...
I know there's been a few "how to record drums using X number of mics
and X number of tracks" threads. But here's something I was thinking
about tonight: most of us would not hesitate to record an acoustic
instrument (e.g., a piano) in stereo using only two mics routed to two
tracks. A drum kit is an acoustic instrument. Does anyone reading this
routinely record drum kits using a single stereo pair of mics? I used
to do this a long time ago, but I had ****ty mics and zero experience
at the time--and was recording in lousy rooms--so the results were not
good.

Just trying to get another stimulating RAP discussion going...

I was doing preproduction with a band and the first night was set up
to deconstruct an arrangment. They had worked on it independently as
well, so we needed a way to compare the two versions as well as permit
me to be in the live room communicating diretly. So I set up one mic,
balanced the players positionally and ran a DAT. As each night
progressed, we added one mic until we got up to 4.

I had never done anything like that in close to 10 years of recording
and it was a great experience.


I think it's a totaly worth while expereince to try that with drums.
I've heard a lot of people talk about using their overheads as the
foundation of their drum mix, then adding in close mics as necessary.
If you were only using two mics, is overhead where you'd put them? As
soon as I started thinking that way and expereiment it totally changed
how I approached micing a set. Also, fewer mics will help develop your
ability to hear phase problems on a mulit-miked kit.