A trick I like using for a single mic set up which I've never heard of anywhere else is having the mic above the kit pointed toward the snare/tom, and having the stand itself resting against the kick drum. I'm talking stand to shell contact, it picks up a lot of really cool Bass frequencies and definition. It also helps to record this in a very drum room with a good mic.
There's a lot of these 'How To' videos around for recording tips. A lot of the engineers, though knowledgable, can just be a bit of a pain to watch. Brian is very engaging. Not only someone who can walk the walk, but he can talk the talk too! Keep it up.
It's not because of the cymbal. You shouldn't record a cymbal from it's edge side. Only from above or below. Sounds from above and below are opposite and they fight against each other. When you have 2 opposite waves, one like this: ^v^v and the other like this: v^v^ then in the end you have pretty much silence. If you record for example from above, you hear the sound from below later, so you can hear a cymbal in a recording. Although I don't blame the recording technique. These cymbals are too loosely mounted.
Usually in a big recording studio there are always so many mics set up for each part of the drum. It's awesome that you showed other options to use less of them for people who don't always have access to that!
The way I mic my drums is, a kick mic, an overhead, and a mic on the floor tom. A little bit of EQ and Compression, and it’s awesome. I do this for both studio, and live gigs. Saves a lot of time.
Having been using drum machines for many years I was recently given the opportunity to work with a real - and very good - drummer. I was travelling quite a way to record in his house, so your video - and your video alone - stood between me and disaster. After consideration I went for the two-mic setup and it worked far better than I could have hoped. The only tip I should have had was to take ear-plugs or in-ear monitors, but then we had no control room and I was four feet from a drum kit at full chat! But thanks Brian - utterly brilliant vid!
In the 5 mic setup, you can feel it in his voice and in his facial expression the happiness and fulfillment he got when the time came to whip out the U87. Don't blame him.
I love how he announces it like some sort of crazy scientist presenting his new super soldier serum in order to take over the world. It's so well put together it couldn't have been accidental lmao
Amazing demonstration! One of my worries tho is recording something "heavier" (not necessarily metal) with a limited amount of mics (2 for exemple), because the cymbals tend to be more splashy and they can cut way more into the sound spectrum. But this helped a lot, thanks.
My old band did a demo at IV Lab's old location. One of the best sounding recording I've ever been a part of, that API board mixed with the Ampex MM1200 just blew us both away.
I think there is a "magic" spot in every space..where if you can find it, and just place one mic, even a crappy camera..you can capture a whole band or drum kit and it will sound awesome. I have stumbled upon that a few times and made accidental recordings that sounded better than when i have used a barrage of mics and pres. the hard part is finding that space..yep i'm a big fan of minimalist recordings these days..the one mic sounded really good here...nailed it
Needs a mic with higher freq response over it I would guess. I think most of the mics close to the drums drop off at around 10KhZ or so... I didn't catch the names of them all though.
Nice video! I'm a beginner drummer and this is helpful. I have a decent mic locker, I'll try these different techniques out. In the video the 3 mic mono sounds stereo when listening to it. The best sounding to me was one mic and then the 3 mic stereo.
The "mono" sound ~3:20 is definitely, 100% not mixed in mono. Listen in headphones. You can hear the hat and floor clearly to the sides. Contrast it with the transition fill afterwards-- thats def mono. Sounds great, just saying that isnt mixed in mono.
The recording I get the most compliments on is via the two mic set up. Same as explained here. So long as the cymbals are kept controlled during tracking. This video is already some years old , but I love watching it. I hope Brian D is still working, he comes across as a cool cat , with dry humour. hah
Yeah, that bothered me too. Another thing I would have loved is a crash or china cymbal on the far right end of the kit, to hear how much you can hear that in the one and two mic setups.
The toms sounds always suffer using these minimal micing techniques. The one mic method gave the most upfront tom sound. If you were going to use 5 mics, why not close mic everything and go with a mono overhead. At lease that way every drum of the kit can be balanced. (Of course this would only work with a one or two tom setup)
Thanks for the video Brian! Had some luck with the Glyn Johns technique too. Once again had to check mic distance to snare with a string. I also would love a Neumann to capture the room.
Great information. Only real comment is about 1st of the two 3 mic setups. I like that technique for a mono recording, and it's described as being mono, but the mix is stereo. At least the panning in that one follows the video. The other stereo mixes all have the floor tom mic panned right and the snare side mic panned left. It does give a good idea of the overall sound though.
