Capturing a great drum kit recording is a challenge, even for the most experienced engineers. If many inputs, preamps, and microphones are available to you, it might be helpful to use a complex mic setup to capture all elements of the kit well. But what if you only have one microphone? What if you only have a simple 1 or 2 channel audio interface? Do you need to go out and buy a bunch of new equipment to record good drums? Not necessarily.
Today’s video covers just one of the ways you can get a balanced and punchy drum kit recording using only one microphone. As you may have guessed, where you place it is key. Let’s take a look…
[The following is a clip from my REthink Drums video tutorial series]
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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. 
I’ve been recording drums for 20+ years Graham… I’ve never thought about putting the mic there… sounds really good too!
I’ll be trying that next time!
Man, you think outside the box… way outside… I love it.
Thanks Kevin! I never thought it would work…but it does!
Great video on single micing! Do you have any info on phasing issues with two mics on drums Graham, i.e. kick drum and overhead. I have heard about the 3 to 1 idea for two mics, i.e. that as long as your overhead is more than 3 times the distance to sound source compared to the kick drum you should be ok. That would be pretty much normal right as long as your kick drum was close miced. Thanks
Hey! Nice technique… WOukld this work using a Beyerdynamic M160 (Hypercard mic pattern) mic?
Try it and see 🙂
Good stuff Graham, so glad I could help with these videos! Can’t wait to check out the full boot camp!
Hi Graham
very intersting. What polar pattern did you use?
Cardioid.
Graham that was AWESOME! Next time someone ask me “dude you know how to mic up drums?” I am going to say “SURE DO”, and when they see I use one mic and get great results at first they are going to think I am crazy but then when they hear it They are going to flip their wigs lol That is so simple without miking up every freaking drum in a kit. Thanks
I really loved this video! Thanks.
Woah – that’s awesome! Thanks for sharing bro. Will definitely have a crack – here’s to keeping things simple….
🙂
Cheers
tom
I’m about to watch this video for the first time so I might be jumping the gun by asking this question, but wouldn’t drums normally be recorded in stereo? If they are recorded in Mono then how will they sound full?
I will watch the video and I might be retracting this question…. I hope 🙂
Drums haven’t always been recorded in stereo. In fact a mono drum sound can be great for being focused and clear in the mix. But yes, this won’t be a stereo recording.
Panned Center?
Yes. Just pan it center and you’re good to go!
I watched it,although its absolutely brilliant, my question still stands.
Based off of my first question, If I wanted to get the drums in stereo, would you recommend one mic the way you showed and an overhead? Or somewhere else?
I was wondering about copying this track to another one and panning (one to the left and one to the right). Then mixing the left track higher and the right track lower.
Do you think it’s gonna work?
A digital copy won’t make it sound stereo. So, no I wouldn’t do this.
Great drumming! that’s also the key.
Wow Graham this is great sounding room ! I can hear the reflections of the room like I am sitting there !
great technique ! I never tried to record in this way (*and I’ve recorded drums a dozen times)
thanks for the tip !
p.s
what is the mic that you are using (brand and model) just curious :+)
The mic was an Audix SCX1C. I believe it is included in their Elite 8 drum kit.
But that mic sounds really flat.. In a mic with a frequency response not so flat it sounds good? For an example I have a Rode NT1a.. How do you think that’s gonna sound? (I’ll try for sure, but I just want to know ur opinion =])..
