If you’re smart, then you know by now that the key to a great recording and ultimately a great mix (besides having a great song and a great performance) is getting the right mic placement. Where you point the mic makes a HUGE difference to the tone of your recording. But there is one key to getting the best mic placement possible for a given situation that many people miss: you need to not care what it looks like.
Via recordinghacks Flickr
But It Doesn’t Look Right!
Inherently this is how we typically setup the microphones for recording something. Pretend we’re miking up a drum kit. We think about how we’ve seen drum kits miked up before (perhaps on stage somewhere or in a magazine article) and we proceed to put the microphones where they look “right.” We point a mic at the kick, one at the snare, a couple over the cymbals, etc. The problem is we’re thinking too much about what the mics look like on the kit, and not what the mics are looking AT. Big difference.
What matters is how the drum recording sounds in the DAW, not what the mic placement looks like. So the best thing you could do is stop caring about whether the mics “look” right to you and instead move them around, listen back, and then determine when they “sound” right, even if you arrive at a very odd looking placement.
Invent A New Mic Technique
So many of the mic placement techniques that are popular today were completely made up by creative people in the studio years ago who were just trying crazy stuff. Glyn Johns, Recorderman, stereo techniques like mid side, you name it. Someone at some point had to try something bizarre and see what it sounded like.
We now focus on what those techniques “look” like, but they were invented by someone in search of a sound. You can do the same thing. Take your existing mics and go crazy. Do something totally weird and “wrong.” Break all the rules and just do one thing, listen back and take note of what you hear. Instead of learning a 40 year old technique, you could invent your own!
Check out this brief video of Glyn Johns himself explaining his famous drum mic technique. Listen to how he describes the setup and why most people doubt its effectiveness.
Begin Training Your Ears, Not Your Eyes
The simple key to getting great recordings is to train your ears to hear the difference that a few inches and a new angle of a microphone can make. Setup the mics, record a bit, and listen back. Close your eyes if you must. (You’ll hear better that way) Forget what looks cool or looks right. Instead be satisfied with the prize of what sounds right to you, no matter where you have to put the mic to get it.
It’s hard work, but it cuts down on mix time and gives you a better track and a happier life at the same time. No tricks, just common sense.
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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. 
Your articles have inspired me to try out the Glyn Johns method! What should I use for overheads?
I have looked into Kel mics, but can’t get them in Europe easily. My main concern is versatility. I want to know I have the appropriate mic for every situation in a small band. As of now I have an NT-1A, and I plan on picking up an SM57 for amps and snares, and D112 for kicks.
I know this is slightly off topic, but I would love to hear your opinion.
We just tried the Glyn Johns method with 2 TLM 103’s for overheads (they’re kinda pricey), an SM57 for snare and D112 for kick and it sounded REALLY good.
Maybe get a second nt1a and use them as overheads? Never done it, but just a suggestion.
Get a second NT1a. Can’t go wrong!
I need to spend some time really experimenting. I’ve been using the same drum micing technique for ages now. It would be good to spend a day just seeing what my mics and drums can do.
My room has a pretty low ceiling and when I would record drums the cymbals would usually end up sounding harsh. Eventually I tried putting both ‘overheads’ low, (about 5′ off the floor) and behind the kit. One points between the high hat and snare. The other points at the ride. I adjust a little for phase and pan the mics so that the snare is center. It looks completely wrong, but it works like a charm.
Nice work.
How inspirational and freeing was that video? Great example of the Occam’s razor theory.
Exactly. http://therecordingrevolution.com/2013/07/29/stop-looking-for-complex-solutions-in-the-studio/
Great article as usual Graham! Got me to thinking…
Like another poster, I’ve got fairly low ceilings, and was never too thrilled with the sound of my overhead tracks. Based on a suggestion from a book I was reading, I placed a couple of mics about 7 feet out in front of the kit, about 7 feet apart from each other, and pointing back at the outside edges of the kit (my kit is about 7 feet wide). As the book said, it almost looks like you’re miking the wall behind the kit rather than the kit itself! In any case, I so preferred the sound of these tracks that I’ve often used them instead of the tracks from the overhead mics, and in some cases, I didn’t even bother to set up any mics in the more traditional overhead fashion.
