How To Record Drums with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 Microphones with Brian Deck | Reverb How To Record

Mic'ing up a drum kit can be a challenge. But with the help of producer/engineer Brian Deck, we tackle the challenge and offer some quick tips to getting started.

Recording at home or in your practice space requires reconciling what is usually a small number of inputs on your recording interface, so Brian started by showing a great way to get a punchy, present drum sound with just one microphone—contrary to what you might think, it is possible.

With so many pieces to account for in the kit, adding microphones is a necessity to achieve a full, robust drum sound. As we added more mics to the setup, we always checked the phase relationship between any two microphones, something you’ll need to consider and dealt with to make the best sounding tracks possible.

As always, this is a launching point, a guide to getting started recording drums. Every song and player you work on will require you to approach things differently to serve the song and make it special. Always experiment, never settle for anything less than what your ears perceive is great, and always, always check phase.

[TheSteveSteele]

That crash has the fastest decay I’ve ever heard.

[JugaJuga]

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.

[bluebandaid]

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.

[eduardomarcel]

I love the fact that I feel like Michael Scott is teaching me how to records drums

[modernmusicstudio]

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!

[AudioEcstasyProd]

The mono omni 1 mic technique has been a life saver for countless sessions!

[ryancandelario]

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.

[neilsachs]

Fantastic video. No extra chatter. Just straight up teaching and great info. Perfect.

[Leiria]

Wish the drum beat lasted longer. Still great video

[codypower]

surprisingly good sound from the one mi

[palesummer]

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!

[Meltedcheese]

How do you record drums with zero mics

[littlejanela]

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.

[Cam_B]

I think the one mic setup with omni direction and just adding a kick mic would be perfect for the least expensive route.

[Dsn]

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.

[MrStooriani]

I subscribed purely because of the intro.

[jonahpaz.]

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

[scrummyvision]

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!

[MarkyPaligs]

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

[darkhell]

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