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Drum Recording/Microphones

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Dynamic mics are the ones you usually see on stage at a concert They are good for live performance because they are relatively cheap and durable

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Condenser mics pick up sound differently than dynamic mics They are mostly used for studio recording because of the quality of the sound

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The Test I used two different condenser microphones to record a drum set. I experimented with putting each of them different places around the set to see what combination would capture the best sound.

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I recorded this loop with the over the shoulder recording technique. Being aimed at the tops of the snare drum and toms it gives a very clear sound of those. However it is not able to capture a very deep sound for the bass drum because the direction of that sound is closer to the floor.

Slide 7

I recorded this with the same over the shoulder recording technique but this time I used a different microphone. I didnt like this microphone as much as the other one. Its a good quality microphone so all the set parts, especially the cymbals, are detailed but it lacks good dynamics. It sounds a lot less punchy and defined than the other mic.

Slide 8

I recorded this with the microphone in the overhead position. I used the 1 st microphone because from the other test I found it was better for drum set recording. Because the mic is aimed directly at the snare drum it picks up a really great and well defined sound. Same thing with the cymbals. The bass drum isnt able to be picked up very well from this position though.

Slide 9

Conclusion With one mic its impossible to capture a good sound of every element of the drum set because each piece has its own sound direction. The ideal situation is having a mic for every tom, snare, and bass drum, with two overhead mics to capture the cymbals. The setup I liked the best was the overhead mic. I felt like it had the best balance between snare, toms, and cymbals. Even though a lot of the bass drums bass was lost