Right, so I think someone on hear referred to the Glyn Johns' technique before but never really went into much detail. I reckoned I'd make a little guide as I've been pleasantly surprised by the results of using it. This won't give you processed metal drums, but if you like a nice acoustic sound, you can't go wrong with this.
Glyn Johns was a famous producer in the 70's who worked with The Rolling Stones, Zeppelin, Beatles, Eagles, Satriani, Blue Oyster Cult, to name a few. He invented a very simple drum miking technique, which if used in a good room with a good drummer and decent and tuned kit, yields fantastic results.
Here's what you need:
2 overheads and a kick drum mic. Thats all! Effective overheads are large diaphragm condenser mics and use a proper kick mic.
Mic placement:
You place the kick drum mic in the kick drum and move it round/use padding until you're satisfied. Then you place one of the overheads above the hihat/snare, pointing towards the snare and the other next to the ride/floor tom. I pointed it slightly down towards the tom but generally you want it pointing across the surface of the tom, towards the snare. Both mics have to be the exact same distance from the snare to avoid phasing issues. This placement will result in a 90 degree angle. Check out the picture below:
Thats it! While recording, you can experiment by inverting the phase on the different mics to fix phase issues. I ended up having to invert one of the overheads, resulting in a much fuller sound. You can also experiment by adding a room mic placed far away from the kit and an sm57 on the snare, for more control if you're afraid of mixing drums with only 3 mics. Glyn Johns frequently incorporated these two extra mics.
For these drums I used a Rode NT-2a on the ride/floor tom OH, a Rode K2 on the snare/hihat OH, an AKG D112 for the kick drum, an sm57 on the snare and (if I remember correctly) an AKG C414 for the room mic. Here's the setup (with all the mics):
Overhead 1 (+ snare mic):
Overhead 2:
Kick drum:
Here's the raw, unedited clip with the original 3 mic Glyn Johns technique (all faders at 0):http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4299941/Glyn%20Johns%20Original%20Mics.mp3
Same + snare and room mics: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4299941/Glyn%20Johns%20Original%20%2B%20Room%20and%20Snare.mp3
After mixing (all mics): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4299941/Glyn%20Jonhs%20All%20Mics%20Edited.mp3
As you can hear, you can get some great drums sounds with a simple setup. Good for people on a budget or pros who want a nice, acoustic sounding kit. They can be mixed much drier but I like the ambience the room mic gives.
Hope this was helpful, cheers.
Glyn Johns was a famous producer in the 70's who worked with The Rolling Stones, Zeppelin, Beatles, Eagles, Satriani, Blue Oyster Cult, to name a few. He invented a very simple drum miking technique, which if used in a good room with a good drummer and decent and tuned kit, yields fantastic results.
Here's what you need:
2 overheads and a kick drum mic. Thats all! Effective overheads are large diaphragm condenser mics and use a proper kick mic.
Mic placement:
You place the kick drum mic in the kick drum and move it round/use padding until you're satisfied. Then you place one of the overheads above the hihat/snare, pointing towards the snare and the other next to the ride/floor tom. I pointed it slightly down towards the tom but generally you want it pointing across the surface of the tom, towards the snare. Both mics have to be the exact same distance from the snare to avoid phasing issues. This placement will result in a 90 degree angle. Check out the picture below:
Thats it! While recording, you can experiment by inverting the phase on the different mics to fix phase issues. I ended up having to invert one of the overheads, resulting in a much fuller sound. You can also experiment by adding a room mic placed far away from the kit and an sm57 on the snare, for more control if you're afraid of mixing drums with only 3 mics. Glyn Johns frequently incorporated these two extra mics.
For these drums I used a Rode NT-2a on the ride/floor tom OH, a Rode K2 on the snare/hihat OH, an AKG D112 for the kick drum, an sm57 on the snare and (if I remember correctly) an AKG C414 for the room mic. Here's the setup (with all the mics):
Overhead 1 (+ snare mic):
Overhead 2:
Kick drum:
Here's the raw, unedited clip with the original 3 mic Glyn Johns technique (all faders at 0):http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4299941/Glyn%20Johns%20Original%20Mics.mp3
Same + snare and room mics: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4299941/Glyn%20Johns%20Original%20%2B%20Room%20and%20Snare.mp3
After mixing (all mics): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4299941/Glyn%20Jonhs%20All%20Mics%20Edited.mp3
As you can hear, you can get some great drums sounds with a simple setup. Good for people on a budget or pros who want a nice, acoustic sounding kit. They can be mixed much drier but I like the ambience the room mic gives.
Hope this was helpful, cheers.
