Hi,
I am going to try and track drums day after in my small recording room
(10x10 feet). fortunately, the band listens to me and is willing to
spend time and experiment (at least till the neighbours start
yelling!).

the drummer set up the kit today and we tried a few micing situations.

this is what I have :

1 Oktava MC012 matched stereo pair (hypercardiod)
1 SM57
1 Beta 57A
1 Beta 58A
1 NT1A

I am using the Beta57A inside the kik or lack of a better choice, ill
mostly hire out the Sure Beta52 on the day of the session, or ill go
for replacement surgery with the kik.

4 inputs into my recording interface, can muster 3 cheap and 4 very
cheap mic pres.

I tried the following :

Fletchers tutorial (almost i think) : Set up one 012 bout a foot and a
half above the snare, looking almost at the snare, slightly facing the
floor tom (this was cause i was getting too much hihat). One mic by the
drummers right shoulder, almost facing the toms, a little towards the
kik. Both mics equidistant from the kik.
One Beta 57A into the kik.

Kik and snare image in the center. (i did pan the two 012's, tried
withought panning also) I got a lovely snare and hihat sound, though
the hihat was not as focussed as i would like it to be. The Kik and the
toms were weak. Will need to bring in the kik mic, but toms still
remain too weak.

I really liked the way the cymbals and the snare sounded Will try this
again with a blues rock band im also recording.



Second method : The 012's in XY configuration bout a foot and a half
above the center of the two top toms, snare mic, kik mic.
Good snare sound, happy with the cymbals and hihats coming of the OV's.
good stereo image with the cymbals. snare gelling very well also. Bring
in the kik, replace it. Everything ok. But toms still to tiny.

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the thing with metal drums is that the toms need to be solid and big.
And one ususally needs to EQ substantially. I dont think much EQ is a
good idea with the first method.


I am thinking bout using one overhead, and bringing in one mic between
the toms, not sure. Drummer dude willing to overdub tom rolls later
(not many in this song, pretty straight). Whats my best alternative ?


thanks a ton.

Sidhu