Whether you are recording at a professional recording studio, performing a live set, or just producing a scratch track in your basement, micing your drums is something you will inevitably have to deal with. Don’t panic though, it’s easier than you might imagine!
In this article, we will walk you through best practices for micing your drums in the Recording Studio.
Before we get started, it’s important to understand that when referring to the micing of the kick drum, we are primarily focusing on 2 sets of tones which are the high and low tones. These types of tones are most often referred to as attack and body when you are speaking about a kick drum. The attack is more or less what it sounds like, it is the sound produced the moment that your beater head strikes the surface of the kick drum head. Please be aware that you can also alter your kick drum tone depending on whether you are using a plastic, wool, or felt beater head.
Now that we have the basics out of the way, let’s move onto the mics that you will need. As you can probably imagine at this point, if there are 2 sets of tones produced by this instrument, you will need two separate mics in order to produce the best mix.
Your attack microphone will most often need to be placed inside of the actual kick drum itself, by passing it through the kick drum port. Because of this placement, you may also hear this microphone referred to as the ‘kick in’ microphone. If you want a stronger attack, you should place the microphone closer to the beater head.
The microphone that you use to capture the body tone of the kick drum, also known as a ‘kick out’ microphone because of its placement, will need to be placed about 6 inches away from the center of the resonance head. The resonance head is the head that will be closest to your audience during performance, and can also be tightened or loosened to arrive at your desired sound.
In the Family Tree Records recording studio, our sound engineer has found that the best results can be attained by using what is referred to as a dampening blanket to cover the front of the kick drum in order to isolate the sound produced, and direct it more into the sub kick, body, microphone.
Before sending you on your way, our experts have some recommendations with regards to the brands that are best. We are in no way affiliated with these brands, yet, and are just offering our unbiased opinion. When looking at attack or kick in mics, the Shure Beta 52 or the AKG D112 are great places to start. If you are looking for a solid body, kick out, mic, the Yamaha SKRM-100 Subkick will treat you right.
Feel free to get in contact with us today if you have any questions relating to this article, or about our studio in general. We can be reached easily at productions@familytreerecordsnc.com.