Over the past couple of months I’ve started doing a lot of live streaming seminars. I love going live because I can interact directly with other recording enthusiasts that are watching….in real-time!
One recent seminar was on the topic of capturing a full rock drum sound with only 4-5 mics. Not just drums on their own though.
That’s too easy.
Since the ultimate goal is for the tones to work in a song, we used a full blown rock track to test our sounds.
Before you watch the video I want to reiterate my stance on minimal micing….
I am not a hard core minimal micing setup only fanatic. However, I ALWAYS start with some sort of minimal mic setup. No matter what style of music I’m recording.
By making sure that I’ve captured my drum sound with only a few mics (3-5) I’m ensuring that the drum sound will be full and have good depth. Then I listen to the drums along with the music to find out what other mics I need to add to make the sound work for the song.
Sometimes I don’t need any other mics. Sometimes I need a few spot mics to make sure certain elements will fit. Sometimes it all just needs to get miced up. It ALL depends on the song.
Since my core overall sound has been captured with only a few mics I know the kit will sound full and cohesive and not fall prey to the “spot miced” drum sound.
Happy recording everyone!
Charlie
p.s. We’ll be releasing a full schedule of live streaming seminars very soon! Check out the events page to stay informed!
