Mic types & placement

Snare Drum Recording Techniques

Introduction

In today's lesson, we'll focus on microphone placement for recording the snare drum.

Snare Drum Mic Placement

• Choosing the Mic: We're using the SM57 for the snare drum.

• Positioning:

  • Place the mic between the hi-hat and the snare.
  • Ensure it doesn't interfere with the positioning of the drums.

• Mic Diaphragm Location:

  • Position the diaphragm near the rim of the snare drum.

• Angle Adjustment:

  • Tilted Down:
    • Captures more resonance and ringing of the snare.
  • Flat Angle:
    • Points straight at the center of the head to capture more attack and 'twack' from the stick hitting the head.

• Experimentation:

  • You can experiment with mic angles to find your preferred sound based on the track you are recording.
  • I usually keep it fairly flat to maximize the attack from the stick.

Bottom Snare Mic Placement

• Positioning:

  • Position the mic underneath the snare to capture the snares properly.

• Distance:

  • Maintain the same distance from the drum as the top mic.

• Microphone Settings:

  • Ensure it's set to cardioid and do not add the pad; keep the full frequency response.
  • If needed, set a 20 dB pad, especially since we're going to hit the drum hard for this track.

• Angle Adjustment:

  • Angling the mic can affect the sound:
    • More angled will provide a toppy sound.
    • Flat with a slight upward angle will capture more low-end frequencies.

• Snare Position:

  • Move the snare so the snares are close to the mic.
  • Position the mic in a way that it captures the sound of the snares effectively.

Hi-Hat Mic Placement

• Purpose:

  • This mic captures the sound of the hi-hat while avoiding bleed from other drums and cymbals.

• Positioning:

  • Point the mic directly down, positioned around the edge of the hi-hat.

• Bleed Avoidance:

  • Angle the mic away from the hi-hat as much as possible.
  • Note that some bleed into the snare mic is unavoidable.

Overheads

• We'll now move on to discuss the overhead mic placement.

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Feel free to adjust the settings and angles based on the sound you wish to achieve!