Von-Funkenstein
(Staffordshire UK)
Wednesday 4 Jan 2017, 5:30pm
If you do a web search for 'Glyn Johns method' you'll get a bunch of links giving you diagrams and in depth explanations of the most commonly used 3 mic method.
You're not likely to find a 7channel desk either i'm afraid.A smaller desk is unlikely to be of use either as it will most likely only have the ability to output to 2 channels unless you use one of the sends, if it has any.
You'll need either a portable recorder with more than two inputs or a computer audio interface with more than two inputs.
What are you planning to record to? a computer via an interface or a portable multitrack recorder?
Recording drums is arguably the hardest thing to do, even in a purpose built facility.
From your post it sounds like you're new to the game so 3 or fewer mics would be your best bet as a multi mic'ed setup can take ages to set up because of juggling things like phase cancellations.
The MOST important things are A, make sure the kit and drummer are both at their best, old crap heads will give a crap sound and make sure the drummer can obviously play properly
B the space you are recording the drums in, both the location the kit is in and the location you will be monitoring what's coming down those mics, ideally acoustically isolated from the drums so you can hear only the sound from the mics as that's what you're interested in here. Also try the kit in various parts of the room to see where it sounds best.
The room the kit is in can DRASTICALLY affect the drum sound, if the ceiling is very low then you will get a lot of very difficult to deal with reflections from it so the higher the better in many respects.
As keytarman suggests it could be well worth putting a mic further out in the room too, particularly if you're doing rock or heavier styles as those styles generally rely on the sound of room mics A LOT!!!! the trick is to VERY heavily compress them and mix in your spot mics where needed.
You say you have 'xlr' mics? Are they of good quality or maplins type things? If they're the latter then you'll most likely have to be very careful with the kick as the produce VERY high SPL (Sound Pressure Level) well in excess of 100 decibels inside or close to the head which can destroy cheaper mics... if this is the case then it might be worth you hiring a few mics for the day... very good quality mics aren't that expensive to hire on a daily basis and the results make it worth it...... even 3 Shure sm 57 or 58's will do a better job and be able to take those kinds of spl's as that's what they're made to do.
If you know what compression, gating, eq etc are and are conversant with them then yes it can be worth doing this 'on the way in' but again only if you know what you're doing, if you don't then don't try and kid yourself that you are as you'll most likely mess it up.... track (record) everything without any processing making sure your levels do not exceed around -9dbfs or so peak or around -12 to -18 rms (ave) as you'll need the dynamic range later on... oh and use 24 or 32 bit if possible as they have a greater working resolution than 16bit, you can mix down to that come mastering time.
Spend time moving mics around subtly once you have the basic setup in place as again this can make quite a difference.
Most of all though....... Have fun!