Why multimike drums when the simple Glyn Johns four-mic technique gives great results? WITH INTERVIEW VIDEO!
First, let's hear what million-selling producer Steve Lyon has to say about Glyn John's techniques... (You may have to wait a short while for the video to load.)
Somewhere in the 1980s it became an audio standard to record a five-drum kit with eight mics - one for each drum, one for the hihat and two overheads, plus an additional bottom snare mic if necessary.
Without doubt this gives the ultimate in controllability, and the individual sounds and levels of each element of the kit can be set at the mixing stage, long after the drummer has gone home.
The Glyn Johns technique, and other simple drum miking techniques, depend on getting pretty much everything right first time.
But they give a sound quality that can be much more natural than multimiking.
You don't have to slavishly stick to the Glyn Johns method, or any other prescribed method. Do what sounds good to you and aim to capture a great sound right there in the session, without planning on 'tweaking' it later.
If you have channels to spare, you can always add the standard eight mics too. Just in case.
The rest of this 60-minute interview with Steve Lyon is available in the Audio Masterclass Music Production and Sound Engineering Online Course, together with drum recordings in audio and video made using a variety of recording techniques.
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
