I wanted to create a topic where we can share drum recording techniques. I'll give an overview of some of the stuff I do at my studio but would love to hear what other techniques people are using.

Snare Drum Recording Techniques
We usually end up miking the snare drum's face with a Shure SM57 sometimes together with a Beyer M201 or a Neumann KM84. There’s often a debate over whether mics should also be placed underneath the snare. Occasionally we have used this to get more of the snare spring sound. However it will almost invariably need gating and can also introduce phase issues. If we do place mics underneath we will usually go for another SM57 or possibly a C451EB.


Overhead Microphone Recording Techniques
Overheads are also very important and at ALT Recording Studios the approach we take with overheads is that they bring the drum sound together giving a more natural less disparate feel than just close miking alone can. We always meticulously check the phase relationships between each drum and the overheads as this can ruin the bottom end of the recording.

We always move the mics around loads. When were recording a drum kit in our bank vault live room we often spend much more time in the live room trying out mic positions than we do in our control room.


Kick Drum Recording Techniques
For recording Kick drums we always go for the classic AKG's D12 large-diaphragm dynamic mic as it always seems to deliver the results we’re looking for. It’s basically a microphone that emphasises the sound you want form a kick drum.

Our secret weapon for creating an extra big Kick sound is an Electrovoice RE10. This vintage mic has a frequency response that’s pretty flat for a dynamic mic and it also doesn’t produce too much proximity effect. Another trick we use at ALT Recording Studios is Brighton is miking closer to the beater head. We find were able to get greater beater presence. When doing this changes to the mic positions greatly effect the level and quality of the beater sound. We often end up essentially with 2 different recording 1 of the beater and 1 capturing the tonality of the kick.

The full article I've written is posted on our website
www.altrecordingstudios.com

http://www.altrecordingstudios.co.uk/index.php/Information/recording-drums.html

Excellent article Stephen! Keep sharing your knowledge and expertise.

The thing I want to discuss, is for live recording the SM58 may seem good enough, but for the studio this is not the case. I use two microphones in the studio for the snare, one on top and one on bottom, usually with 119s.

I am probably in the minority, but I loathe the SM58. Because of it's popularity, Shure has really lacked in quality in these mikes. They just plain suck!