How do you record a drum set?

Question:How do you record drums, i know how to do guitar and bass.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: How do you record drums, i know how to do guitar and bass.

Depends on how many tracks you have and if you have a mixer.

I've done drums on 1-8 tracks.

To effectively do them you need a snare mic, a hi-hat mic, a kick drum mic, a rack tom mic(s) and two over head mics left and right to catch the cymbals.

Into a mixer and then you blend them.

If you got two tracks and a stereo mixer you do a kit mix. Hi hat to one side, snare 1/4 the way over, kick center, toms off center left and right, over heads full left and full right

If you have 4-8 tracks it's even better.

I like to keep snare and kick dedicated and then mix the rest of the kit to the other two tracks in stereo, that way I can punch up kick and snare with are the most important so I do a 2 track mix and then put snare and kick on two separate tracks.

In 8 tracks you can give each element their own track and blend them in the final mix.

If you want a great sound you need to buy 4 great mics (we're talking $3,000+ here)

A D-12 for the kick (or an RE20)

For overheads AT4060s ($600), 4033, 4040, AKG C-414s($500), 2 U-89s or U-87s, two C-12s ($11,000) or 1 C-24 ($15,000), M59s or M60s ($4,000)

Any of the above for hi-hat/snare overtones

The rest can be SM58/57 or MD-421s or RE20s

My favorite 4 track perfect kit sound is a C-24 6 feet up and 6 feet back, split left and right and 90 degree angle, a D-12 or RE20 a foot from the kick outside and a C-414 or C-12 set up between snare and hi-hat.

We're talking $30,000 in mics here, but we're talking a killer sound on 4 tracks

The better the mics the better the sound

One AT-4033 (or 4040 or 4060) 6 feet up and 6 feet back and ONE RE-20 for the kick and rack toms (trial and error positioning it) will delivery a killer sound on two tracks for about $1,000

No smoking allowed. Most of these mics have 10 micron gold coated 1 or 2" diaphragms (lighter than a soap bubble).

You can do this trick with any two mics, but the sound will not be fantastic, but you will hear the kit.

That AT 4033 at $600 is one of the best low end mics you can get (no smoking).

What it lacks is low end, which is why the RE20 or D-12 or D-120 is required.

Even the AKG C-12 lacks low end at $11,000 used

And that's considered one of the best mics ever.