There is something beautiful about simplicity, especially when it comes to music making.
Take one of the most complex instruments to record, an acoustic drum set. Typically the modern studio reaches for 12 or more microphones to capture the entire kit well.
But legendary producer/engineer Bob Clearmountain (The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen) shows you an even simpler way: the two mic method.
The Perfect Home Studio Method
Today I want to share with you a video that the crew at Apogee put together, featuring their 2 channel interface the Duet.
Take a couple of minutes to watch and listen to Clearmountain and the talented Matt Chamberlain demonstrate a classic two channel recording method for drums. Disregard the brands and the gear specifically, and instead hone in on the mindset and the technique.
This is quite possibly the perfect drum recording method for the typical home studio where two channels is all that’s available.
Mixing From The Beginning
One of the interesting things Clearmountain mentions in the video is why he placed the kick drum mic inside, rather than just outside the hole.
He said that the hole on the kick drum resonant head creates a bunch of concentrated air that blasts the diaphragm of the mic, giving you “fake” bottom end that you’d have to “filter out later”.
So what did he do? Avoid that all together.
He moved the mic to a place where he gets closer to the sound he wants to hear in the mix, rather than waiting on an EQ or filter to clean it up later.
Please don’t miss how powerful (and smart) this kind of thinking is. I know it’s a simple and seemingly insignificant mic placement decision. But it reveals his type of thinking: have the final mix in mind from the beginning.
Your recordings will sound better because of it.
Playing Lighter For A Bigger Sound
Building off of the first point (of having the final mix in mind on recording day) the drummer in the video Matt Chamberlain (a legend in his own right) drops a brilliant but counterintuitive drum recording bomb on us.
If you want a bigger, more balanced sound in the mix, play lighter on the drums.
What?!
This advice is two fold brilliance.
First I love that the smart folks at Apogee thought to even ask Matt (the drummer) his advice on playing technique. When it comes to recording drums, all we seem to talk about is mic choice, mic placement, and mic count. But rarely do we talk about how the drummer PLAYS the darn thing.
If you get nothing else out of this post, get this: how the drummer plays the kit will determine the sound of your drum recording more than anything else.
So taking that concept a bit more specifically, Chamberlain suggests that drummers play lighter than they typically would, because of one reason: better balance in the mix later on, especially if you want to compress that overhead mic.
Again, like Clearmountain, Chamberlain is thinking ahead to the mix, and adjusting his recording technique accordingly.
If everything in mixing is all about balance the same is true for recording. Don’t just slam your instrument (in this case drums) – think about each piece, and try to get a good balance on recording day. It will make mixing that much easier.
Experiment Like Crazy
The last part of the video interview with Clearmountain is pure recording gold. Listen to what he says:
I would come in at night, after sessions when nobody was in the studio and I would tune the drums for hours, and try all kinds of different things. Just to see. And I’m not even a drummer. I can’t play drums to save my life. But I would sit there and start messing around with it until “Oh that’s starting to sound good.” or “Oh, that sounds really bad!” – Bob Clearmountain
This is how you learn my friends. Putting in hours and hours of crazy experimentation.
Recording and mixing is not a science. It’s not a rigid formula. It’s an art. One that you only learn by doing.
How else can you really know what things sound like and what’s possible with the gear you have? So many young home studio people these days don’t want to put in the time to fiddle around with things. And they’re missing out.
If you can learn to make time for the tweaking and fiddling and experimenting (outside of your blocked off session time) you will start to learn the ins and outs of this craft and gain knowledge that will help you achieve your music making goals.
There’s no other shortcut to sonic greatness. So get to work!
Give Simple A Try
If you’ve ever recorded drums with a bunch of mics and they don’t sound nearly as good as what you just heard in this video, then perhaps it’s time to try this simple 2 mic method.
Get rid of the stereo overheads, the top and bottom snare mics, the tom mics, and the room mics. Just go to a simple kick and overhead approach and see if you can’t learn your gear, your room, and your instrument better.
And if you only have one microphone or preamp, then go with a simple one mic approach. I’ve done it a few times and Clearmountain even mentioned it as a classic approach in this video.
You have nothing to lose by simplifying your setup and everything to gain. You’ll be so clearly focused on the sound and the performance that in the end you’ll likely capture a much better recording.
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
Yeah I really love this kind of micing technique on drums. It just sounds huge, natural and balanced. And if you want a wider sounding kit, just stereo mic the OH. If you want more beef, put a couple of room mics on the floor.
But a boxy sounding room can ruin the whole thing. So either a really good sounding room or a completely dead one is preferred.
Some productions certainly benefits from individually miced drums though. But I think that this simple micing should be the starting point and you kind of expand from there if needed. When it comes to recording and mixing, less is certainly more.
