Single kick setup with mics equidistant from snare...
Yes, distance A is longer than distance B. But distance C and distance D are the same! Might look like the one on the drummer's right is farther away but it's not, because the one on his left is raised higher, like I was saying. This is at jval's place and I know he measures from snare to overheads, so they are definitely equidistant.
And raising the mic doesn't change the direct/room ratio. We are comparing them to the SNARE. They are the SAME DISTANCE from the snare. So they are picking up the same (just about anyways) ratio of direct/room sound. If you left the mic on the drummer's left lower, it would be CLOSER to the snare, so then you would get an unbalance because the snare would sound more direct in that mic...
This isn't that complicated. Yes there are always compromises, it's never going to be perfect. But as long as the capsules are equidistant from the snare and pointed at pretty comparable angles, you are going to have your snare centered in the overheads. Ever heard of the Glynn John's method?
You know what that gives you? A snare right in the middle of your stereo image, because the mics are the same distance from the snare. This is an extreme example of what I am trying to explain about the height thing. You just have to make sure they are the same distance from the snare, ignore whether it is horizontally or vertically.
I don't know how many of the naysayers here actually are micing drums on a regular basis, but I will tell you in my experience, the left overhead is always higher than the right to compensate for the distance from the snare and my snare always sounds centered with no discernible difference in cymbal detail or room ambience between the left and ride sides.
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But again, I don't see why that would matter if you're hard-panning the OH's (and don't care about mono compatibility) Neither is desirable, but I think I'd prefer to sacrifice the mono comp. rather than an imbalance in room sound
