Drum Miking

[cghazarian]

Hey there everyone. I am new to recording drums. I posted a few forums and id like to thank everyone who helped me with those. So basically i know of only 2 things right now.
- Miking the snare drum (Shure SM57)
- Miking the bass drum (Audix F14)

All i know is im purchasing those mics for those drums. And btw is there a specific way you set up a snare or bass drum mic i.e. in the bass drum, outside the bass drum/top of snare, bottom is snare, certain position?
ANY help will be awesome.

And i also need help on miking the toms and cymbals. Can someone please tell me how to set it all up and what overhead and tom mics are good for a low budget price?

Thanks a million, Carl Ghazarian

[homan.jack]

Yo dude i got an sm57 and (2) sennheiser e604 mics for toms if your interested in any of that. The e604s are real small, so they'll be out of your way.

[cghazarian]

Im defiantly going for the SM57 now lol thnx

[guy]

I have had good luck in the past with Cad drum mics. I think you get a lot for your money with them. I've also used Audio Technica and Sure drum mics. Check your local pawn shop or second hand music store or Ebay. People let stuff go cheap when they don't use it for a long time. Only thing about buying used gear is how well it's been cared for.
As far as mic placement goes it depends on how they are being played and what style of music. Most of the stuff my band does isn't terribly complicated and I have limited simultaneous tracks so 4 mics usually does it for us. 2 overheads a kick and snare. I can mix these 4 tracks into the song and capture everything effectively. If you are using a lot of toms and want the hi hat on a seperate track you can go to 8 mics or more I suppose. I've never used more than 2 overheads and don't know if anyone else will know of a reason to use more than 2.
My drum room is pretty small so mounted 2 adjustable mic hangers from the cieling. I can use them to get the left and right action or move one to the center position for say a stereo mic or an xy clip and use the other one for the hi hat if I want. So it looks kind of crappy but I like freeing up the floor space. Mic clips for the shells will eliminate lots of boom stands around the kit. But they need to stay in place so maybe someone can elaborate on which clips are the best for a budget.
And again with the overheads if using 2 mics you should keep them 3x away from each other in relationship to the source. This is the 3 to 1 rule (you can google this term) and eliminates possible phase issues but it seems with polarity switching options this may be less of an issue with modern tracking. The other way to set 2 mics in close proximity to each other and avoid phase problems is "XY" micing (goolgle that term too) and you can do that from one mic clip. These techniques work for other large instruments as well like a grand piano for example. Or you can use a stereo mic for overheads. I wish I owned one. Maybe someday.
Good luck.

[guy]

btw..I usually use dynamic mics for overheads like sm 57's. Seems to do the trick for me.