[brandondrury]

From the sounds of things from these articles, phase issues and comb filtering are probably the main variables that make the difference between good drum recording and a bad one.

Assuming the performance is bad ass, the drummer is balancing is kit well, the room is great and appropriate for the song, the drums are tuned well, the right mics are used, and the placement is right you are correct. Of course, phase and comb filtering are a fundamental part of mic placement on a drum kit.

you go into the studio and begin placing microphones on a drum kit, what is your strategy in finding the perfect placement for each microphone?

My approach depends on the song. Let's just say I'm going for a drum sound that is just kind of "normal"...which means it isn't too big and isn't too small. Let's say I'm trying to get drums for a band like Live...a radio pop / rock band.

I don't place mics until I walk around the room beating on a snare or tom. I'm listening to the sound of the drum as I move around. The low end will change. The reverb in the room will change. I want a full balanced sound with plenty of attack.

I want to be in a big room, but I don't want too much ambiance..but enough.

From there we setup the kit and tune the shit it out of it. It's worth paying a real drum tuning guy to do this if you are not great at it.

Then it's mic time. Assuming that I've never used the kit and drummer before, I'll listen in the room while the drummer plays. I walk around to see if he is giving me what I need. I'm looking for a snare that cuts through everything with plenty of power. (I don't want the cymbals or high hat dominating).

From there, I'll slap up some overheads. These are usually condensers, but sometimes ribbons are fun. I want to make sure the snare drum is in phase, so I'll measure from the center of the snare to each mic to make sure it's the same distance.

From there, micing is fairly straightforward. I generally start with pointing each mic at the center of the tom or snare. If I want more resonance and less attack, I may angle the mic towards the edge of the tom or snare.

This requires a lot of listening on monitors that I trust.

I'll then put up a variety of room mics depending on what I'm going for. The most important sound is the overheads generally. They should have plenty of snare in them and should be the bulk of the sound. Relying on close mics is a big problem because it usually sounds lifeless.

what technique do you use to determine if your current setup will experience phase issues?

I listen. You can hear it clear as day when you have comb filtering problems. If things sound "weird" chances are strong that it is comb filtering.

How would you go about remedying a phase issue if you determine you have one one?

Phase is a problem with time. Specifically, when the sound of an instrument arrives at one mic at X time and another mic at Y time, you'll probably have phase issues if the difference between X and Y is close enough. I can give you the equations if you want.

Solving the problem always involves moving a mic at this stage.

I am afraid of hitting the sm57 and breaking

You sound like the 16 year old kid is really anal about his '87 Escort. The 57 is a tank. You'd really have to try hard to break a 57.

btw, if you are that out of control with your drumming, you may want to practice being a little more consistent. The tone of your drums differs drastically by where you are hitting them.

Brandon