Eric friend
just tried Graham’s 1 mic technique in my living room with my drums using exactly Rode NT1A and my Joemeek JM47a (sort of chip U47 lol) .
some details about the signal chain :
Recorded via Sound Craft Ghost Preamps , using Mogami cables (all the way Mogami from console to sound card) , using a simple [email protected] by ESI (less then 100$ sound card) .
you can hear in the recording that this room is not so big , but still have some nice reverberation .
the drum kit has not been retuned for this particular room (I am playing regularly at much smaller room) so it is not sound in it best 🙂 but still great for this demonstration …
the drum set is 1990’s Tama RM .
the two microphones where positioned in two different takes (so the groove is not identical sorry)
the position is as seen on Graham’s video …
One of the things that I’ve noticed that if the mic is too close to the ride cymbal you are getting boomy air sound into the capsule (I don’t think it will arm the mic , but be careful )
so I positioned the mic approximately 10cm away from the ride …
also another thing I need to mention , after removing the Mid Tom (the right one) you get a much open sound so try this to experiment …
all running into Logic Pro 9.1.7 DAW …
I uploaded the result for you all here in the recording revolution community so you could listen to the result …
you can download it from this link …
http://uploadmirrors.com/download/0FKJZVND/Archive.zip
great way to record the drums in a rehearsal situation ! tnx Graham for the tip 🙂
Thanks for posting!
Wowww awesome… Thanks a lot Avi and Graham for sure =)..
Wow – I hadn’t seen this video before, but a couple of weeks ago I tried this same maneuver based on a forum post about it being great for kind of and old-school Motown sound. I used an omni setting on my mic so I didn’t feel like I was leaving anything out and it was fantastic. But yours sounded so good with a cardioid pattern that I’m going to have to try a few different positions on my variable-pattern mic.
But this much is sure: with a 2nd mic on the kick, this is my favorite 2-channel drum setup.
Great idea to add a kick drum mic to this technique. Love it!
I forgot to mention the main reason that I like this technique: it is less affected by room sound than anything else I’ve tried. My basement has a low ceiling and so moving the mic down here means that anything reflecting off of the ceiling has lost some energy on the way down. And by bringing the skin heads closer, it really tames the cymbal-heavy sounds I get when I raise the overhead up. Like you say in the video – “punchy”.
Exactly. It’s great for people in real “home studios”.
If I’m not mistaken the drums on “Here are the Sonics!!!” was recorded like this.
Hi Graham!
This looks/sounds great!
I’m planning to try this out, but i’m wondering, how does this sound hold up in a mix(among guitars,bass etc..)?
Could you show us some piece of example of this drum sound in one of your mixes?
Thanks in advance, and kepp it up! 🙂
I hope to do that sometime soon. We’ll see!
Hi Graham!
Im from Brazil! I would love to know how to mix a drum, recorded with only one microphone. I dont now how to use EQ and compressor in this case. The sound of your record is amazing. I have one condenser and when i used this technique, the drum sounds very good. But i dont now how to make this better in the mix. Can you say me some tips?
Thank you very much! Congratulations!
Ivan
Hey Graham is it possible to do a video on how to miz this after your recording, im having trouble after trying this the other day
Check out a video that’s coming out this week on how I did something similar.
Hi Graham! u doing nice job .i like u becuse u change my life n recording my name is uttam sharma from darjeeling [india] mob no 9832366282 plz come darjeeling i waiting for u.uttamsharmacomposer @gmail.com
My child is the singer in a band consisting of four 8 to 13 year olds (we have a singer, drummer, keyboard player, and guitar player). They have only ever performed in relatively small areas (small gym, book store, banquet room, etc). We have never needed to mic the drums before. However, they may have an opportunity to play the National Anthem in a large baseball stadium and it became evident during the audition that we will need to mic the drums. Keeping it simple and not too expensive is key. The kids are doing a great job, but none of us parents are musically inclined and have little experience with rigging up equipment or knowledge of what is available. Basically we are plugging our small Peavy sound system into the stadium’s system. I am hoping maybe this technique for the drums will work for us. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Wow…
Thank you for this lesson
One question
What frequency is need (for mic)?
No right or wrong. Mic placement can affect how bright or dark the drums sound, but just use what you have to start.
Nice video,
For anyone worried about it being a mono drum sound I have an option you can try. Use an eq with a mid side mode, and eq the higher frequencies to the side, and the lower frequencies mid. Not truly stereo, but a nice effect.