This was very helpful as I will be recording a drum kit soon. I do not know how to check phase so I will have to research that aspect to get it correct. Much Appreciated!!
4 mic sounded the best too me followed by the 1 mic. I'm curious how the 1 mic set up with a kick mic would sound since the 2 mic set up left the snare a tad quiet, but 1 mic was lacking in the kick.
Yo, no one is talking about recording drums in a small crappy room! I finally found a couple tricks to combat this! Maybe I should make a video! I always have had issues with my overheads sounding super harsh and brittle when playing open Hi Hats or crashes in a small crappy room. The 2 - overhead technique is not necessary in my opinion in a small crappy room. I believe it is counter productive. I took 1 - M160 and used it as a mono overhead, 1 - Beta 91a as an inner kick for the slap/click/direct kick sound, 1 - M201 TG on snare for good hyper cardioid rejection, 1 - TG D50 for a snare bottom mic, 1 - M201 TG on Floor tom for direct coverage and for maximum rejection. With this setup I have finally been able to get a pretty stellar sound out of a horrible drum room and a stupid sounding kit honestly. The kit faces the wall and the kick drum is about an inch away from the wall. The kit was also given to me for free by a friend to borrow for a while. It is a kit that has no brand name. It has crappy shells and has a crappy laminate. The snare sounds pretty crappy but I've tuned it to the best of my ability with some friend's help. I do have some ok new beats for hi hats and an ok crash from zildjian. But, other than that it is a crappy kit yet I've finally been able to get a decent sound! I will be making a video for all those out there that want to get cool drum sounds with pure shit to work with!
All jokes aside this vid was very helpful. I was able to get a pretty good sound out of my drummer by just throwing a condenser mic in front of the kit in the way this vid suggested.
Great video. I tend to use a 2 mic recorder man technique with my 2 channel interface, but I'm eager to try some of the setups here in the video... I personally liked the 3 mono the best (at least on my Macbook speakers, will reserve judgement for a better monitor setup). Thanks for this.
Okay so i do this a lot in my new home recording setup and ive never had a noticeable phase issue BUT i dont think i know really how to check phase........ how do i check phase?
You know how sound waves are “waves” and have high points and low points? Being “in phase” means that all the high points in one mic line up with all the high points in the other, and so on. This means none of the sound cancels. “Out of phase” means the high points line up with the low points in another signal, and that actually cuts your sound. It gets quieter, and usually loses bottom end. Since sound waves travel through space, checking phase when you’re recording simply means making sure the mics are the same distance away from the source (snare drum usually).
On the four mic setup, how do you account for phase? The bass drum mic and the overheads are about the same distance away so that's not much of an issue but what do you do about the snare mic? It's going to be picking up the snare sounds before the overheads do. Sorry I'm new at this.
The mono three-mic setup sounded amazing! The four and five mic setups were blah. Sometimes less is more. I wish the drumming segments had been a bit longer. It's hard to evaluate how something sounds in just ten seconds. How does one check for phase? By summing to mono and listening for cancellations? If you want to experiment with these techniques but can't afford C414's, check out the CAD M179.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
A trick I like using for a single mic set up which I've never heard of anywhere else is having the mic above the kit pointed toward the snare/tom, and having the stand itself resting against the kick drum. I'm talking stand to shell contact, it picks up a lot of really cool Bass frequencies and definition. It also helps to record this in a very drum room with a good mic.
There's a lot of these 'How To' videos around for recording tips. A lot of the engineers, though knowledgable, can just be a bit of a pain to watch. Brian is very engaging. Not only someone who can walk the walk, but he can talk the talk too! Keep it up.
That crash has the fastest decay I’ve ever heard.
It's not because of the cymbal. You shouldn't record a cymbal from it's edge side. Only from above or below. Sounds from above and below are opposite and they fight against each other. When you have 2 opposite waves, one like this: ^v^v and the other like this: v^v^ then in the end you have pretty much silence. If you record for example from above, you hear the sound from below later, so you can hear a cymbal in a recording. Although I don't blame the recording technique. These cymbals are too loosely mounted.
I love the fact that I feel like Michael Scott is teaching me how to records drums
lmaooo
Usually in a big recording studio there are always so many mics set up for each part of the drum. It's awesome that you showed other options to use less of them for people who don't always have access to that!
Who killed the crash cymbal?
Dylan Collett It’s sounds seriously dead, not much to it.
