Recording Drums: How to Record Drums for Beginners

Recording drums is widely regarded as one of the trickiest skills to learn for a studio engineer. This is because there is a lot of equipment to set up, specific techniques to grasp, and a lot of tuning involved.

Therefore it’s important to take a thought-out and structured approach. So I’ve put together this guide to show you that by following basic principles you can obtain great drum sounds without having to rent a world-class recording studio.

I’ll even show you you can achieve great results with some of the cheapest recording gear you can get. I’m using budget mics, a super affordable interface, and cheap cables. Let’s dive in!

The Importance of Great Sounding Drums

• Quality drum sounds are at the core of each great-sounding mix. If the drums aren’t sounding good then rest assured the whole mix falls flat.
• The drums lay down the foundation of every song and it’s crucial they are balanced, clear, and punchy.

It’s understandable to feel that recording drums to a professional standard can be both challenging and expensive. But with modern audio interfaces and DAWs (digital audio workstations) such as Logic and Pro Tools, it is easier than ever before to obtain high-quality drum sounds from your own home.

Recording Gear You’ll Need

To start off this guide, let’s talk about the recording equipment you’ll need to capture quality drum sounds. In addition to a good-sounding drum set, here’s what you’ll need to record with a multi-mic setup.

• Microphones: I’m using the AKG Session 1 Mic Kit, which includes 7 mics and comes with clamps for the toms and snare, so you don’t need to buy extra stands.
• An audio interface: with enough inputs and preamps for all your mics. I’m using the Behringer 1820, which has eight XLR inputs, so it handles a full drum kit easily.
• XLR cables: You’ll need one cable per microphone, all going straight into your interface. Make sure they’re long enough to reach easily- around 15 to 25 feet is usually ideal.
• Overhead mic stands: I’ve got some affordable K&M stands and they’re solid.
• A computer with recording software: That could be Logic, Reaper, Pro Tools, or whatever you’re most comfortable with. I personally use Logic.

Microphones

For multi-track drum recordings, you will need a complete set of optimized drum microphones. Each microphone is tuned for different parts of the drum set. A full drum mic kit will be comprised of close mics and overhead mics.

There are many ways you can mic a drum set that delivers good results. These configurations vary depending on the number of microphones you plan on using. But for best results, you should use a larger number of microphones, with a combination of close mics and room mics.

I’ve personally tested a wide range of optimized drum-specific microphones, and you can see my recommendations here. But in this guide, I’m using the affordable AKG Session 1 Mic Kit, which includes the following:

• 1 x P2 Bass Drum Microphone
• 4 x P4 Microphones For Toms And Snare
• 2 x P17 Microphones for overheads

Audio Interface for Recording Drums

To record drums you will need an audio interface that can accommodate as many microphones as you intend to use.

For recording drums in a home studio – to record with a full set of drum microphones you will need an interface that features 8 microphone inputs or more.

Modern audio interfaces offer high sample rates; have multiple outputs and feature USB connectivity for your computer.

Computer

Recording drums with Logic, Pro Tools, and Cubase (or similar DAW) on a computer provides an alternative to renting an enormous multi-million-pound recording studio. If you don’t know where to start with a digital audio workstation (DAW), check out this helpful guide.

You have the ability to record, edit, and mix all the channels directly on your laptop. A DAW removes the need for expensive studio equipment such as microphone preamps and analog equipment such as EQs and compressors to process the signal with.

You are able to use any computer that is compatible with a DAW such as Logic or Pro Tools and has the connectivity for an audio interface that can accommodate the number of microphones you wish to use. Most modern interfaces utilize USB connectivity.

XLR Cables

Straightforwardly enough, you will need enough XLR cables for the number of microphones you plan on using for your recording session.

I would recommend buying quality, gold-plated XLR cables that are at least 15 feet in length to ensure they are long enough between the microphone and audio interface.

