At Long Last
Having covered all of the theory on drum reinforcement for the last several issues, we can now get to specific microphone choices, how we use them, and other microphone-related techniques.
Snare
Mount the snare microphone from the rear and point it towards the drummer’s gut or slightly to the left of the drummer, depending on obstacles. Keep the microphone capsule close to the rim of the drum, extended perhaps one to three inches over the drum and angled down a bit towards the head. The two concerns we have are: 1) ensuring that the microphone pickup pattern is directed towards the most often hit strike point, and; 2) minimizing bleed from the hi-hat. With a cardioid microphone, it sometimes makes sense to aim the snare microphone down at a sharp angle towards the center of the drum head. This results in the hi-hat being at the rear of this microphone’s pickup pattern, where it will not be picked up and reinforced. If using a supercardioid or hypercardioid microphone, aim it across the snare drum so that the rear lobe on the microphone is pointed away from (below) the hi-hat.
Remember that as you place and aim drum microphones, you should take the time to evaluate the results by listening to what the microphone is picking up from the front, off to the sides, and at the rear. I am not a fan of double-mic’ing the snare drum (with the second microphone below the drum, pointed up towards the snare) partly because I really don’t wish to introduce yet another microphone into the mix. But this may be an effective technique. Just be aware of the polarity relationships between the two microphones and experiment (by listening to one and then both microphones) to establish whether the bottom microphone needs to be in or out of polarity with the top microphone. In almost all cases it needs to be out of polarity.
Most often, the best way to mount the snare microphone is with a short tripod stand and boom. Depending on how the kit is set up, you might be able to get by without the boom. My experience is that the snare drum is not a candidate for a clip-on microphone, mostly because this drum tends to get moved about and especially if you use different drummers from service to service. This invariably leads to the microphone cable getting caught, and as the snare drum is repositioned or moved, off comes the microphone.
The Shure SM57 is by far the most commonly used snare drum microphone because it almost always just plain sounds right. Its low cost, durability, and versatility only add to its value. Other very good alternatives are the Shure Beta 56A, Audix D2 or D3, and the Sennheiser MD421.
Rack Toms
These microphones should be positioned and aimed from the top rear of the rack toms. Larger and heavier microphones mandate using boom stands and should be positioned over the drum rim but not far in towards the center of the drum. Nowhere are small, clip-on condenser microphones more useful than on rack toms. These provide good pickup and sound quality, are less visible, and are less likely to get whacked.
In a pinch, one microphone can work well on two rack toms but requires experimentation for the best position, where both drums are equal in level. Separate microphones can, of course, better focus on each drum, thus allowing tweaking to maximize their individual sound and panning in a stereo reinforcement system.
Floor Toms
Position the microphone at the back edge of the drum and aimed slightly down towards the hit point. Use a short stand with boom. Be aware of the rear of the microphone and, depending on the type of cardioid pattern chosen, its relative position to the crash cymbal. In general, toms have significantly useful low frequency content, and the bigger the tom, the lower it goes. In the process of achieving a tom sound that has power and tone as well as definition, be sure that when setting channel EQ to also apply the high-pass filter. This filter helps to fine-tune the bass-boost provided by the cardioid microphone’s proximity effect. What we need to do is boost (or keep) the useful (musical) low frequency energy and remove the destructive garbage below.
For rack and floor toms, the Sennheiser MD421 works very well but (as noted earlier) cannot survive a direct hit. Also bear in mind that the MD421 features a lessthan- clearly labeled 3-position lo-cut filter switch. Read the manual and be certain of how you have set this switch. Other microphones that work very well with toms, and are comparatively more robust than the MD421, are the Electro-Voice (EV) N/D468 and N/D478, Audix D2 and D3, and the clip-on mics from Audix, AKG and Shure. Sennheiser E604’s are a good, robust, and cheap dynamic mic, ideally suited to the “young and the reckless.”
Note: there is no advantage whatsoever to mic’ing toms from the bottom head or from under the top head.
Hi-Hat
Stand-mount the microphone at the rear and point it down towards the bell of the upper cymbal, between the two cymbals or somewhere in between. Watch out for too much bell ring or blasts of compressed air as the hi-hat is closed. Avoid pointing the microphone towards the snare drum and toms, and use the hi-hat itself as a sound barrier from the snare drum if possible.
Overhead
These microphones are used primarily to pick up the ride and crash cymbals and to add to the spatial sound field in stereo reinforcement systems. Use tall boom stands with extra heavy bases. Experiment with placement and aiming to find the desired blend of direct cymbal pick-up and ambient drum pick-up.
Most often, a distance of at least 12-inches works well (don’t get too close). Consider positioning the two overhead microphones equidistant from the snare drum so that they do not smear the snare drum sound when they are combined with one another into a common mix buss. Also consider that the cymbals can effectively act as acoustic barriers between the overhead microphones and the drum kit below. Use this to your advantage.
