Double-duty Drum Miking

Lots of engineers like to record both the top and the bottom heads of a drum kit’s snare drum, and many also like to mic the kick drum beater. Why not capture both the bottom snare head and the kick beater with one mic? Just position a microphone — a condenser works well — that’s set for a figure-8 polar pattern so that one side of the mic picks up the snare and the other picks up the beater. You won’t have individual control over the level of the two drums, but with judicious EQ, this can work great for blending in with the primary kick and snare mics on the kit.