Basic Drum Miking: The Overheads

[MichaelDBauer]

Absolutely the best OH mic video I've seen. Informative and to the point without being too long.

[AudioTechnicaUSA]

To Nuggets - On a spaced pair setup it’s not about being directly “above” the snare it’s about the two mics being the same distance from the snare. A good starting point would be to have them pointing directly down. From there you can angle or tilt the mics to even out the sound if necessary. 
 
A simple way to check and make sure all the cymbals are even is to have the drummer hit each cymbal, one after another, and listen to make sure the volumes are consistent. If they aren’t then you can angle the nearest overhead microphone slightly towards the cymbal with less volume. Just make sure the snare stays in the middle! 

Thanks for watching! - A-T USA

[harveylopezt]

For comparison:
Spaced 0:56
Spaced Lower 1:14
XY 2:26
ORTF 3:03

[perpetualgrimace]

Ha, he went full cheese at the end there. Either way, this is super helpful. It's between spaced and ORTF for me.

[sanctuary]

When it comes to studio recording, overhead spaced miking is the best way to go.

[FinnMaxwell]

Any post processing on the mics afterwards? Listening through headphones, ortf gave best separation to my ears 

[GabrielGarcia-nbzp]

Loved AT's videos- so simple and to the point. I am doing a Neo Soul full band recording today and thinking of doing the spaced pair with closer miking using KSM 144's. What do yall think?

[MrNickDrummer]

Question: Should the ORTF be positioned behind the drummer, above the snare or above the cymbals? How high? Old but great video! I'm using AT-3035s.

[jenshendriks]

Wow, did you just use the space music of Kerbal Space Program as the outro?

[dontbethatguy]

These are very nice and I guess sabes you a lot from buying 5+ mics...
The only downside is the kick is absolutely taken out of any set up used here, as the cymbals completely overshadow it.

Great video!

[PuertaAbierta]

Awesome videos!!! Thank you SO MUCH, they are GREAT!!

[gutbucket]

I have two AT 3035's. Would these be a good setup for micing my drum kit? I have two toms up and two toms down, high hat, 20"ride, 16"crash and 18" ride/crash.

[mattshay]

Hi there, I am in desperate need of help! I'll be doing my first ever live show soon. I've never recorded drums or any type of music before. What do I need to mic my live show? What do I need to power the mics and or plug them into an amplifier? Is it okay to just use overheads for a live show? (I'm only a teenager so I am on a TIGHT budget)

[CityStomperMedia]

How does the "room sound" affect the preferred placement of the overheads? I'm recording my kit in a basement and I don't have any real place to put recording foam on the walls, or hang a blanket near the kit. I find that my toms and kick always get lost under the cymbals resonating.

[ChrisYoungers]

I would be interested in what pre-amps they were using here.

[bellanorazik]

Hi ! When you use two microphones, do you use each of them in mono or one for the left ear, the other one for the right ear ?

[quentinjames]

Is the kit only miced with overheads or is there a kick as well?

[HeavyDude]

I have a question: If a try to keep them equally away from the snare, the left one will be more far away from the whole kit, while the right one will already by over the toms and over the ride cymbal. In this video it seems like the overhead on the snare side is a bit higher then the other one. So could you also keep them, let's say one meter away from the snare, but in different highs? So that one is nearer to the kid and the other higher but nevertheless both have the same distance to the snare?

[NeverOctober_]

I have a question for you, if I'm using a spaced pair of microphones and I'm just trying to capture more of the symbols what do you think a good starting height above the symbols would be and how close together should the microphones be? I know they have to be equal distance from the snare, but when I am recording do I adjust my input level so they match each other on the meter?

[jonahpaz.]

Can somebody suggest budget overhead stands?