How to Mic a Drum Set | 1-8 Mic Configurations Guide

How many microphones do you actually need to record great sounding drums?

It’s a question that comes up all the time, especially when you’re putting together a home recording setup. It’s easy to assume that more microphones will automatically give you a better drum sound, but that isn’t necessarily the case.

I’ve recorded drums using lots of different setups over the years, but for this comparison I wanted to strip everything right back and build a complete drum recording setup one microphone at a time.

I tested everything from a single microphone through to a full 8-mic configuration, listening to what each additional microphone actually brought to the recording and how much extra control it gave me in the mix. Plus I also experimented with a few different techniques along the way.

All of the microphones I used for this comparison are from Beyerdynamic, with everything recorded directly into Logic Pro through my Focusrite Scarlett 18i20.

And after doing all of this, I think one of the most interesting things was just how good some of the simpler setups sounded.

So let’s start with the absolute minimum: one microphone.

Recording Drums With One Microphone

Recording an entire drum kit with one microphone obviously comes with some compromises, but you can still get a surprisingly usable sound if you get the placement right.

I actually tried two different approaches here.

Over-the-Shoulder Mic

For the first setup, I used a Beyerdynamic M160 positioned above and slightly behind my shoulder, looking down towards the kit.

The M160 is a double-ribbon microphone, but you certainly don’t need this exact mic to try the technique. A good condenser can also work really well in this position.

The idea is to capture a balanced picture of the entire drum kit with one microphone. Because it’s positioned above and behind the drummer, you get a fairly natural perspective with a good amount of cymbals, shells and room sound.

Placement becomes really important when you only have one mic. There’s no separate kick or snare channel to bring up afterwards, so if one part of the kit is too loud or quiet in the recording, your main way of fixing that is physically moving the microphone.

I liked the sound I got from this position, and if you want a natural, open recording without setting up loads of microphones, it’s a really simple technique worth experimenting with.

Wurst / Knee Mic

The second position was probably my favourite of the two.

I used the Beyerdynamic M201 as a Wurst mic – sometimes called a knee mic – positioned just above the kick drum and pointing towards the snare.

Because the microphone is sitting right in the middle of the kit, you get a very different sound compared to the overhead.

I found this much punchier and more direct. There was noticeably more kick definition, while the snare and toms had plenty of body and attack.

You don’t get the same wide, open picture of the cymbals that you get from an overhead, but as a single-mic drum sound I really liked it.

If I had to record this kit with just one microphone, the Wurst position would probably be my choice.

Recording Drums With Two Microphones

Adding a second microphone gives you quite a big improvement because you can start giving individual parts of the kit some extra attention.

For this setup, I went back to the M160 overhead and added a Beyerdynamic TG D71 inside the bass drum.

The TG D71 is a boundary microphone specifically designed for kick drums, and adding it immediately gave the recording considerably more weight.

The overhead is still doing most of the work. It captures the snare, toms, cymbals and the overall picture of the kit, while the dedicated kick microphone gives you much more control over the low end and attack of the bass drum.

This also means you can process the kick separately in the mix. You can EQ it, compress it or adjust its level without changing everything else.

Compared to the single-mic setups, I thought this immediately sounded more like a conventional drum recording.

For a really simple setup where you don’t want microphones and stands everywhere, kick plus overhead is a great option.

Recording Drums With Three Microphones

Three microphones was where things started getting really interesting for me.

I kept the TG D71 inside the kick, but swapped the single M160 overhead for a matched pair of Beyerdynamic i53c condenser microphones.

I positioned these as a spaced pair, with one above the ride and floor tom side of the kit and the other positioned over the hi-hat and snare side.

This gives you a proper stereo image for the first time.

Instead of the entire drum kit sitting in the centre, you start hearing the different parts of the kit spread across the stereo field. The toms have more movement, the cymbals feel wider and the whole recording becomes more immersive.

The condenser microphones also captured plenty of detail and clarity.

One thing you do need to be careful with when using multiple overheads is phase.

I measured both microphones so they were an equal distance from the centre of the snare drum. This helps keep the snare arriving at both microphones at roughly the same time and reduces the risk of phase cancellation.

That small bit of setup is absolutely worth doing.

I was genuinely impressed with this three-mic configuration. Kick plus stereo overheads gives you a surprisingly complete drum sound, and I think this is a decent setup for anyone working with a smaller interface or limited microphone collection.

Recording Drums With Four Microphones

For four microphones, I added a dedicated snare top mic.

I used the Beyerdynamic M201 again, positioned over the top head of the snare.

To be fair, the two overheads were already doing a really good job of capturing the snare. I deliberately positioned them to capture the shells as well as the cymbals, so the snare already had plenty of presence in the recording.

But adding the M201 gave me more body, attack and definition. But more importantly, it gave me independent control over the snare in the mix.

That’s really the biggest advantage of moving from three to four microphones. If you want the snare louder, punchier or more compressed, you can make those changes without affecting the cymbals and the rest of the kit.

And this was probably my favourite setup in terms of simplicity versus results.

With kick, snare and a pair of overheads, you’ve covered the two most important drums individually while still getting a full stereo image of everything else.

If you’re recording drums at home and only have four inputs available, I really wouldn’t feel like you’re missing out on much. You can get an excellent drum sound with this setup.

Recording Drums With Five Microphones

Five microphones put me in a slightly strange position.

It wasn’t quite enough to start individually close-miking both toms on this particular setup, so rather than adding a random close mic, I experimented with two different placements for the fifth microphone.