Thank God I thought I was the only one that was bothered by that!
Lmao
crash sounds like straight dirt
lol too much tape underneath
The mono omni 1 mic technique has been a life saver for countless sessions!
The way I mic my drums is, a kick mic, an overhead, and a mic on the floor tom. A little bit of EQ and Compression, and it’s awesome. I do this for both studio, and live gigs. Saves a lot of time.
Fantastic video. No extra chatter. Just straight up teaching and great info. Perfect.
Having been using drum machines for many years I was recently given the opportunity to work with a real - and very good - drummer. I was travelling quite a way to record in his house, so your video - and your video alone - stood between me and disaster. After consideration I went for the two-mic setup and it worked far better than I could have hoped. The only tip I should have had was to take ear-plugs or in-ear monitors, but then we had no control room and I was four feet from a drum kit at full chat! But thanks Brian - utterly brilliant vid!
In the 5 mic setup, you can feel it in his voice and in his facial expression the happiness and fulfillment he got when the time came to whip out the U87. Don't blame him.
I love how he announces it like some sort of crazy scientist presenting his new super soldier serum in order to take over the world. It's so well put together it couldn't have been accidental lmao
for quick comparisons:
One mic 1:31
Two mics 2:28
Three mics (A) 3:23
Three mics (Stereo) 4:06
Four mics 4:38
Five mics 5:10
4 - 4:39 Sounds the best to me!
1 mic 1:32
2 mics 2:28
3 mics (floor tom mic) 3:23
3 mics (stereo) 4:06
4 mics 4:39
5 mics 5:10
I subscribed purely because of the intro.
LOL!!!!
surprisingly good sound from the one mi
How do you record drums with zero mics
I like that there's not even a question mark
You just need 1 quarter inch cable you did not say what type of drums this is the way to record edrums
Memorize and beatbox.
With a paper and pencil
Music notation
absolute home-run video. i'm a producer/mix engineer who sometimes records, so having a quick-reference that gives me a place to start from is huge!
Wish the drum beat lasted longer. Still great video
Thanks Leiria65. We could listen to Darren play all day.
Amazing demonstration! One of my worries tho is recording something "heavier" (not necessarily metal) with a limited amount of mics (2 for exemple), because the cymbals tend to be more splashy and they can cut way more into the sound spectrum. But this helped a lot, thanks.
The less mics you have the more Control your Drummer needs
I think the one mic setup with omni direction and just adding a kick mic would be perfect for the least expensive route.
Surprisingly, the 1 mic setup sounded unexpectedly good! There's my first step to having an ok home studio lol many thanks for the vid
Brian Deck is an underappreciated master. Everyone should listen to more Califone.
tbh, my favorite sound until he got to 5 mics was the 1 mic mono. That just worked so well and gave such a balanced sound
My old band did a demo at IV Lab's old location. One of the best sounding recording I've ever been a part of, that API board mixed with the Ampex MM1200 just blew us both away.
Probably the best drum mic setup i ve found! Congrats!!!
Actually thought the 1 mic setup sounded the best.
I agree. Some people call it a "fat mic" technique. I use it all the time in conjunction with more mics. It's nice to blend in sometimes.
Nick Holum How do you think the stereo 3 mic setup would would with one mic setup like in the one mic setup?
I thought so too what brand of mic was it?
it looked to me like an AKG C414.
I agree, has that old funk/Motown feel to it. Nice n' fat.
keep these videos coming, really enjoy these brian deck tips.
Thanks Thomas McCoyy! More on the way soon.
Maybe one on recording a full band in a live room with tips minimizing bleed between mics
I think there is a "magic" spot in every space..where if you can find it, and just place one mic, even a crappy camera..you can capture a whole band or drum kit and it will sound awesome. I have stumbled upon that a few times and made accidental recordings that sounded better than when i have used a barrage of mics and pres. the hard part is finding that space..yep i'm a big fan of minimalist recordings these days..the one mic sounded really good here...nailed it
I love the intro! I hope this series continues
that drummer is definitely not doing he wants to be doing right now in his life
Only his hair dresser knows for sure, but he's one killer studio cat. And yeah, guy has the ease and flow for anything.
when you get kicked out of your touring metalcore band but need a job
I'd rather be doing what he's doing than what I'm doing!