The Drum Set

And before we get into mic placement, let’s talk about the drums themselves. An important piece of advice I learned a long time ago is that the quality of the recorded input will always translate into the end result.

This applies to both the quality of the performance and also how the drums themselves sound. If you play a nice drum set with brand new drum heads and spend the time tuning the drums up great then the drum sounds will be killer.

Combine this with a strong performance marked by clear and tight playing – and you will have great-sounding raw stems to work with even before mixing the audio.

For this guide, I’m using a relatively affordable kit – the Mapex Armory, which is one of the best value drum sets out there. I’ve upgraded the tom heads to Evans UV2s, and I’d say getting a set of decent heads is one of the most worthwhile and affordable upgrades you can make.

I wanted to show that you don’t need expensive drums to get a great recording. But what does matter is using good heads and getting your tuning on point. 

You can’t ‘tune’cymbals the way you can with drums, so you’ll want to use a decent set. I’m using these B20 cast cymbals from Zultan – they’re great value, and they sound awesome.

Tuning Drums

Correct drum tuning is essential for achieving a good drum tone. When tuning drums you want to get an even tension all the way around the head, and also get a good relationship between the batter and resonant head. I personally like to tune the reso a little higher than the batter. 

It can take a long time to develop an ear for fine-tuning a drum. Luckily there are useful tools called precision drum tuners – which help aid fast and accurate drum tuning.

These devices measure either the pitch or tympanic pressure of a drum to determine tuning inconsistencies around the lugs and therefore allow you to make precise corrections to get your drums evenly tuned.

With or without a precision drum tuner, it’s vital to use your own ears when tuning drums to achieve a clean drum tone, with even pitches around the lugs of the drum.

• When tuning drums, I recommend tuning in opposites. This means your drum has equal tension in pairs across the skin.
• Tune up the drumhead slowly counterclockwise up from a loose tension (finger-tight tension rods around the drum) with a quarter of a turn of a drum key until you have reached your rough desired pitch and the tension rods are all equally tensioned around the drum.
• Your next step is fine-tuning. This involves gently tapping the edge of the drum by each lug to match each individual lug to the correct pitch. Move around the drum between each tension rod until they produce an identical pitch, loosening or tightening each rod precisely until they do.
• Once you have the desired tone, can always use a few Moongels to control overtones and get a tighter sound.

There is no ‘correct’ pitch to tune to, and drummers will like to have their drums tuned differently. Some drummers love their snare drum to be cranked up as high as it can go. And others might love a vintage sounding ‘thud’ – essentially as low tuned and muffled as a snare drum can be.

The Room

Your recording space makes a big difference to how your drums will sound on the mics. Ideally, you will want the room to sound good already. but you can adjust the acoustic properties of the room fairly easily.

So if you’re in a really live, echoey room – like a garage or a bare, empty space – you might want to tame it a bit. Throw down some rugs, hang up some curtains, or stick a few blankets or duvets around the room to tame those reflections.

Mic Setup and Placement

Before you start, remember to keep everything organized and tidy. The last thing you want is a rat’s nest of cables when you’re troubleshooting!

When setting up the drums and microphones make sure you don’t have any stands touching each other. It’ll cause unwanted noise going into the microphone and become a nuisance in the mix.

How to Mic Drums

Kick drum 

Before micing up your kick drum, I’d recommend you have a porthole cut out in the resonant skin. Having a porthole allows you to record the kick drum with more attack and greater definition.

The best size for a porthole is 4 or 5 inches, and cut out the porthole at the 5 o’clock position on the drumhead. Either take the drum to a professional music shop or buy a specifically designed porthole cutter if you want to do it yourself.

Placing the microphone closer to the batter head will provide more attack and beater definition. Whereas the further back the microphone is placed, the increased low end the microphone will pick up.

I mount my kick mic using a small kick mic stand. If you don’t have one, don’t worry – you can just rest the mic inside the kick, on top of a towel or a pillow. I like to position mine just by the porthole and angle the capsule slightly upward towards where the beater makes contact with the batter head for a bit more definition.

