AKG 451

shown (both above & below): hi-hat: AKG 414 snare: Shure SM 57

Hi Hat:
Neumann U87
AKG 414
AudioTechnica AT 4050
AKG C3000
AudioTechnica AT 4033
AKG 451
Shure SM 81
bass ("kick") drum || snare drum || hi-hat || toms || overhead mics || basic drum microphone setup
shown: Shure SM 57 (both toms & snare)
Toms:
Sennheiser 421
Shure SM 57
bass ("kick") drum || snare drum || hi-hat || toms || overhead mics || basic drum microphone setup

shown: Neumann KM 84 (overhead), AKG 414 (hi-hat), Shure SM 57 (snare & toms)

Overhead mics:
Neumann KM 184
Neumann KM 84
AKG 451
Shure SM 81
bass ("kick") drum || snare drum || hi-hat || toms || overhead mics || basic drum microphone setup
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