# miking drums, and other things

Category: Jam Session

## Post 1 by charrington (Zone BBS is my Life) on Tuesday, 20-May-2008 10:35:29

Hi all,
Was just curious, how do you mike a drum set? also, has anyone ever played guitar in a concert environment? meaning that your playing so loud that you have to wear ear plugs, or, do you wear ear plugs when you play concerts? also, in a recording studio, anyone know how they're set up?
Thanks,
Chris

## Post 2 by Jesse (Hmm!) on Tuesday, 20-May-2008 13:35:40

The simplest way to mic drums is to buy one of those drum miking kits. Audix makes a good one, and Samson's is fare. It takes the guess work out of which mics to use, however, studio engineers will usually have their own prefs for that. As fas as earplugs go, many live performers now wear in-ear monitors, which block the outside noise out, and allow you to adjust the volume of what goes into your ears by taking a feed right from the monitor mix on the board.

## Post 3 by moyzey (i'm posting? huh?) on Tuesday, 20-May-2008 14:38:47

Hmm, setting up a kit for recording is a long and fiddly business and can take a lot of perseverance on behalf of the engineer to perfect the sound they want.
It's important to get the correct mic for each individual piece of the kit. Sound is very variable, not only in decibels, but in frequency, and different mics pick up different sound waves. Certain mic's work in different ways, (condenser, ribbon etc,) and it is easy to permantly damage a mic if it is used incorrectly. They all have different frequency ranges, pick up patterns and sensitivity, so do your homework before deciding which mic is right for each drum.
As for placement, that can vary too depending on the kind of sound you require. The most important thing to remember when it comes to placement however, is to try and minimise spillage from other pieces of the kit, so, try and use mics with a narrow pick up and direct them slightly away from other drums. Sound will differ depending on what part, and how far away from the skin you direct the head of the mic, so bare that in mind also.
When mixing down a drum mix, remember to pan the tracks across the audio spectrum. It's the norm to pan each individual drum into the position they would be on a traditional drum kit, with the toms either panned from right to left, or vice verser.
The best Advice is really to just do your homework on frequencies, sensitivity, pick ups etc, and then experiment.
Hope this is helpful