Snare Top 

I’ve got my snare mic positioned around the 11 o’clock spot, between the hi-hat and the rack tom, angled down toward the center of the snare. I keep about two centimeters between the mic capsule and the head.

If you want to receive more attack from the snare, aim the microphone at the center. And for more ring, point it towards the edge.

A popular snare drum microphone position is to have the microphone hanging just over the edge and pointing at the center of the drumhead.

If you have too much ring, raise the microphone up and away from the edge but still pointing at the center of the drum. For more ring, take the microphone up and angle it more to the edge of the drum closest to the microphone and away from the center.

Try and keep the hi hat and rack tom in the rejection zone of the microphone pick up pattern.

Rack Tom and Floor Toms

For the toms, I attach these mics using the clamps that mount straight onto the drum hoops.

On the high tom, I place the mic around the 11 or 12 o’clock position, angled slightly away from the left crash cymbal. For the middle tom, I usually go at about 1 o’clock, keeping a similar angle and distance – again, roughly two centimeters off the head. And for the floor tom, I’ll go around the 2 o’clock position.

I like to keep the tom mics pretty close to the drum for a clear attack but not so close that they touch the head or get in the way of your playing.

Overhead Microphones

Next up the overheads. I like to keep them fairly high up – my ceiling isn’t the tallest, but I give them as much height as I can. And then I position each mic so they’re placed over the cymbals but also a little over the shells, just to help give the kit a bit more of a fuller sound.

I also wrap the overhead mic cables around the stand before plugging them into the mic at the top. It keeps everything tidy and stops cables from dangling all over the drums.

The technique to try first is a Spaced Stereo Pair or A/B.  Place the microphones over the left (above the hit and crash) and right-hand side of the drum kit (over the ride and second crash).

The higher you place the overhead microphones results in more room sound, and the closer they are to the drums results in a more direct drum sound.

Phase

Phase is an issue that occurs when the signal from two separate microphones pick up the same sound source and are out-of-sync with one another.

To avoid any phase issues – it’s super important that both overheads are positioned the same distance from the centre of the snare drum. If it’s uneven, the snare will sound weird and you’ll get this uneven stereo image – so definitely take a minute to get this right.

The easiest way to measure it is with a spare cable- holding it to the centre of the snare, and reaching it out the end up to the first mic, and making sure the other one matches up. Then you’re good.

Plugging Everything In

Alright, the next step is just plugging everything in. The female end of each XLR goes into the microphone, and the male end goes straight into your audio interface. I always like to plug mine in the same order every single time.

So for me it’s: Kick on channel 1, Snare channel 2, Toms on 3, 4, and 5  And then overheads on 6 and 7.

Doing it this way means I instantly know what each channel is when I open my audio workstation, and it keeps things simple when I label my tracks.

Now, before you open your session, there’s one super important thing to do. Overhead mics are  condensers, which means they need +48V phantom power to work. So make sure phantom power is switched on for channels the overheads are plugged into. 

Setting Up Your DAW

Once that’s sorted, you can open up your DAW and start a fresh session. Create audio tracks for however many mics you’re using – in this case, seven.

I like to label each channel straight away- kick, snare, rack, middle, floor, overhead left, overhead right, etc. It just keeps everything clear.

Then, I’ll pan the overheads left and right to create that full stereo image.

After that, you’ll need to record-enable the tracks. In Logic, it’s that little red ‘R’ button — hit that on all the channels you want active. Once you see them light up, you’re good to go.

Now let’s talk about gain staging, which is basically setting the right input level for each mic. This part is a little bit of trial and error, unless your interface has auto gain staging built in. Even then you’ll likely still have to do some tweaking.

