AKG Acoustics Micing User Manual

Micing the

Drum Set

INTRODUCTION:

In the modern studio there is no more complex job for the engineer than micing the drum set. Musically, the drum set and
bass form the rhythmic underpinning of any jazz, pop or rock musical performance. In the final mix, it can be in the back­ground, foreground or well out front, depending on the needs of the music.

The job for the engineer at the tracking stage of album production is to store the necessary sonic elements, both stereo and
mono, that will allow the mix engineer to put together a coherent rhythmic sound structure for all possible options that the
artist and producer may want to experiment with as the album project approaches completion.

The tracking engineer must have a good knowledge of the drum set and how a drummer goes about setting it up. It’s not all
that simple; a drummer may take a good bit of time setting up his instruments and may damp the various drum heads to min­imize ringing. It is rare for a drummer to come into a studio and be up and running in a few minutes. At a rehearsal, possi­bly -- but not for a recording session. The artistry of an accomplished drummer is truly awesome. The really good ones show
a degree of independence of feet and hands rivaling that of a pipe organ virtuoso.

You will find that the drummer is often the first musician to arrive at the studio, often a couple of hours ahead of starting
time. This extra time is essential in setting up the drums and making sure that all spurious resonances and extraneous nois­es have been worked out of the system.

The drummer should maintain eye contact with the other players and not be shunted off to a distant drum cage or isolation
booth. For certain kinds of music the drum set will have to be isolated with goboes, but the drummer should never feel out
of contact with the other musicians. There are of course exceptions, and many a drummer has played alone in a big studio,
adding his tracks to pre-existing bass and other supporting tracks, often taking advantage of the acoustics of a large empty
space.

T

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BASIC MAKEUP OF THE DRUM SET:

Although the actual instruments and their arrangement will vary from player to player, the drum set will have the follow­ing basic elements:

Kick Drum: The kick drum is played with the right foot using a spring-loaded pedal. There may be heads (the striking sur­face) on both sides of the kick drum, but some players use a single head. Another variation is the use of a full head on the
playing side, with a head on the opposite side that has a medium sized hole in it, providing a limited degree of tuning of
the inner cavity. The larger the drum and lighter the tension on the heads, the lower the pitch will be. Some players go for
a higher pitched, highly damped sound while others prefer a lower pitched sound. In either case the player will most like­ly want the sound to be fairly well damped so that it will not overhang and possibly interfere with the bass line.

Snare Drum: The snare is played by both hands using a pair of sticks or light metal brushes against the head in a circular
motion. The “snares” themselves are actually multiple sets of thick gut or metal strings that rest against the bottom head of
the drum, and they give the characteristic “burr” to the sound of the instrument when it is struck. They can be disengaged,
in which case the sound of the drum is like that of a high-pitched tom.

Hi-hat cymbals: The hi-hat assembly is made up of a pair of face-to-face cymbals, one on top of the other. A pedal operated with
the left foot varies their separation slightly, and the drummer plays them with a stick in his right hand while holding the cymbal
pair by their edges lightly with his left hand. The sound is light and very articulate for off-beat rhythmic patterns, since it reflects
movements and positions of both hands.

The toms: The toms (officially known as tom-toms) are one-sided drums, slightly deeper in size and pitch than the snare
drum, which are placed left to right behind the snare and high-hat and over the kick drum. They are normally tuned low,
mid and high, but without definite pitch. As a rule, there are three of them, but some players may add a fourth.

The cymbals: There are usually three cymbals arranged at the upper level of the set and directly above the toms. They
have various names: the crash cymbal is large and is used for musical accents; the ride cymbal, usually higher pitched, is
used in continuous passages, and a sizzle cymbal, with small metal pins loosely fitted on its periphery, is used for light pas­sages where an increased degree of high frequency “shimmer” is desired. Cymbals are among the most expensive items in
a drum set. Many excellent ones are made in near-eastern countries, such as Turkey, where the art has been handed down
in families for many generations.

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This, in short, is a description of a typical modern drum set. Figure 1 shows what it looks like from the viewpoint of the
audience.

In this White Paper we will discuss micing the drum set largely from the point of view of AKG’ s highly regarded studio mics.
We also want to introduce a new family of low-cost dynamic microphone models that are so good you’d think they were
condensers! These are the models D440, D550 and D660; along with the D770, D880 and D112, they are ideal for the
home studio and music reinforcement on stage. They all have high overload margins in the 145 to 150 dB, which is essen­tial in drum micing.

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ASIC MICING STRATEGY:

At the most fundamental level we have a microphone on the kick drum and an overhead (OH) pair of mics picking up the
entire set in stereo. Many a jazz recording, mixed direct-to-stereo, has been made with this setup. If you are doing this, we
suggest the following options:

Micing the Kick Drum:

There are several important choices to make. Many experienced engineers prefer to use a tried and true dynamic micro­phone rather than a more recent condenser model. The reason is this: placed close to the head of the kick drum the micro­phone will pick up sound pressures that are extremely high. The overload characteristics of a dynamic mic can be more for­giving than those of a condenser. Also, since the dynamic goes into distortion more gently, the actual sound of slight non­linearities might actually be a desirable thing.

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Figure 1

In the old days the AKG D12 dynamic was one of
the mainstays of kick drum micing; today, the
D112 is the modern version of that microphone.
With its carefully engineered bass resonance cham­ber the D112 can handle any kick drum with ease.
If you want to use a condenser with ultrawide low
frequency capability, we suggest the C4000B, with
its 0.5% THD overload point of 145 dB. Figure 2
shows the difference between a dynamic and a con­denser at or near the onset of distortion. The
dynamic has more residual distortion than the con­denser, but the condenser goes into gross distortion
at a point where the dynamic may still be produc­ing only moderate amounts of distortion.

Another big decision is where to put the micro­phone. Since a cardioid microphone is nearly
always used, there will be a good bit of low fre­quency boost due to proximity effect. Suggested
mic positions are shown in Figure 3. If the micro­phone is close to the middle (position 1), you will
get a sound that has per­haps too much low end
and not enough articula­tion. As the microphone is
moved progressively off­center, the sound will have
more articulation, since
you will be picking up less
fundamental sound from
the head. Stop well short
of the edge, keeping a dis­tance of about 4 to 5 inch­es. The actual distance of
the mic to the head will
normally be in the range
from 5 to about 2 inches.

Under some conditions, you may find it useful to put up a second kick mic, recording both on separate tracks, of course. A
good combination here would be a dynamic on one track and a condenser on the other.

The Overhead Pair:

Pick these mics carefully, since they provide the largest part of the sonic stage you are looking for. Studio engineers usually
pick the best condenser cardioids they have. For the most natural response we suggest a pair of C391’s or C480’s with their
ultralinear high frequency response. If you want a slightly brighter sound, use a pair of AKG large diaphragm condensers set
in their cardioid position. Another good choice is the C1000S. Its included presence booster creates a frequency rise in the
5 to 9 kHz range that guarantees you’ll get a sound that will cut gently through a complex mix, even when the drummer
is playing softly. For the home studio or on-stage the D440, D550 and D660 are excellent alternatives, with their broad high
frequency boost in the 8 kHz range.

The best position for the OH pair is often found about 6 to 8 inches over the player’s head. The mics should always be car­dioids or hypercardioids in order to hold down studio leakage, and should be pointed outward from each other and down
toward the hi-hat on the left side and the large tom on the right side.

The spacing between the OH pair is fairly critical. If they are close (within one foot), the sound stage you get will be tight
with good delineation but with limited stereo spread. As you move the mics from 1 to 2 to 3 (keeping their target aiming

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Figure 2

Figure 3