Drum recording

[ORrock]

Hey, we are recording with our friend this week and Im a little skeptical about the drums because our friend has 4 mics (1 bass, 1 snare, and 2 overhead). The mics are top of the line mics but im afraid that the overhead mics will only pick up the cymbals and the toms will be drowned out. Heres our drummers drumset (http://community.webshots.com/photo/466074315/466080395KDYLci) can you give me some advice? thanks

[twilightdark]

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. A lot of recordings I've done, tom mics aren't used or the overheads definately overpower the tom signals.

Tom mics are usually the lowest priority (this is generally the case when a kit has a modest amount of toms and they are used sparingly), for a few reasons. Usually the bottom snare mics and room mics are added before tom mics.

First - instruments sound better further away, not right up close; it takes time for their sound to develop (a snare wasn't designed to be heard an inch away for example). The reason we close mic stuff is because we are all lazy and it's the easiest way to get the balance we want. However there are some engineers and drummers (that make excellent recordings) who will only use a pair of mics in a stereo array (blumlein, XY, ORTF, whatever) to pick up the whole kit; they sometime take days to set this up and get it sounding right, and the drummer has to be good enough and work hard to keep himself balanced off the way he should be. Some drum mic kits only come with 3 mics (overheads and kick). Anyway, point is close micing toms gets you a lot of skin, I think it sounds better in the overheads, but on the other hand it is nice to have a little bit more flexiblity.

Second - Bleed and the need for gates. Tom mics are the notorious for bleeding in other drum sounds. The bleed generally isn't good because the other drum sounds are off axis from the mic and the tone is altered, and in the mix it can affect the overall tone, and sometimes the stereo imaging. This is usually the main reason people have gates, but they can be tricky to set, especially if the bleed really competes with the tom signal (snare is usually the worst for it). I generally record using multitrack recording software (ie Pro Tools) so I usually avoid gates in this manner and just crop out my Tom hits on the tom channels.

Third - Stereo Imaging. I guess some people like their toms panned ridiculously (you know those cheesy rolls where it starts from 100% right and ends on the floor tom 100% left). But toms should be panned exactly where they are heard in the overhead mics. This will sound more realistic and more tight, because the overheads will definately pick it up, and you will hear the same tom hit in two different places (unless the overheads are muted out during the tom roll).

But anyway, the point is: not using tom mics is not that unusual - most people put them up, but they are not always used, and rarely are they stronger in signal than the overheads. In my mixes the overheads provide even the bulk of my snare sound and the top snare mic is just there for a bit of extra volume where I need it, and the bottom snare is just there for a little more "snap" to compliment all that "tonk" from the top snare. I'm not saying you should settle for the overhead sound, cause you might hear it and not like it, therefor the guy should be prepared for micing the toms, if you're paying him. But even there are other ways around it if you want the toms louder in the overheads (eg - carving EQ holes, volume automation, etc.). But they definately shouldn't get "drowned out" especially since, I'm assuming, your drummer only has two hands and can't go TOO nuts on the cymbals at the exact same time as he is going nuts on the toms.

Hope that explained/eased some concerns - have fun, good luck.

[skip tracer]

I always prefer my drums be recorded in mono with as few mics as possible. One overhead, one in the kick. I'm a notorious cymbal-basher, so it takes some (well, a lot of) finagling to get this setup sounding good. I tend to use a lot of EQ to tape, which I know is a no-no, but I do it to push the cymbals (especially the hi-hat) out of the mix a bit.