MIXING PROCESS
Natural Kit Mixing. The drummer’s balance is the key. Pan overheads appropriately, if more than one and if intentionally building a stereo mix. Blend in a bass drum mic if needed.
Close-Miked Mixing. First, decide if the overhead(s) should be kit mics or cymbal mics. In this style, they are usually only cymbal mics, so they should be hi-passed as much as possible (at least 400 Hz) to reduce leakage.
Listen to what items remain audible and balanced in the overhead mic(s). It may be that the hi-hat or the snare (or something else entirely) have enough “lift” already. If so, consider not using those associated spot mics. In cases like these, less might just be more.
Panning Multiple Overhead Mics For Stereo. If using more than one overhead and doing so in an appropriate stereo environment, pan the mics accordingly. But remember that mono does not mean lo-fi, and can actually sound great in PA work. It is actually the best choice in a number of worship sound reinforcement venues.
Regardless, “mono checking” a stereo and/or multi-miked drum mix is a smart move to be warned of phase cancelled sound. Broadcasters and recordists typically have such a mono-check button in their control rooms, but live sound operators may have to figure out how to mono-sum-monitor.
Again, using a single overhead or a “together pair” minimizes problems when the mics will be combined (mixed) to mono.
Blend. Once all kit elements are checked individually, it’s time to blend. There are many mixing approaches; here are two:
1. Use only the overheads first and then add kick, snare, hi-hat, racks, etc. as needed.
2. Start with kick and build up from bottom through snare, hats, rack, floor and overheads.
It may sound nuts, and annoy a sound check bystander or two, but attempting both approaches back-to-back quickly leads to the correct final balance in my experience.
Then, final EQ and pan adjustments can be tweaked. Dynamics processing (compression, limiting, and gating) is largely a matter of taste, with the exception of gating rack and floor toms and maybe kick, which is just generally good practice for this drum mixing style. (Advanced dynamics processing for drums mixing, such as parallel compression, is a complete topic in itself.)
In regards to panning: if you’re going mono, don’t do it; if you’re going stereo, get the overheads right first! These will set the initial spatial image (“width”) of the kit. Then, listening carefully, use the pans to closely match the position of each individual mic to the image already created in the overheads.
Final Thoughts
1. Great drums mixes start with great sounding drum kits. Before miking up a live drum kit, make certain that it is a good sounding kit in the first place. Begin by listening to the set without the mics.
2. Drums can get loud—use mics with high SPL capability!
3. You can get amazing drum mixes with both miking techniques described. The purist technique is hardest to mic really well. The close-miked approach is hardest to mix really well.
4. Successful multi-miking of a drum kit demands a solid understanding of microphone polars, or directional behavior. Inter-leakage will occur.
5. Electronic drums eliminate the common loudness and leakage issues associated with acoustic drums. Sometimes they may the best overall choice for a live worship environment. But sonically and musically, acoustic drums are very hard to beat, especially with a seasoned drummer that can play with appropriate dynamics for the environment.
6. Never underestimate the value of an accomplished drummer.
Kent Margraves began with a B.S. in Music Business and soon migrated to the other end of the spectrum with a serious passion for audio engineering. Over the past 25 years he has spent time as a staff audio director at two mega churches, worked as worship applications specialist at Sennheiser and Digidesign, and toured the world as a concert front of house engineer. Margraves currently serves the worship technology market at WAVE (wave.us) and continues to mix heavily in several notable worship environments including his home church, Elevation Church, in Charlotte, NC. His mission is simply to lead ministries in achieving their best and most un-distracted worship experience through technical excellence. His specialties are mixing techniques, teaching, and RF system optimization. A rugged dynamic on the top head of a snare drum can be all that is needed to get the crack and tone you want. If not, try another mic and placement, or fix the drum itself. Again, remember that the snare may cut through in the overhead mic(s) enough already.
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