053 – Micing Drums for Live Sound
There are tons of options for how to mic a drum set. Here’s where I start.
Written by Scott Adamson
There are, of course, many ways to mic up a drum kit. It all depends on the size of the kit (which can include electronic elements) and even on the style of music being performed.
Each engineer will also have their own preferences with microphone choice and placement. Every mic has a unique sound; I certainly have my go-to mics for specific applications. Again, the style of music makes a difference here.
For a simple 4-piece drum set (kick, snare, rack tom, floor tom, hi-hats, crash/ride cymbals), in a rock band, at a medium-sized club (400 cap), I find that I usually get what I need with 8 channels. In this video, I go through that set up and show you how I place the mics on the drums:
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I’ll definitely change up this configuration depending on the show. Sometimes I’ll want an additional kick drum mic, or I’ll add a dedicated ride cymbal mic, or I’ll be in a tiny club and lose the overhead mics. As always, we have to be flexible as sound engineers!