The first was bringing the M160 back and positioning it as a Wurst mic.

This added some extra body from the centre of the kit. You get more of the kick, snare shell and toms from this position, and blending a little of it underneath the other microphones can make the overall recording feel thicker and more energetic.

For the second option, I moved the M160 further away and higher up in the room.

A room microphone does something completely different.

Instead of giving you more direct sound from an individual drum, it captures how the entire kit interacts with the room. Blending this into the close microphones and overheads can add space and depth and make the recording feel less clinical.

This is also where your actual recording space starts to matter much more. If you’re recording in a great sounding room, a room microphone can be fantastic. If your room has loads of unpleasant reflections, adding more of it isn’t necessarily going to improve anything.

Either way, I think the fifth microphone is a good opportunity to experiment rather than automatically assuming you need another close mic.

Recording Drums With Six Microphones

At six microphones, I could finally start close-miking the toms.

I removed the additional M160 and added two Beyerdynamic TG D58 condenser microphones, giving me:

• Kick
• Snare top
• Two tom mics
• Two overheads

This is where you start getting much more individual control over the whole drum kit.

The TG D58s worked really well here. They’re compact cardioid condenser microphones designed to handle high SPLs, so you get plenty of detail and clarity without having bulky microphones taking up loads of space around the kit.

I also really like the integrated mounting system. They clip directly onto the drum hoop, which keeps everything tidy and makes positioning really easy.

Adding the tom microphones made fills sound much bigger and more defined. I could now control the level, EQ and processing of each tom separately rather than relying entirely on what the overheads captured.

And this is where I’d say you’re getting into a really capable multitrack drum recording setup.

You’ve got direct control over the kick, snare and toms, while the stereo overheads are capturing the cymbals and tying everything together.

For a lot of home recording situations, six microphones could genuinely be all you need.

Recording Drums With Seven Microphones

For seven microphones, I added a dedicated snare bottom mic.

This is a much more subtle addition than going from three microphones to four, or adding close mics to the toms.

The purpose of the bottom microphone is primarily to capture more of the snare wires.

The top microphone gives you the attack, body and tone of the drum, whereas the bottom mic gives you more of that crisp snare response and buzz underneath.

On its own, the bottom microphone can sound pretty thin and aggressive. The idea isn’t really to use loads of it.

I preferred blending a smaller amount underneath the snare top microphone. It added a little more definition and helped bring out some extra detail from the snare wires without completely changing the character of the drum.

One important thing to remember when using top and bottom snare microphones is phase. Because the microphones are pointing towards opposite sides of the drum head, you’ll commonly need to reverse the polarity of the bottom microphone and listen for which position gives you the fullest sound.

It’s a fairly small addition to the overall mix, but once you’ve already got the main parts of the kit covered, it’s a useful way to get a little more control over the snare sound.

Recording Drums With Eight Microphones

Finally, I brought the M160 back into the Wurst position for the complete eight-microphone setup.

That gave me:

• 1× kick mic
• 1× snare top
• 1× snare bottom
• 2× tom mics
• 2× stereo overheads
• 1× Wurst mic

At this point, everything was pretty well covered.

The Wurst mic isn’t suddenly transforming the recording, and that’s something I think is worth pointing out. Once you’ve already got seven microphones around the kit, each additional microphone tends to make a more subtle difference.

But I could definitely hear what the M160 was adding.

It filled some of the space between the close microphones and overheads and brought in a little extra body from the kick, snare and shells. Blended underneath the rest of the microphones, I thought it gave the complete drum mix a bit more depth and character.

And that’s one of the nice things about getting up to seven or eight microphones.

Once all of the essentials are covered, your remaining channels can start becoming more creative. You could use that eighth input for a Wurst mic like I did, a room microphone, a mono overhead, an additional kick microphone or whatever works best for the sound you’re trying to achieve.

So, How Many Microphones Do You Actually Need?

After recording all eight configurations, I think somewhere around six to eight microphones is the sweet spot for most people who want to properly multitrack drums at home.

At six microphones, you’ve already got dedicated kick, snare and tom microphones alongside stereo overheads. That’s enough control to create a really polished drum mix without making the setup unnecessarily complicated.

Seven or eight microphones then give you room to add things like a snare bottom, room mic or Wurst mic for some extra detail and character.

But one of my biggest takeaways from doing this comparison was just how impressed I was with the three and four microphone setups. Three microphones (kick plus stereo overheads) sounded genuinely great.

And with four, adding that dedicated snare microphone gives you a huge amount of control considering how simple the setup still is. And I think a dedicated snare mic is pretty essential in all honesty for a complete drum mix.

So overall, I wouldn’t get caught up thinking you need eight, twelve or twenty microphones to record good drums.

Large professional studios might use 15 or 20 microphones, with multiple room mics, close mics on every drum, spot mics for cymbals, kick in and out microphones and even microphones positioned in hallways or other rooms.

That’s great when you have the inputs, microphones, space and a room worth capturing. But it isn’t a requirement.

If you’ve only got one or two microphones, concentrate on placement and getting the kit sounding great in the room. If you’ve got three or four, you can already make some seriously good recordings.

And if you have six to eight inputs available, I think that’s where you get a really nice balance between having plenty of control in the mix without going completely overkill.

More microphones give you more options, but they also give you more phase relationships to manage, more stands and cables, and ultimately more things that can go wrong.

For me, the best setup isn’t necessarily the one with the most microphones. But rather it’s the setup that gives you the flexibility, control and sound you actually need.