Apply the channel high-pass filter (a.k.a: rumble filter, low-cut filter) to the overhead and hi-hat microphones to minimize reinforcement of the low-frequency components of the drums and rumble from various other leaked sound sources. 200 Hz should be the minimum filter corner frequency. You can employ the lo-cut filter switch that is provided on many condenser microphones in addition to the channel high-pass filters.
A good quality condenser cardioid microphone is the preferred choice for both hi-hat and overhead microphone duty. Among the proven standards are: AKG C451, C535EB and C1000S, Shure SM81, Audio-Technica AT 4051 and Neumann KM84. Be aware that the original AKG C451 is somewhat fragile. The new version (C451B) may be more robust. I’m using and specifying some more recently developed condenser cardioids including the Earthworks SR77 and the Shure KSM 137, KSM 109 or KSM 770. If I have the budget and my client is interested in the best possible equipment, I will choose either DPA 4011or Schoeps CM4 condensers for this application. The Crown CM 700 is also a very goodsounding inexpensive cardioid condenser microphone. To date, I have not heard a good cymbal pickup or packaged cymbal microphone system.
Kick Drum
How the kick drum gets mic’d depends on how the heads are configured. In general, for pop and contemporary worship music styles, there is either no rear head or there is a rear head with a hole cut into it specifically for microphone placement. Either configuration allows the microphone to be boommounted and positioned within the shell and close to the beater head, which results in percussive definition from the beater along with good bottom end. Always place the microphone off-center inside the kick drum for more “body” and overtones. A hole that is too small in diameter restricts microphone placement.
If the kick drum has a rear head with no hole (as is fairly common with jazz drummers), there is no choice but to point the microphone in toward this head and keep it off center. The resulting reduction of beater definition is usually acceptable for this style of music. The AKG D112 is the most commonly used kick drum microphone, bar none. It can sound great, is not excessively priced, and is very robust. The EV RE20 (which is also a large-diaphragm capsule), the Sennheiser MD421, and Beyer’s M88 can also work very well. There are several new microphones developed over the past decade specifically for kick drums, and some may be worth trying.
Another type of microphone to be aware of is the boundary microphone, in the shape of a metal plate with the microphone capsule mounted on one side. Boundary microphones were developed to be affixed to a boundary such as a stage floor, and they do not work well suspended in the air. Therefore, they must be laid on a blanket or pillow and close to the bottom of the kick drum shell in order to achieve reasonable low frequency reinforcement. These microphones also tend to provide exaggerated high frequency response, which results in accentuated beater “click”. The Shure Beta 91 is one such product.
A brief mention of drum microphone kits may be in order. These are becoming more prevalent and may offer some cost savings. If your church sound staff or music ministry is simply not able to deal with drum-by-drum microphone selection, then this may be the way to go. Personally, I think you’ll do better by carefully choosing individual microphones.
Alternative Hardware
Microphone clamps provide an attractive alternative for positioning the microphone close to the source and with minimal clutter. As with stands and booms, don’t buy cheap or you will be hampered with falling and moving microphones, resulting in a drawer full of useless parts. Please note that even hardware that is as simple and “low-tech” as microphone clips deserve to be treated with respect. It’s real simple: cheap plastic clips break and the resulting damage to your $200.00 (+) microphone negates the few dollars you saved by not buying good ones to begin with. So buy name brand clips and not music store bargains. They just last longer.
Butterfly microphone clips may work well with lightweight condensers, but will not secure heavier dynamic microphones such as an SM57. Shockmounting hardware that cradles the microphone with a flexible band suspension is expensive and does not reduce enough low-frequency rumble to justify its cost. It’s far better to employ the channel high-pass filter and ensure that your platform floor is solid.
A Few Closing Notes
I hope that the underlying message of this article has been clearly understood: reinforcing drums is fairly complicated and relies on a clear understanding of how the microphones behave and how to best employ them. What you feed into the microphones (a good quality drum set that is tuned properly) and what you feed the microphones into (a carefully designed reinforcement system) are just as important as what microphones you choose. The more we understand the technical aspects of all of this, the better the sound will be.
Thanks to Bill Thrasher (Reverend Billy Graham’s sound designer/mixer and respected sound system designer), Mark Frink (monitor mixer for Joni Mitchell and k.d. lang and live sound editor at Mix Magazine), Curt Taipale (sound mixer, sound system designer, and host of churchsoundcheck.com) and Paul Tucci (journeyman live sound mixer and Smaart measurement maven) plus the SynAudCon listserv for their input on recommended drum microphones and microphone technique.
Recommended Reading:
Drumset Tuning Theory by Tony R Adams at: www.tadrums.com.
The Microphone Book by John Eargle (Focal Press)