Another cool trick with this technique is to try this same setup with a pair of omni or figure-8 mics to pick up more room sound, or use a pair of cardioid mics pointing AWAY from the kit instead of towards it (which picks up almost all room and little direct sound), and pair these with a pair of more conventionally-placed overheads.
Very cool.
We had too much bounce off the ceiling with a full jazz kit even tho the ceiling was not super low, just hard material. I made a 5 by 5 ft. square of light weight materials and stuck auralex on it. Suspended from the ceiling over the kit. It was pretty cheap except for the auralex and really works.
Great article as usual Graham.
I’ve been using the Glyn Johns method for a while now and I am really enjoying the results that I’m getting. At some point I may go back to mic’ing the toms individually again, but reducing the number of microphones I’m using has giving me more time to work on mic position and also makes for a more focused approach to recording and mixing.
Currently I am using the following set up in my home studio:
Kick: AKG D112
Snare: Shure SM57
Overheads: MXL 840’s
Oddball mic review:
The 840’s were my “for now” solution that turned out to not only be a great buy ($150 for the SDC pair with shock mounts), but they also sound really good. In addition to working as drum overheads, I’ve also paired one up with my Rode NT2A for recording acoustic guitars. If you’re just starting out and building your mic locker, these MXL 840’s deserve a look.
Great post!!!!
I do my own recording in a small room 12′ x 14′ and my gear let me track 12 tracks at the same time
I usually use the Glyn Johns and the recorderman combined with close mic on toms bottom snare hi hat sub kick and room and so far so god
Beta52 inside kick
Home made sub kick
Sm57 on toms snare and hihats
Samson 2xC02 and C01 (I will replace this for rode’s next month)
Thank you so much for the great article. Loved it !
-Arnab Shahriar
I thought of this article in my home studio earlier today when I was experiencing horrendous problems mic-ing up my friend’s strummed acoustic guitar – everything I was trying either sounded brittle and “tinny”, or boomy, just a really ugly sound.
I probably spent a good half an hour trying out standard methods that have worked for me on other guitar recordings and nothing was making a difference. In desperation, I dispensed with one of the two mic’s I was using and left myself with just the mic I’m most familiar with, which is my first condenser mic – a Rode NT2-A.
I engaged one of the mic’s hi-pass filters and also a -10db rolloff and then tried the mic in all sorts of bizarre places…at one point I actually had the mic BELOW the guitar pointing UPWARDS at the lower bout! What I finally ended up with was the mic looking down at the guitar off-axis – imagine positioning an LDC so that it’s pointing at the floor about two feet in front of the guitarist, and then adjusting it upwards so that it’s pointed at the guitar about a 90 degree angle – that was basically it!
I have NO IDEA why this worked, but it gave the most amazing, smooth tonal response I’ve managed to get out of this particular guitar and this particular guitarist when strumming. Which kind-of reinforces the point of this blog post – use your ears and be creative! 🙂
I’d still love to know why that placement worked so well, though… 🙂
Whatever works!
I always measure the distance to the centre of the snare when I’m doing overheads. A $2 blackspur measuring tape is more accurate than even the smartest sound engineer’s guesstimate.
Low cost good mics:
Dynamic: SM57
Condenser: Line Audio CM3
Ribbon: TMC AM3
Mid range cost mics:
Dynamic: e906 (good for toms & Guitar)
Condenser: SM81/Octiva 012
Ribbon: Vin-Jet, RM-5
And pick a kick:
B52: pre scooped for rock
D12: Classic kick
D112: clicky, poor copy of D12
AT ATM-25 nice balance of everything
D6 Modern metal kick sound-clicky
e904 Most popular church kick mellow
PR-40: very in phase clean and hard. Brutally honest sound
Used frequently 20 years ago: SM7B, RE20, MD421
Old classics: RE-20, SM7B,