D8 Skills #103 | Unit E | Drum Miking Techniques | Research
I will be recording drums for Ground Floor (again) by Andy Ford soon, so decided to research methods.
Things I Learned:
- Have something inside the kick drum to dampen the sound.
- When miking a snare from the top & bottom, don't automatically flip the polarity of one of them. Listen first, because there could be a cable wired backwards for example.
- A good technique for measuring the distance of overheads: use a cable! I've always done it by eye before.
Things I Learned:
- Point the mic on the kick's batter-head at a 45° angle to avoid air going straight down the capsule.
- Pointing the mic on the hi-hat away from the rest of the kit reduces bleed when using a cardioid polar pattern.
Things I Learned:
- Stap a pencil condenser and an SM57 together for the hi-hat to avoid needing to EQ in post. The pencil condenser picks up the crisp top end, and the SM57 gives a 3kHz to 5kHz presence lift.
- Mic the top & bottom of the toms. I've only ever miked the top before.