Hit the drums at the same intensity you normally play, and bring up each preamp gain until the signal is healthy but below clipping. If your interface is a bit out of reach like mine, just start with the gain around one-third of the dial and tweak from there. It’s a bit of back and forth, but you’ll get it dialled in quickly.

You don’t want to record with too much gain so you’re nearly clipping as you’ll pull in more bleed. On the flip side, if the signal’s too quiet, you won’t get those nice strong transients. So it’s really just about finding that sweet spot in the middle.

Once you’ve balanced everything, you’re ready to record!

Ready To Record Drums

With all of the microphones set up, plugged in and the channels loaded into your recording software, run a test take and listen carefully for any rattles, buzzes, or other sources of unwanted noise.

Using the best microphones you can afford means you should receive a clear signal into each respective channel in the DAW. Don’t record things too hot! Get levels from playing the drums and try and keep everything in the green. This avoids your signals from clipping and distorting.

At this point, once everything is set up to how you like and you are completely happy, it is very important to not move anything! To succeed with consistent results you must not tamper with any microphone positions.

Recording Drums Tips

• Moongel and tape are lifesavers when recording drums. They allow you to control the level of dampening to achieve your desired sound from the drums. When a drum might have too much ring, you can dampen the drum to get a more focused sound.
• Play with consistency and even dynamics within parts of a song. Smooth playing and controlled dynamics will result in a great-sounding drum recording.
• Playing to a click track is highly recommended. In today’s world, people demand tight and consistent drumming because it glues all the music together. The drummer plays a supporting role and the beat drives a song.
• Hit the middle of the drum skins. It is easily audible when there are inconsistencies while hitting the drums. It is crucial the drums are balanced, clear, and punchy.
• Practice, practice, practice! All of the effort going into obtaining great-sounding drums will be wasted if your playing is sloppy and not up to scratch. Make sure you are well prepared and confident in your abilities to play at your very best for the session.
• Ensure you have tightened all the stands and cymbal wingnuts so there is nothing loose or becomes undone during recording.
• Relax and enjoy playing the drums- It’s in the state of relaxed concentration that we perform at our best. And trying too hard can create physical tension whilst playing – having a detrimental effect.

Mixing The Drums

Now that you have recorded your best drum tracks, it’s time to process and mix the audio to really bring the drums to life. By mixing the raw drum stems you can focus and balance each individual part of the drum set.

There is a wide range of valuable production tools and effects that are used to enhance sound recordings. I will provide an overview and instructions on some of the most important tools used in sound recording.

When mixing audio you will need to use a high-quality pair of headphones or a pair of studio reference monitors.

This is by no means a list of ALL of the sound recording tools available, but these are the most essential tools to enable the drums to sit well in a mix, whilst adding clarity and punch. The following will all be available as plugins within your digital audio workstation.

Panning

Panning is a tool that spreads a signal in a multi-channel sound field. It’s crucial for making up a complete stereo image and creates the impression of space within a mix.

Panning is important for mixing drums because it mimics the realistic effect of a drum set stage sound. Using panning creates a wide sounding drum set that can be heard from all sides.

The best way to pan drums is to pan the separate parts of the drum set how they appear before you as if you are playing the drums. This is called “Drummers Perspective”.

• When panning the kick drum and snare drum panned dead center.
• Pan the overheads fully left and right respectively.
• Don’t pan the toms as extreme as the overheads. I pan the high tom to the left, middle tom slightly right and floor tom to the right.

EQ

EQ is a corrective and creative tool used within sound recording and reproduction to correct frequency responses using linear filters. EQ is used to strengthen or weaken frequency bands to alter a signal’s sound.

What this means is that EQ allows you to adjust the frequencies of a signal to improve how it sounds.

EQ is your best friend in recording. It is incredibly important for balancing sounds to create a mix that allows a listener to hear all the individual parts of a drum set with clarity.

