Drum Microphone Placement Techniques

The first time that you place microphones on a drum set can be difficult. There are many questions that you might ask yourself. What microphones should I use? How many microphones should I use? Are they too far? Are they too close? Are they in phase? These are just a few of the many questions that might run through your mind.

Fortunately, there’s a lot of great information available from fantastic engineers that have mastered the art of capturing a great drum sound.

Today I have a supercut of 3 tutorials from our premium Pro Mix Academy courses.

The first one features Matt Weiss of the Pro Audio Files and drummer Matt Starr. Matt walks you through several different overhead mic placement techniques and Matt Starr demonstrates what they sound like. For many genres the overheads capture a complete picture of the kit, and so mastery of this placement can be what makes your drums sound the best that they can.

Second, L.A. Session drummer, Blair Sinta, walks you through the mic setup he uses in his studio. Blair tracks a lot of sessions for many different artists from his home studio- I wanted you to see this clip as it directly applies to the situation many of you will find yourself in recording at home.

Lastly, Bob Horn and Erik Reichers walk us through their complete drum recording setup. They give us detailed insight into the microphones they are using and their full signal flow.  What is great about this tutorial is that their entire kit is mic’d up with many affordable mics and the result sounds great! Additionally, they walk through all of the EQ and processing that they apply during the recording phase. I think committing to sounds on the way in is incredibly important, and Bob and Erik detail it in this video on recording drums.