Recording a Drum Kit

The Kick Drum

To record a Kick Drum, we placed an AKG D112 Dynamic Microphone inside the drum through the sound hole. We placed the microphone so that it was about and inch away from the skin of the drum where the beater strikes. This allows us to pick up the "clicking" sound of the beater when it hits the drum. The reason we used this microphone is because it has a very large diaphragm which allows it to better pick up sounds with lower frequencies due to their larger wavelengths. The cardioid polar pattern of the D112 also allows it to pick up the "boom" of the drum since it can pick up sound from everywhere except the back.

The Snare

For the Snare drum, we used two separate SM57 Dynamic microphones - one for the top of the drum (the skin) and another for the bottom (the snare). This allowed us to record each sound individually so that we can later mix how much of each sound we want in the mixing process. The SM57 is suitable for this job because it can handle louder sounds with it being dynamic and rugged, and because it has a cardioid polar pattern which will allow it to reduce some of the sound that is spilled over from other parts of the drum kit.

The Toms

For the three Toms, we used a D40 Dynamic microphone for each drum that will be used. After making sure which Toms are going to be used by the drummer, we mounted the D40's on clamps that fasten to the rim of the drum, and we pointed them towards the center of the drum skin. These microphones can withstand much louder sounds than condenser microphones, which makes them perfect for recording the Toms.

Overheads

In addition to recording each different part of the drum kit, we also used two tall, extendable microphone stands to have two AKG C430 Condenser microphones hanging over each half of the drum kit, pointing down. These microphones allow us to record the sound of each side of the drum kit, including the cymbals. The C430s are suitable for this job because they, since they are condensers, have a high sensitivity and can therefore pick up sounds from far away and have no need to be close to the sound source where they are more likely to be damaged.