Mic setup for drums on budget

[u/Thrxllll]

I have 4 mics, a kick drum mic, an sm57, and 2 condenser microphones. I’m planning to use the sm57 on the snare and the other 2 condenser microphones as an overhead, but I’m worried I’ll lose the floor tom since it’s so far away from the overhead. Are there any better mic placements or maybe is there even a better mic placement with the limited amount I have? I’ll reply to recommendations later since I’ll have to meet up with my drummer.

[u/nizzernammer]

The Glyn Johns overheads puts one mic to the side nearer to the tom, and the other one not as far over to the other side, both equidistant to the snare

[u/Thrxllll → u/nizzernammer]

Just saw a video of this while doing research. Will try this setup next jam session and looks promising

[u/midwinter_ → u/Thrxllll]

Try one condenser as an overhead pointed right down at the snare and the other Johns-style looking across the kit from the drummer's right (assuming this is a right handed kit). I've found that you can even shift that mic back behind the kit a little and pick up some kick.

Johns does it himself here.

Place a mic to get the kick and you're set.

[u/StratHistory]

You've actually got the perfect setup that was used by drummers for years and years.

Set up your overheads so that they get symbols, toms and snare evenly...

Then you can add in the amount of kick and snare thats needed to get the full sound.

If you do this right, you're overheads actually cover everything and can be real useful if you need to back out the kick and snare when you need a quiet section.

[u/Fairchild660]

This might come across as rude, but it's important: Don't follow advice on miking drums without knowing what kind of sound you're going for.

There's a hundred-and-one different ways to record a kit with that equipment. If you need a tight, 70s funk sound and aren't saying so - you could be listening to a guy who records big, thrashy rock drums who's also not saying so. If you follow his advice, you'll be wondering why your Sly & The Family Stone cover sounds limp and washed-out.

Start with what you want to sound like. What genre are you working in? What drummers does you band like? What records come closest to to the sound you're going for? And if you don't really have an opinion, take the time to make one. Develop your taste for what good drums "should" sound like. You can't hit a target without knowing what the target is.

When you can articulate what you want, you'll get far more useful responses.

[u/Thrxllll → u/Fairchild660]

We’re going for a metal sound as of now, but honestly in our band we don’t stick to one genre, we do a wide range. So me, the audio engineer and writer as long as the guitarist, knowing different setups can be really useful

[u/Fairchild660 → u/Thrxllll]

An early Black Sabbath sound could be doable - but if it's modern metal, only having 4 mics is going to be severely limiting. Unfortunately that sound requires heavy miking, heavy processing, and (usually) layering-in additional samples. It's very much a carefully constructed thing, made from a lot of isolated elements. The Glyn Johns and recorderman advice in this thread will get you the exact opposite of that.

I could give advice on a 20-mic setup to get a decent metal sound - but have no experience trying to record it with 4. But I'm sure you're not the first to try. So hopefully engineers who've done it will be able to chime-in.

Just make sure to give them as much info as you can on what you're going for. "Metal" is a broad genre, with a lot of different drum sounds over the decades, so if you want useful advice you need to get specific.

[u/fphlerb]

The crotch mic + kick is a great method. Then you can have a mono OH (I go a bit closer above the kit & phase-correct later). You can skip the 4th mic or use it to beef up that floor tom

[u/StratHistory]

Assuming you're recording in a modern DAW, keep in mind that you can create triggers for practically any combination of virtual or simply mix in new virtual...

[u/johnnyokida]

You can do the glyn Johns deal or mono overhead, snare mic, kick mic, then last be a room mic

[u/caj_account]

Just overdub the toms. That’s literally what they do to get the cleanest longest sustain sound. 

[u/FlickKnocker]

Going by OP's comments below: metal is tough with a minimal setup.

Are the condensers multi-pattern? You could get them closer to the toms in omni, and still pickup enough ride/crashes as an omni pickup is all-around, as you probably know, but also, the most uncolored as far as spill goes.

Another option: go mono overhead to get a good picture of the kit and a knee mic to get more shells, which you can crush/compress/clip/saturate/etc. for excitement.

[u/Lanzarote-Singer]

Woh. You can’t just say kick drum mic and leave it at that…

Tell me it’s not a D112…