how many drum mics

[LiL em]

Hey, I was wondering how many drum mics do you think I need for a live performance. I have

Bass Drum
Floor Tom
Two Other Toms
Snare
2 ride cymbals on each side
and ofcourse my high hats

[T. Alan Smith]

Greetings,

What you need for drum mics depends on at least a couple factors. First and most obvious, your budget. Second, what type of gigs you are playing.

I'll just detail you in on how I did it:

I'm primarily a bassist/composer. I knew I wanted a nice studio someday so when my band decided that they were tired of renting mics I stepped up to the plate. I knew I wanted to own the mics for my studio in the future.

Turns out it worked out very well. The mics I bought saw very little road life.

Anyway, on to what I bought...

I wanted to go with proven mics that engineers would be comfortable with, but I DID make one exception, and I'll get to that in a moment.
>Shure SM57 for snare(industry standard)
>three EV 408B's for toms(popular where I come from)
>CAD E100 for kick!

The CAD was the "special mic." I read that it was killer for live kick and a great general-purpose studio mic. So instead of a D112, for example, I spurged an extra $100 for a better mic. -I DO have to say: It IS killer on the BD and has proven a fine mic in the studio.

Now, I should fill you in on the band situation: We were a small town cover band. We played in taverns and small clubs. We DID do a lot of outdoor work in the summer though. As you can see we miked everything but the cymbals-which cut through ayway. I was planning on getting Audio Technica Pro37R's for the cymbals, so keep those in mind as well.

Hope this helps,

T. Alan

[cooldrums]

4 mics, 3 in a pinch.

dynamics on the kick, snare
condensers on the 2 overheads.
(1 overhead in a pinch)

with good placement this will sound great.