One of my favorite drum microphone setups for recording. This method has been heard in recordings from Led Zeppelin, The Who to Eric Clapton. What I like about it is that it conveys a warm almost live sound to your drum tracks.
My setup:
4 microphones
- Kick Drum: Beta 52
- Snare: SM 57
- Overhead: Nuemann u87
- Overhead: Nuemann u87
- Place the mic at the edge of the drum just above the hoop and aimed at the center of the head.
- Place the first overhead mic directly over the snare, about three or four feet above the drum.
** The second overhead gets placed on the outside of the drummer’s floor tom. The mic should be a little higher than the top of the floor tom and lower than the cymbals.
** One of the keys to this is to make sure both mics are the exact same distance from the center of the snare drum.
Video:
