One-Mic Drum Recording anyone?

[glowbox]

hello softies, i'm kinda need your help right now.
so, me and my band is trying to record some demos. guitar, vox, etc are recorded. the only thing left to record is drums. this is where it gets tricky as the electronic/drum loops will make the whole recording sounds retarded.

i'm planning to record the whole drum track on a single Audio Technica AT2020 condenser mic. i've done some research on the internet and youtube where quite a number of people have done it. my conclusion was the sound quality would depends on the positioning of the mic and the room acoustic. we're going to record this inside an hdb room.

anyone has tried this before? im gathering as much info as i can now so when the recording time come, we can save time in setup etc.

help, anyone?

 

[blueprintstudios]

if you only got an audio technica AT2020, the place I would mike up is 6 inch above + 6 inch away from the kickdrum aiming at the drummer's crotch.
gd luck and do share results with us

 

[bernardgoh]

one mic or 2 mic or 100 mic... remember the thumb of rule. if your drum sounds like shit in that room, you get shits recorded. same things goes with if the playing and everything sounds great live. 1 or 2 mics might capture a decent stuff.
hope i didn't offended anyone.

 

[blueprintstudios]

glowbox : when you have successful results with 1 mic, you can work on improving to 3, 5, 7, 9 , 13 and more. upgrading preamps,gear,room, and your mixing technique eventually in the next 10 years.

for now, your setup is pretty humble, so i'm sure you won't be expecting studiolike quality, but if it sounds good to you it's a bonus ain't it.

 

[ankursamtaney]

Not an expert myself. Little or no experience in drumming. And have had the worst room while I did have a drum kit (a completely closed living room where slapbacks and reverb lasted for hours after each hit)

Anyway, the 6 inch thing that blurprintstudios said I'm assuming is out of solid experience, and should probably do the job well.

However, just as an alternative, here's something I'd try. Place the mic about 3 to 4 feet ahead from the kick drum (distance from the kit), and in between the kick and rack toms (in terms of height off the ground). I'd imagine that should give you fairly balanced sound of the entire kit while also capturing a reasonable amount of 'kick' from the bass. Just a suggestion off the top of my head; not a tried and tested one.