Drums can also be very difficult to record. If you have a four track you may want to use an additional mixer to run all the mic's from the drums into and then mix the results of the sub-mixer into one or two tracks.
Some people
feel that you really can't record drums with less then three mic's, but in reality there are no rules. Led Zeppelin is famous for using minimal mic'ing techniques, and is also know for getting some of the best drum sounds ever recorded.
For most people, one mic in the kick, and two mic's positioned
overhead will give good results. If you have a fairly large mixer, and/or a large number of tracks, consider using at least 6 or 8 mic's.
For example, place a mic in the kick (two kicks? use one mic for each), one pointed at the snare, one or two for the mounted toms, one or two for floor toms, and at least two overhead mic's.
A standard technique for mixing drums involves turning off all the mic's except the overhead, listening to the kit
through those mic's, and making the kit sound good with those mic's only.
This may involve moving the mic's around until you find a good spot (a good balance between the sound of the room and the sound of the drums), or adding
some EQ control.
Once these mic's sound good, bring up the kick mic and
balance to taste. Once these three mic's sound good together, bring up the remaining mic's only a little bit. Overall, you should be hearing the room mic's most of all, with the kick mic fairly prominent in the center. The other mic's are used primarily to bring in a little of the sound of the stick impacting with the drum head - the "snap" of the kit.
A common error is for people to mix drums the other way around. They bring up the individual drum mic's first, and then bring in the room mic's.
While there are no rules in recording, you're likely to be happier with the first method. As always, be
sure to experiment to taste!!
Some mic's that are suggested for drum mic'ing are: AKG D112 or EV-RE 20 - kick drum