Use your ears when using EQ for your drums – they are the most valuable tools at your disposal. To get your drum sounds in the right ballpark, here are some engineer-approved tips for drums:

• Kick EQ – Adding a bump at 60Hz will give you some thick low-end. Add 3-5kHz for some ‘knock’ and some 10kHz for some click. Try cutting around 400-500Hz, this will stop your bass drum from sounding like a cardboard box.
• Snare EQ – If you want your snare to hit you in the chest, add a bump at 150-200Hz. For more body to your snare add the frequencies around 500Hz. And for more attack, add 5kHz.
• Toms EQ – For toms you want to reduce boxiness and increase thump and attack. Add 100Hz for some thump and 3-5kHz for clarity. Cut the mid frequencies for toms to remove the boxy sound, but be sure to leave some left so the toms don’t sound hollow.
• Overheads EQ – With the overheads your aim is to increase presence in the upper mids and high frequencies whilst reducing overall boxiness in some of the lower frequencies. If the close-mics are all sounding great you can use a high-pass filter to cut out everything below 500Hz.

Compression

Compression is the process of lessening the dynamic range between the loudest and quietest parts of an audio signal.

The goal of compression is to even out unwanted level variations of a signal. For drums, this means turning down louder hits to match softer hits in order to make the drum sounds more balanced overall.

Compression is a fairly complex tool, and there is no ‘one-size fits all’ compression setting. But proper use of compression will help smoothen out the shape of the drums and keep dynamics under control.

• Threshold – When compressing drums, we generally want the entire drum signal to be compressed. You’ll want to set your threshold low enough that any drum signal can trigger it.
• Attack – Nearly all the drum’s punch is found in the initial milliseconds of the drum sound. This is the “attack”. A good starting point is to set an attack of 30ms and to adjust from there.
• Release – The release determines how soon the compressor stops working after its initial activation. You ideally want to set the release to be fast enough so the compression switches off before the next hit. A good starting point is around 200ms.
• Ratio – The ratio determines how much the output signal increases based on the input signal. Lower ratios will provide more punch, and I would try a ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 to start with.

Reverb

Reverb is another essential tool in modern recording. Reverb exists all around us, and within music production, the aim is to emulate a natural acoustic environment for your sounds.

Digital reverb plugins mimic the way a real acoustic space works. They are designed to simulate reflections, and echoes, and the decay of high versus low frequencies.

Reverb is important for bringing life to drums and making them sound punchy, lifelike, and full within a mix.

Use your ears to achieve an optimal balance for reverb. Even if you want explosive drum sounds, don’t go overboard. The choice of reverb will need to fit with the emotional quality of a song and its mix.

There are five main categories of reverb. Use your ears and experiment with the different types of reverb and see what works best with your drum sounds.

• Room
• Hall
• Chamber
• Spring
• Plate

Alternative Configurations For Recording Drums

Recording drums with fewer mics is possible, and in fact, it is a great way to achieve good sounds with minimal equipment and setup. Recording drums with 2 mics will sacrifice lots of the close mics, meaning there will not be as much clarity and depth to each drum.

However, recording drums with just a couple of microphones is more convenient and inexpensive when compared to using a complete set of drum microphones.

Recording drums with 2 mics will require using a kick drum mic, which will be paired with one overhead microphone. The aim is to capture a balanced, full-sounding drum set from this microphone pairing.

Final Thoughts on How to Record Drums

Whether you are learning to record drums from home or renting out a recording studio to capture drum sounds; I hope you can draw some valuable information from this guide.

I have recorded drums in professional studios and from home with the very same set up listed in this guide. Following these steps and taking a careful approach will reward you with great sounds!

Patience truly is key when it comes to recording drums. There are lots of steps and techniques involved, but recording drums from your own home is both a valuable and rewarding skill. And it’s never been easier to record and mix quality drums with a computer, interface, microphones, and a drum set.

It’s fun, creative, and rewarding – so get practicing and set up your drums and microphones to record amazing drum sounds from home. Happy recording!