His expression at 3:38 sums it up
He wanted to play guitar
This intro killed me 😂😂😂
Indeed. It reminds me of something Tim and Eric might have done for an intro. 😂😂
+Saint Sixtus haha so true, great comparison! u can tell he's getting loopy towards the end too lol
something like a rick and morty interdimension cable commercial ahah
i busted out laughing at the cheesy smile
the intro...brilliant
I love the consistency of his playing. It makes videos like this so much easier to understand. Thanks.
Why does the crash sound so dead
Needs a mic with higher freq response over it I would guess. I think most of the mics close to the drums drop off at around 10KhZ or so... I didn't catch the names of them all though.
Either the mic is not that sensitive to high frequencies, or it’s a dark cymbal
or its just shit
The snare sound completely different with its own mic 🎙
it’s called tape
Best video on the matter I've ever seen. Others make the video too long and go into details too much.
Great stuff! No fluff, just knowledge presented in a clear way.
Agreed with the Bass Drum mic placement and the comment about if when inside sounds like a basketball bouncing... :)
Best Drums recording video ever!!!!
Nice video! I'm a beginner drummer and this is helpful. I have a decent mic locker, I'll try these different techniques out. In the video the 3 mic mono sounds stereo when listening to it. The best sounding to me was one mic and then the 3 mic stereo.
This video really inspired me... your setup with the one mic sounds great. Thanks
I've used the one mic method a lot, sounds awesome. Quick and easy.
The one mic setup actually sounds really good; better than some of the others.
Personally am a fan of the 2 mic setup. To my ear, it sounds most natural to mesh with a traditional "in-room" rhythm section; late '60s.
Just the first mic sounds awesome!!
That intro is hilarious! I love it!
The "mono" sound ~3:20 is definitely, 100% not mixed in mono. Listen in headphones. You can hear the hat and floor clearly to the sides. Contrast it with the transition fill afterwards-- thats def mono. Sounds great, just saying that isnt mixed in mono.
Oh yeah, I just noticed that. That's weird.
The recording I get the most compliments on is via the two mic set up. Same as explained here. So long as the cymbals are kept controlled during tracking. This video is already some years old , but I love watching it. I hope Brian D is still working, he comes across as a cool cat , with dry humour. hah
"This is a floor tom mic, lets hear what that sounds like"
/hits floor tom once
Yeah, that bothered me too. Another thing I would have loved is a crash or china cymbal on the far right end of the kit, to hear how much you can hear that in the one and two mic setups.
The toms sounds always suffer using these minimal micing techniques. The one mic method gave the most upfront tom sound. If you were going to use 5 mics, why not close mic everything and go with a mono overhead. At lease that way every drum of the kit can be balanced. (Of course this would only work with a one or two tom setup)
been using the one mic technic all the time...just in case anyone want to try...make sure you position the kit in best sounding spot!!
Thanks for the video Brian! Had some luck with the Glyn Johns technique too.
Once again had to check mic distance to snare with a string. I also would love a Neumann to capture the room.
Lovin' this series -- keep it coming!
Wow!! 3B (Stereo) is really impressive!
Great information. Only real comment is about 1st of the two 3 mic setups. I like that technique for a mono recording, and it's described as being mono, but the mix is stereo. At least the panning in that one follows the video. The other stereo mixes all have the floor tom mic panned right and the snare side mic panned left. It does give a good idea of the overall sound though.
check phase check phase !! good advice...
i loved those 3 mic setups.
This was very helpful as I will be recording a drum kit soon. I do not know how to check phase so I will have to research that aspect to get it correct. Much Appreciated!!
great video a lot better than some drum mic videos on YT
I've seen this before, a few times. The one mic technique sounds great. Very much to my taste.
THANK YOU SO MUSH I REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE IT AND NOW I GET TO GO AND TRY IT OUT!!!
4 mic sounded the best too me followed by the 1 mic. I'm curious how the 1 mic set up with a kick mic would sound since the 2 mic set up left the snare a tad quiet, but 1 mic was lacking in the kick.
And maybe something for stereo too
This guy is amazing! We need more!
Thanks Reverb!
