Drum Micing (Part II)

This time we’re picking up where we left off last issue – some basics on micing drums.  We looked at overheads and the snare mics so this time we’ll focus on the bass drum.

Before we move on, since we’re dealing with multiple microphones, phase can be an issue.  We’ll cover phase more thoroughly in another edition but the principle is this – two or more mics on a single sound source can be out of phase with each other creating a weak or sometimes strange sound when combined.  To avoid this (as in the case of the following bass drum micing process) you should place the second mic a minimum of 3 times the distance from the source as the first mic.  3 to 1 – if the first mic is 6 inches off the source, the second mic should be at least 18 inches away.  Now, on to some micing…

 The bass drum is not very difficult to mic but you can get a variety of sounds from it depending on what you want for the song.  Typically, a mic like an AKG D112 or Shure Beta 52 make good candidates and are well-proven but other dynamic mics will work well here too as long as they have a good frequency response in the lower range.  For a good ratio of the beater “click” to drum tone, put the mic in the drum a few inches from the head where the beater makes contact.  Point the mic slightly angled away from the impact point off-center.  From here you can move the mic forward or back depending on how much of the click impact you want in the sound.  A second mic can also be used and placed on the outside of the drum anywhere from several inches to a couple feet away.  A condenser with good SPL handling can be used here as well as a variety of dynamic mics.  By mixing these two mics, observing the 3 to 1 rule between them and making minor adjustments in distance on each you can obtain good results for most styles of music and have a nice blend of low-end thump and beater impact.

There are some other interesting things you can do to mic a bass drum.  Yamaha makes a mic called the SubKick and it works to pick up the very low frequencies of the drum.  It works well as the second mic placed outside the front of the drum.  You can make your own version of this mic by taking a 6” or 8” speaker (like a woofer from a stereo system) and wiring the + connection to pin 2 on an XLR mic cable and the – connection to pin 3.  The pin 1 connection of the XLR can be grounded to the speaker frame.  If you can get this mounted to a stand and place it in front of the bass drum you’ll be amazed at the low end thump it provides.  Note that you may have to attenuate/pad the signal as the output of this contraption is quite hot. 

As always, the preceding is just a general guide – the best results might involve some experimentation and of course, a good sound starts with a good sound source, in this case, a well-tuned bass drum.