Thanks for teaching the value of simplicity Graham! 🙂
Hi Graham,
I love these simple approaches to recording, discovered by limitations posed on engineers of yesteryear. These concepts are wonderful to explore for the small home studio.
Great article. Thanks Graham.
Thanks Graham!
As a kid I always noticed Bob’s name on most of the records back in the day. No ego with this guy. I also recently played Springsteen’s Lucky Town album and all I could hear was how well balanced that record is.
Great sounding album.
Btw I am a happy Duet owner. Pricey but nice sounding if you can afford it!
The Apogee Duet converters are the best I’ve ever heard. It sounds amazing. Yes its expensive and Mac only but you really do get what you pay for with regard to audio interfaces . The only thing lacking for me is more inputs.
Btw, did you know Clearmountains wife owns Apogee? Came from an article from SOS I believe.
Great stuff. I don’t know that “playing (the drums) lighter for a bigger sound” is going to work if you’re playing aggressive rock or metal, but the theory behind that statement is certainly worth considering and some experimentation.
Thanks Graham! I’ve been practicing and tuning my drums for the past few days preparing for recording today! I only have a two channel interface and will be using two mics to record. Looking forward to hearing the result!
Great article, Graham! It’s a fantastic recording, that’s for sure. It’s amazing how much you can get with a very basic setup.
I think another thing to point out is that it’s a great sounding kit. Matt even said that you should get new(ish) heads on it and tune it and try to get it to sound as good as you can.
I think often we think that using more mics means that we can get a crappy sounding kit to sound great. We can treat each mic individually and have more power to “fix” stuff later. But this video (and your $300 studio drum video) really highlighted the fact that you need to have a good sounding kit, and then you’ll get a great sound whether you use 12 mics or 2.
Thanks!
Alex
The gold here is the bit about practicing and experimenting outside of a session. Good article.
Very nice, thanks Graham. Now the question,..in one of your videos you said to track at -18,. or close to that,..in this video, he is saying to track only 4 to 6 db from 0 or clipping. What’s your take on this?
Thank you…
There’s no right answer. The issue is that the “old-school” mindset is to track as hot as possible without clipping. That’s not true anymore for digital recording. I would say be nice and conservative. -18 is a good average value. Keep in mind that your peaks are going to be higher than that, but that’s ok.
Thank you. I’ve been doing it this way,.so, I’ll stick to it…!!
During the 80’s I read a great piece of advice in a FOSTEX booklet for those new to recording. The VU meters were left behind and it was the “new” led era. So, in which concerns to record gain, they adviced «make shure the green lights are lit most of the time». This says it all and still is very true today (despite the analogue’s gone digital). So, forget the numbers and watch the meters colors. This might appear a little tricky for drums, with their fast transients but, once again, get the drummer to make some fills and breaks instead of single hits, and MAKE SHURE THE GREEN LIGHTS ARE LIT MOST OF THE TIME!
I’ve never fully understood the difference or the terminology, but it’s very likely that Bob Clearmountain is talking about the levels on an analogue VU meter (dBU), which is a different scale to the digital dBFS levels. If I’ve read this article/graph correctly, 0 dBUs is around -18dBFUS.
I think Graham may have explained this also in another post – and certainly could explain it better than I have.
Sorry, I failed to paste the link in correctly. This is the article I found with a helpful graph.
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterphmusic/pharri5833/metering.htm
Dude, just keep the old school VU 0db in mind and you’ll be fine. If you start worrying about translating to digital full scale you (not “you”, but inexperienced recordists in general) are going to start pushing to the top and killing all chances of dynamic range. I’ve gotten to the point now where I just keep a Zplane PPMulator 3 meter on my master out, set to RMS only, reading with VU. It keeps everything within a reasonable range and allows a chance for dynamic range to exist. 🙂
Track the drums using a VU meter plugin calibrated at -18db get the level to stay between-1 and +1. Watch the track level and you will see what he means by 4db to 6db from 0
Thanks Graham! I remember being taught how to record drums with 6 mics but I like the sound of this even more. And it’s doable and sounds good. That’s the beauty in it.
I’m going to go old school new school and set up BFD to record with the bass drum mic and a single overhead and see how that sounds.
It’s surprisingly good actually – though a little bit of the room mic improved the airiness of the sound.
hi why u dont organise an interview with the great producer & studio master Danieal Lenoise the U2 &Niel Yong&Bob Delan & more greatest he got some great tips to share
I think this is something I’ll experiment with soon. I got two studios to mess around with at my disposal.
One has the drums though
Great!
Get the musician to hear himself behind the mic = great performance.
If you want great mixes record great performances. It s really that simple.
🙂
(man I gotta practise…!)
more great advice and you cant argue with bob clear mountain.
