Recording acoustic drums

[-mjk-]

I know what you're referring to. Unless you're in an isotropic environment, room reflections will always cause cancellations. The kick and snare are in physically different locations, so the only way that "same distance away" technique can work is on an arc that doesn't necessarily lend itself to recording overheads, especially cymbals. Since different audio frequencies travel through the air at different velocities, I'm not sure this technique is even worth pursuing. If it works for you, then by all means do it.

 

[BazzBass]

you are quite right,I've never tried this method but it kind of made sense to me. After buying the mics to record drums live, we've now decided to just use the e kit for simplicity and the fact we will record at night in my living room in an untreated room. Can't afford to go to a studio to record the acoustic kit. We got good results a couple of years ago doing this.The only thing miked will be vox and harmonica. Guitars and bass DId.

 

[-mjk-]

@BazzBass I've had the pleasure of listening to the multitracks of quite a few old Queen songs. Some of their biggest hits were recorded with 3 drum mics: Kick, and 2 overheads. The snare is never centered in those overheads, and even if it were, the kick drum and snare are not aligned to the center of the kit. So, you have to use your ears and improvise.

In Boston, I had a 16 foot ceiling, and 2 dolly stands that went right up to the top of the room. I used U-67s for my overheads, up as high as I could get them. That distance gave the drums a beautiful ambience and at the same time was far enough away from the cymbals to prevent them from splashing across the mic apertures with every hit. But, if you brought up those 2 mics soloed in the mix the snare would be off-center, naturally. I had to rely on the snare mic to keep the snare in the mix center and deal with the off center snare in the overheads by slightly panning the snare mic track to compensate for this.