i think it depends on alot of factors: the drums, the space the drum is at, the drummer, type of music, the other players, mic, board, outboards, pa system, acoustic of the room, type of audience. lastly managing ur own or client's expectation.
but getting the source is half the battle. drum kit, tuning of the drums, different cymbals, drum skin, drum stick, beater, maybe even the platform the drum is resting on (could cause it to ring sympathetically) are beyond my field of expertise, but do know that the mics 'hears' sound differently from our ears. There's a common saying "rubbish in, rubbish out" this ties in with managing expectation. but hopefully with enough time, tools, knowledge and setbacks you can get a decent sound.
i understand u have a drum shield, but if is is open top and back and ur drummer is hitting like its the second coming then it would be a problem, here is where u have to have the PR skill to communicate with the drummer. even if u have the drum kit fully shielded, you would have harsh tones esp from open hihats and cymbals. here is where we can only do damage control via mic position, eq, dynamic manipulation (ie gate/expander, compressor/limiter, compander, dynamic eq) and
MUTE button!! ,unless u get another drummer which i prefer, or another band for that matter
again "rubbish in, rubbish out"
MUTE button is your friend!!! to quote Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) again "Less is more"
say if e music is your normal pop rock thingy, i would use the same config as
mel80 1 X kick, 1X snare, 1 x overhead. then again if ur mic is not to suitable for the high spl application i would urge u not to close mic the kick.
usually a dynamic mic would be safe enough to mic kick (cases where M88 were damaged thou) , but i would think twice about putting a ribbon or condenser unless it is spec for eg Beta 91. Slap gate/expander on them to get better separation and tighten them, compress with a mid attack time to get a sharper attack, unless u have the SPL transient designer that is. if ur mic is a cardioid, then u probably would want to use the null points to achieve better separations esp for snare, point e mic away from hi-hat to minimize leakage.
Personally i would compress the OH, low cut, cut a little of e low mids maybe, cut high mids if too harsh, boost a little from 10-12k onwards. I would try to capture the whole kit, unless the room is really bad then i would cut off the lower freq. Reposition the mics if the phase between OH and snare sounds unflattering. Usually once u compress the OH, the subtle ghost notes and toms would come out more, then again it might not work on some drummer.
For snare, 150-250 boost for body, 1.5k-4k for crack, 6k- 10k onwards for that brightness. Sometimes i will find the snare drum resonating at 200-500, which i would cut if i don't have the time to resolve on the drum it self. Kick, depends if is positioned inside the shell or outside with a hole or without. Its quite popular for pop/rock kit to be mic inside the shell that way more attack would come through and the "proper" tuning and damping of the skin would be crucial. and how you would want to balance the bass guitar with the kick, esp if you have a 5 or 6 string bass. I would usually reduce the masking, by cutting 180-300 region on the kick for the bass. maybe 1-4k for the attack of the beater, i usually opt for plastic side of the beater in the pop/rock situation.
before there are sound man, there is arranger and conductors. they would be the one "riding the fader for instruments".In your case u might have to or find someone to fill that shoe. Meaning because a place to fill 50 people is not gonna be big, the spill from stage is gonna be too much that u might just want the kick and vocal mic on on the PA. Plugged in instruments can be turn down, but not the acoustic drums, so start with the drummer, playing with the rottan thingy might change the tone alot but it just might work. If you do intend to fully shield e drum, rem to put a little fan inside in case ur drummer have heat exhaustion and also have mic windscreen around handy.
Important thing is to find a good compromise for stage volume and the house level. Rem, no point if the band cant hear themselves and play badly, even thou u got the perfect sound. And if u have the crazy money to spare, u might want to go in-ear for everyone. But if your gig is some hardcore/ death metal/ screamo /trash/ heavy metal/did i mention
metal already? by all means turn everything up to 11!!!!!
e PA would also play a big part, u cant expect a earth moving kick from a 12 inch cone, even if you can boost the lows it still might not be tight lows due to the ported design of the cab and distortion due to the air port, might even damage ur amp or speaker, or perhaps the amp having low damping factor.
if the room you are in is square-ish, low celling, hard wall, celling and flooring, you are going to have alot of problem. room modes, flutter echo, excessive RT60 etc. It is time to find professional help but it is gonna cost quite abit. or u can DIY, heavy double drapes(can still be expensive thou), add furnishing to make the room aysemetrical or something, heavy carpeting, packing the room with people!! this field is out of my league thou, but i know this much, egg trays does not help much
The list of things that can not work in your favour can go on endless, and sometimes goes beyond our control. Important thing is to know what could be improve on the next time round. Pick your battles, no point spending half a day to get the killer drum sound if it does not work with the rest of the band or the kind of music or worse still ur client hates it.
Lastly, if it sounds bad blame the band, if its good claim the credit!
Actually some of the best live gig i ever did before is not because i have the best equipment but because the musician are really really good, mature, mastery over their instruments, no rockstar ego. Hack they are basically mixing themselves. How i wish all my gigs were like that...
There are lots of resources available online, like soundonsound.com, mixonline.com, prosoundweb.com, just to list a few. I'm sure u can find more there.
What i have written are just for reference, be hands-on try things. Learn the rules and know why it is there, and if you break them, know why you are breaking them.
George W. Bush says "If it feels good, do it. If you got a problem, blame somebody else.". I say "If it sounds good, do it. If you got a problem, blame the band."
Sorry i'm very long winded
Do drop me a PM if u want to clear things up. But i would not be able reply so fast, heading to ICT next week
