Drums are the starting place and framework of a mix, and the track as a whole can only be as big as the skeleton on which is sits. If the drums are small or weak, the track will suffer greatly, but if they’re captured correctly, you’ll have plenty of space to work with the rest of the instruments in the track. So when it comes to drums, the crucial skills an engineer must have are the ability to capture the realness and natural hugeness of a drum set and the ability to mix it even larger.

Capturing the immense nature of a drum kit involves some essential elements that must be mentioned before delving into engineering techniques. The drums need to sound good on their own in the space in which they’ll be recorded. This requires quality drums, tuned appropriately, and played well in an acoustically treated room. Getting to this stage in a home studio setting is a discussion for another entry, so in the meantime, let’s assume we’re recording a session drummer on a killer kit at a studio with a treated room.

My rule of thumb when tracking any instrument is to be sure to capture the way that it sounds (or should sound), and then to allow it to speak in terms of the mix. Drums are the foundation of any mix that contains them, so you really want to end up with a sound that opens the frequency pallet for the rest of the track while laying down the rhythmic skeleton on which the track will sit. Within the kit, each individual drum (kick, snare, toms, hi-hat, etc.) must have a voice of its own, and then they must also come together to form one cohesive kit as a whole. This requires close-micing the kick, snare, toms, and hi-hat in order for each to stand on its own, and then a pair of overheads (and often a room mic in addition) to cover the other cymbals (crash, ride, splash, etc.) and to blend the kit together and also increase the size. Also, room mics should always be balanced so the snare leakage is always centered and if you have the opportunity to look at the overheads on a VU meter they should be at around a -7dbm. The other main ingredient of drums is you must always check phase between mics for size!

When considering what mics to use for the close-micing and where to place them, the goal is to capture the essence of each individual drum the best you can while properly controlling the leakage from the other drums in the set which like I said if done properly will only increase the size and punch of the kit. But, you cannot be afraid of leakage as it helps create size. Example, you’ll always hear some snare leakage in the kick drum mic and also in the hi hat mic. The ratio needs to be 8-10 to 1. Otherwise the balance will be hard to change later if you choose to. You’ll also hear snare, toms, hat and kick in the overheads but again the ratio should be around 3-4 to 1.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to record hundreds of drummers, many of which are the best in the business. My technique for recording them has remained consistent and it has yet to fail me. Here’s a list of microphones I commonly use to close-mic a drum kit, plus the approximate position I begin with, which may or may not be tweaked once I listen from the control room to the drummer playing the whole set in the live room:

Kick (attack): Sennheiser 421 – diaphragm precisely where the middle of the head would be when head is removed. (I NEVER liked the sound of a kick drum with the head on it. It always sounded like a pillow to me)

Kick (low end): Yamaha Sub-Kick – about a foot back from outer head.

Snare Top: Sony C-500 or Shure SM57 – about an inch off the head, coming in from side opposite hi-hat to minimize bleed.

Snare Bot: Sennheiser 441 – at a 45° angle at 1-2 inches off the head.

Hi Tom: Sennheiser 421 – near edge with a slight angle towards the outer edge of the drum 1-2 inches off the head.

Mid Tom: Sennheiser 421 – near edge with a slight angle towards the outer edge of the drum 1-2 inches off the head.

Lo Tom: Sennheiser 421, Telefunken U47 FET or an AKG 414 – near edge with a slight angle towards the center of the drum 2-3 inches off the head and the live side of the mic facing down and away from the snare and hat.

(Also, a very important component of the toms is when listening to the toms in a solo position together, the snare leakage needs to be evenly dispersed between the three or four toms. Again, if you can look at the toms in a solo position on a set of stereo VU’s the left and right leakage should be equal when the drummer is playing kick and snare)

Hi-Hat: AKG 451B, Shure SM57 or a Sony ECM-50PS – hanging about an inch above the top hat, halfway between the center and outer edge close to where the drummer hits the hat (but not in the way and always check the snare leakage into the hi hat mic and the ratio should again be 8-10-1).

When choosing a pair of overheads, I almost exclusively go with a pair of large diaphragm tube condenser mics: AKG C-12’s, Telefunken ELAM 251’s, or the closest available – about a foot apart, several feet above the center of the drum set, angled 45° out from center in stereo configuration.

More to follow on processing, pan-positioning, balancing, mixing, and sub-mixing drums in Drums: The Skeleton of a Track – Part II.