I think the Neumann makes the difference, though. If I were to put up my cheap MXL, I don’t think I would match that sound even in the same room with the same kit. So, when you go minimalistic, like recording the whole band with 1 or 2 mics, the mic really makes a difference, because it’s the ultimate “bottleneck” of your recording. Having a good mic capture it, makes for much easier mixing in the end. Talk about GIRATS!
I’m by no means using that as an excuse not to record with my mics, but I just think Bob Clearmountain would have an easier time mixing his recording with the mics he has.
I do have to say, the recording sounds stinkin’ awesome!!
The Neumann is a nice sounding mic. But it’s not the only nice sounding mic, nor are nice sounding mics only in that price range.
Graham, you are right, as always. Sorry about the ill-educated comment. I am finishing up a song I recorded in my home studio and I love the way acoustic guitar sounds, even though it was recorded with my cheap mics in my barely treated studio.
I just purchased the new Duet for Mac and iOS to replace my old Digi003R, and recording drums was the ONLY thing I was worried about. The 003 has been a loyal friend, but both Studio One, OS X itself, and Pro Tools 11 start to get fussy when using the 003R in Yosemite. Probably because Avid has´t updated the drivers since 10.8
For everything else I was thinking that the Duet was the best 2channel interface I could get my hands on, part from maybe the Apollo, but I don´t have thunderbolt. This video just made me even more confident in my purchase. Paired with an OK kick drum mic (that I already own) and a good large diaphragm condenser I´m sure I can go this route if need be. Great find; Graham. And it´s a testament to your integrity that you show us both stuff recorded with a 300$ budget, AND stuff done with expensive stuff within the same time period. Bashing both high end AND low end gear makes one come of like a jerk. In stead you show the best of both worlds while focusing on the SKILL- part. It´s great.
Thanks!
I’ve used this method before with great results. Even with more channels/mics available, a mono overhead works really well, especially for genres that don’t need super wide sounding drums (indie, folk, blues/classic rock, etc.) I’ve used a mono overhead with stereo room mics, which add some natural stereo width and “reverb” or room sound. I still put mics on the snare and toms individually, but didn’t really need much of them in the mix. The benefit is you don’t have as many phase issues, and instead of buying two cheaper mics, you can buy one nice mic that can also be used for other sources.
“Home in’–not hone in’– There may be great info here, but it’s hard to take you seriously when there’s such a simplistic mistake in first paragraph. NO, I’m not being a grammar nazi–I’m being a discerning reader. Those are the kind you want,yes?
Actually “Hone In” is correct. Both forms are – here in the US at least. Thanks for looking out though!
I’ve observed Graham to look out after all the readers, not the discerning ones only. There are many who are just starting out in this craft and don’t know where to turn and are a step away from spending money where they shouldn’t spend it, not the most discerning crowd, and Graham is right there to point such individuals in the right direction. He did that for me, and still I went astray and spent money on some plugins that I later found out don’t improve my sound as much as my skills do, and for that I’m grateful.
And he’s right, “hone in” is quite popular in the US and Canada.
Cool man…priceless 🙂
…makes me want a mic placement option in Toontrack lol.
Great advice! Thanks Graham 🙂 Just a question to anyone who reads this. I’m gonna record my drums and I have 4 channels available but to be honest because I have tried 4 mics before and not gotten a great sound I think i’ll try this. I have a condenser, two sure unidynes and an sm58 available and I was thinking, should I bump it up to three and put one on the snare? If so would this change the position of the over head condenser?
Or is this just over complicating me and I should stick with two? (I can already kinda tell that it is!) Let me know what you think guys!
Adding a snare mic is a great idea. Wouldn’t move the OH because of this at all.
As usual Graham you come through with GREAT advise and tips with awesome sources. (Glyn Johns, Bob Clearmountain WOW!!) If we had had this info back in the days before the I’net/DAW’s it would have been SO much easier and simpler. Folks today don’t realize how lucky they are I think. My four track Tascam cassette cost $800 when I bought it and that just recorded the music – no reverb – delay – compressor – mics etc. This is amazing.
Bob has been my idol for years, this man has one of the best drum recording sounds ever. Im not a studio engineer and now in my old age just mess around writing and recording in my home studio. But my one comment to any engineer that mixed my stuff was “Listen to Bob Clearmountian” this is what I want for the drum sound. Im not a drummer but a well mixed drum sound can truly make a song stand out and make the crowd want to dance!! Thanks for this article Graham.
This was really helpful, thanks! I wonder, if being in a pinch and having the limitations of two channels, how well one could fake a stereo overhead sound with stereo widening etc. tricks when using this technique?
Of course one could use a two-mic Glyn Johns or other alternatives to get a stereo sound, but still…
Super dope video man. I’m amazed how many dudes I’ve met that thinking you need 8-12 microphones to recording a kit well. It’s proven in this video you don’t. Great stuff Graham my bro…
Aaron
Bingo!