How to mic a drum kit?
The kick drum – Putting a microphone in front of the outer head is the most common kick drum microphone placement. Whether you put an E-V RE20, AKG D112, or a Shure Beta 52A on the outside of the kick, you’ll find lots of variety in the sound depending on where on the head you position it and the distance away from the head. Putting the microphone between 1″ and 3″ from the outer head will work well.
The snare drum – The most common way to mic a snare drum is to put a microphone slightly over the snare and your done but to get an even better sound, you can place the mic about 1.5″ above the head, 2″ inside the rim and then aim it down to the centre of the head. Microphone choice has a huge on the sound of a snare drum. For example the Shure SM57, the Telefunken M80 and the Audix i5 are great snare microphone.
The toms – Like all drum miking, there are lots of options for microphones choice and placement for toms but the most common way to mic up toms are to use a low profile clip on dynamic microphone such as the Sennheiser e604 or the Shure Beta 98AMP/C or even the Granelli Audio Labs G5790 as well as the most standard microphone for toms which is the Sennheiser MD 421 II. When it comes to condensers on toms, the Audio – Technical’s Artist Elite AE3000 sounds really sweet.
The overheads – The most common overhead miking setup is probably the two spaced cardioids technique above the drums one the left and right side of the kit. You can place one microphone 2 or 3 feet above the snare and the 2nd microphone 2 or 3 feet above the floor tom while making sure both microphones are equidistant from the snare. The best microphones to catch the bright sound of the cymbals are the Audio-Technican 4047/SVs, the Telefunken C12s, the Neumann U 87 Ais, the AKG C414 XLIIs, the DPA 4006-As and the Audio-Technica AT5045s.
How to mic up a guitar amp?
The most common way to mic up a guitar amp is to aim one microphone at the centre not the speaker which will result in a brighter sound and aim another microphone towards the end of the cone which will add more low end. The mics should be placed roughly 3 to 4 inches away from the amp. The best microphones to use are the Shure SM57, the Sennheiser’s e609 and e906, MD 421 II, Audix’s i5, Royer’s R-121, Telefunken’s M81 and the Neumann U 47 fet.
How to mic up a bass amp?
The mic should be placed roughly 3 to 4 inches from the centre of the cone. The best microphones to use are AKG d112, Electro-Voice RE20, Shure SM57 , Shure SM58 and AKG D5.
How to record keyboard/piano?
The easiest way to record keyboard/piano is to use MIDI keyboard and if your using logic it already has good synth/piano sounds as well as a whole range of orchestral sounds and even samples/FX’s.
References
Fuston, L., 2017. How to Mic a Drum Kit. [online] Sweetwater. Available at: <https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/mic-drum-kit/> [Accessed 20 May 2022].
Sweetwater Sound. 2022. How to Mic a Guitar Amplifier. [online] Available at: <https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/how-to-mic-a-guitar-amplifier/> [Accessed 20 May 2022].