Yo, no one is talking about recording drums in a small crappy room! I finally found a couple tricks to combat this! Maybe I should make a video! I always have had issues with my overheads sounding super harsh and brittle when playing open Hi Hats or crashes in a small crappy room. The 2 - overhead technique is not necessary in my opinion in a small crappy room. I believe it is counter productive. I took 1 - M160 and used it as a mono overhead, 1 - Beta 91a as an inner kick for the slap/click/direct kick sound, 1 - M201 TG on snare for good hyper cardioid rejection, 1 - TG D50 for a snare bottom mic, 1 - M201 TG on Floor tom for direct coverage and for maximum rejection. With this setup I have finally been able to get a pretty stellar sound out of a horrible drum room and a stupid sounding kit honestly. The kit faces the wall and the kick drum is about an inch away from the wall. The kit was also given to me for free by a friend to borrow for a while. It is a kit that has no brand name. It has crappy shells and has a crappy laminate. The snare sounds pretty crappy but I've tuned it to the best of my ability with some friend's help. I do have some ok new beats for hi hats and an ok crash from zildjian. But, other than that it is a crappy kit yet I've finally been able to get a decent sound! I will be making a video for all those out there that want to get cool drum sounds with pure shit to work with!
I love that 1 mic sound !
One of my favorite Brent Spiner roles
what a cool video, this guy is a hell of a teacher, loved this
Wow. Glad I found this video, as I just found some AKG c414’s in my basement last week!
Great job! useful techniques! thanks :)
Wow, I love this guy!
Super awesome! Bri
Okay, I have to, HAVE TO comment on this cheesy intro. I'm in love, the humour is so genuine :D
Thank you !!!
Excellent video
Best intro on yt!
All jokes aside this vid was very helpful. I was able to get a pretty good sound out of my drummer by just throwing a condenser mic in front of the kit in the way this vid suggested.
Great video - Thanks!
This is an excellent video. But am I the only one who thinks Brian looks like Eric Wareheim's older, less weird brother?
That's what happens when you "check face" too much. ;)
Very comprehensive. Love it.
Great! Fast and to the point!
Thanks! This was a huge help today! :D
Really great explanation! Glad you went with a few different options. Thanks so much!
Nice, I preferred the two mic setup the best
I never thought to angle both OH mics kinda parallel like that. That’s gotta be great for phase. Definitely trying that
Great video. I tend to use a 2 mic recorder man technique with my 2 channel interface, but I'm eager to try some of the setups here in the video... I personally liked the 3 mono the best (at least on my Macbook speakers, will reserve judgement for a better monitor setup). Thanks for this.
Compare, compare compare
1:32
2:28
3:23
4:06
4:39
5:10
Thank me later
I've waited 2 years to say this. Now I finally can.. Thank you.
Thank you (4 years later)
Okay so i do this a lot in my new home recording setup and ive never had a noticeable phase issue BUT i dont think i know really how to check phase........ how do i check phase?
Jacob Vi you hit the phase button on one channel and if it the bass goes out, you are out of phase. See which way sounds best.
You know how sound waves are “waves” and have high points and low points? Being “in phase” means that all the high points in one mic line up with all the high points in the other, and so on. This means none of the sound cancels. “Out of phase” means the high points line up with the low points in another signal, and that actually cuts your sound. It gets quieter, and usually loses bottom end.
Since sound waves travel through space, checking phase when you’re recording simply means making sure the mics are the same distance away from the source (snare drum usually).
ALSO: watch the video where he demonstrates how to record guitar amps. Phase is explained clearly.
I tend to do a DAW test recording and check visually. Might not be really "Sound" engineerish, but well, whatever makes the deal...
On the four mic setup, how do you account for phase? The bass drum mic and the overheads are about the same distance away so that's not much of an issue but what do you do about the snare mic? It's going to be picking up the snare sounds before the overheads do. Sorry I'm new at this.
I prefer the 7 mic setup
Hi-hat mic
3 Tom mics
Kick drum mic
Snare mic
2 over head mics
1 condensor mic in the back for room ambience
Call me crazy, but that's like 9 mics dude. ;-)
great video well made !
The mono three-mic setup sounded amazing! The four and five mic setups were blah. Sometimes less is more.
I wish the drumming segments had been a bit longer. It's hard to evaluate how something sounds in just ten seconds.
How does one check for phase? By summing to mono and listening for cancellations?
If you want to experiment with these techniques but can't afford C414's, check out the CAD M179.
Immensely helpful. Thank you!
That last one was great
Love this stuff - I got a lot done with one stereo mic and have over thirty videos showing the process if anyone is interested.
3 is the best! 😍😍😍
Hey! We got Peter Sellers engineering in a studio in Chicago!
I don't always measure mic distance, but when I do, I use a surge protector cord!
the three mic mono was my fav
finally Tom Kenny's doppelgänger shows me how to mic my drums
that snare sounds godly