Drum recording is considered as the most difficult part among the microphone recording projects. Since a drum set comes with various drums and percussion, to a start a studio recording, it is important to know about drum miking. We need a several microphones not only for the bass drum, snare drum but also toms, hi-hats and other cymbals to be recorded individually. Thus, at least ten separate microphones are necessary to record a drum session.
Bass drum + snare drum + hi-hat + overhead
Set up the TM-50DB for the bass drum and the TM-50DS for the snare drum. One TM-50C microphone is used for the hi-hats, and the other is set above the drummer. Especially this hi-hat set up is essential for recordings. The microphones are connected to the audio interface US-16×08 and its phantom power supply can be connected to channels 1 and 2 (phantom power OFF), while two TM-50Cs are connected to channel 5 and 6 after the phantom power is switched ON for channel 5 to 8 only.
Bass drum + snare drum + overhead (stereo)
The difference of this setup from the previous application is the stereo recording with two condenser microphones for overheads. They can be placed above the drummer, or on the left and right side of the drum set. Using them as a stereo pair to sound wider on the left and right, so you can capture more focused sound on the toms and cymbols. The Ultra-HDDA mic pre-amps in the US-16×08 is designed to match the volume of a drum set and its electrical signal can be enhanced by the TM-DRUMS itself to get that punchy and present tone.
Once you are familiar with the multi-microphone recording, it is easy to add another microphones. In this particular setting, a microphone for room ambience is used. If you are in a room with natural reverb resonance, add microphones to capture the room ambience in order to get a natural dimensional tone that the electric drum set does not provide. The TASCAM US-16×08 audio interface enables up to eight microphones connections for your drum recording.
A set of four drum microphones to start a drum recording right away
A drum set, unlike other instruments, consisting of multiple percussion instruments. Numbers of microphones are required if you seek a crisp tone with high sound quality from your drum recording. The TM-DRUMS is a set of microphones designed to capture sounds from the bass drum, snare drum, hi-hats and overheads. The TM-DRUMS allows you to start your drum recording right away with easy installation.
TM-50DB x1: Dynamic microphone for bass drum
The low frequency of a standard bass drum is at around 100 – 200Hz and the attack sound is at around 5kHz approximately. the TM-50DB is designed perfectly to fit this frequency response, which enables you to get the punchy and present frequency response out of the bass drum.
TM-50DS x1: Dynamic microphone for snare drums
The TM-50DS is a versatile dynamic microphone that is used for recording on toms and other percussion instruments including snares. Compare with the dedicated TM-50DB bass drum microphone, the TM-50DS gives you better shaped and defined attack sounds.
TM-50C x2: Condenser microphones for hi-hats or overheads
The TM-50C microphone can be used as an overhead microphone to capture the sound of the entire drum set. Because the TM-50C comes with two microphones in the set, you can use those as a pair for stereo recording. This condenser microphone handles high sound pressure due to its small diaphragm which allows you to record easily regardless the distance towards drums. Also its compact size with a length of 117mm and light weight at a mere 85g, enables you a flexible microphone settings with ease.