Halfway-Overhead drum mics?

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Matt Duncan

Freshman
May 9, 2011
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Concord, NC
I've seen a few setups with a couple LDCs placed around 1' or less in front of the drum kit, usually even with or just above the cymbals...making them not overheads & not underheads either. I haven't been able to find any info on this mic technique relating to live audio. (might be my search terms, not sure)

Can anyone fill me in on some details? Pros/Cons/personal experience/etc?

Thanks!
 
Re: Halfway-Overhead drum mics?

Thanks for the reply Jay. I've seen that thread before, but thats not the technique I'm talking about. I've attached a screen cap for reference.

Screen Shot 2013-06-27 at 4.45.10 PM.png
 
Re: Halfway-Overhead drum mics?

Done this in the studio depending on the drum kit and style. Cymbals are sometimes wierd if mics at that level and close see the cymbal swing above and below the mics pattern.
 
Re: Halfway-Overhead drum mics?

For jazzy drummers with lots of dynamic range, you can't rely on noise gates for separation, so placement becomes more critical.
The mic placement in post #3 would increase separation between the left cymbal and hi-hat and snare which are in an acoustical "shadow" created by the cymbal.

The same high frequency "shadow" might be separating the right cymbal from the floor tom, if there is a floor tom.

Placing the mics forward also increases the separation simply from an inverse distance standpoint, this placement could afford around 10 dB more separation than typical "overhead" placement, reducing the crosstalk and phase differential between mics acoustically by about half.

The forward placement also tends to line up better with the kick mic, for ballads when you might only want kick and OH for a more natural sound everything is slightly more real when acoustic path length differences are reduced.
 
Re: Halfway-Overhead drum mics?

Thanks y'all. Art, everytime I've seen this setup, its been with large diaphragm condensers....is there a reason for this other than your typical reasons for using a ldc instead of a sdc?
 
Re: Halfway-Overhead drum mics?

'Cuz no one listens to a drum set from the position of traditional overhead mics?

I tried something similar to the photo in post#3 one night, years ago, with AKG C414s, only because the headliner had used up every boom stand I had, and the support act was whining for overheads, so this was something I could do with straight stands. I thought it worked quite well and it was something I kept in my bag of tricks from then on.
 
Re: Halfway-Overhead drum mics?

Matt Duncan said:
Thanks y'all. Art, everytime I've seen this setup, its been with large diaphragm condensers....is there a reason for this other than your typical reasons for using a ldc instead of a sdc?
Click to expand...
I have often done similar set ups using SDC for the same reasons I described in #7.
LDC are even more sensitive than SDC, so the same reasons for the position are even more important.

Some drummers are consistent in level for every piece of kit, others are cymbal or snare heavy, and physical drum set up varies widely, so there are no "one size fits all" drum mic position solutions.
 
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