Recording - January 2014 - 21

"The bounce off the walls in a small room just screams, "THESE DRUMS
WERE RECORDED IN A SMALL ROOM". I find that diffusors really help make
the walls much less specifically defined."-David Crigger
Here's the drumming miking setup I've
come up with for recording drums in my
home studio for remote clients. My goal
was to be able to accommodate the
largest range of styles and genres, while
maintaining a fairly consistent (always
ready to record) setup in a small recording space within a reasonable budget.
Bass Drum - There seem to be three
main approaches to miking bass drums:
A single dynamic at or in the reso head's
port (in my case a Sennheiser e602),
combining that close mic with a largecapsule condenser placed in front of the
drum (in my setup an AKG C414), or
pairing the close mic with a microphone
made from a small speaker (à la the
Yamaha Subkick mic; mine is homemade). This combination of mics is my
attempt to let the final mixer mix or match
these approaches as desired.
Snare Drum - The very common Shure
SM57 and not so common AKG C451
(mine has been modded with an internal
pad) are literally taped together to make
it easier to fit them both in the usually
"tight squeeze" batter head position.
There's really no intention towards blending these mics. The 451 is simply an alternate choice that sometimes works great
and sometimes doesn't work at all.
Conversely the workhorse 57 is always
workable as a snare top mic.
I rarely have any use for bottom snare
mics, yet some engineers can't seem to
live without them. My choice of the AKG
C414 in this position is more about my
already owning it than it being the ultimate bottom snare mic.
Toms - I've wanted Sennheiser MD
421 mics for my toms at home for years,
but never could get myself to spend the
money. I finally realized that with a little
patience, I could likely pick up those mics
in great condition quite reasonably off of
Ebay, so I did. And I couldn't be happier
with them.
Overheads and Hi-hat - Again, my rig
offers two very different choices. I have a
pair of Coles 4038 ribbon mics, very
warm, big and thick, and a pair of
Earthworks TC25m condensers, which
are all about crisp clarity. Yet both in their
own ways are very smooth and detailed.
I have an AKG C451E with an internal
pad mod for my hi-hat when needed.
RECORDING January 2014

21

Preamps put to the test
In all my years of recording myself at
home, the quality of my mic pres was the
most deciding factor between being able
to produce pro quality tracks (tracks that
could stand next to those recorded in

what we used to call "real studios") compared to tracks that just didn't make the
sonic cut.
Which is not to say the drummer, the
drums, the mics and the room don't matter-of course they do (to varying



Recording - January 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2014

Contents
Recording - January 2014 - Cover1
Recording - January 2014 - Cover2
Recording - January 2014 - 1
Recording - January 2014 - 2
Recording - January 2014 - 3
Recording - January 2014 - 4
Recording - January 2014 - 5
Recording - January 2014 - Contents
Recording - January 2014 - 7
Recording - January 2014 - 8
Recording - January 2014 - 9
Recording - January 2014 - 10
Recording - January 2014 - 11
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Recording - January 2014 - Cover3
Recording - January 2014 - Cover4
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