Four Mic Drum Setup: The Sweet Spot for Recording

The four mic drum setup occupies the sweet spot between minimal and comprehensive approaches. By adding stereo overhead capability to kick and snare close microphones, this configuration delivers professional width and depth while maintaining manageable complexity. Many engineers consider four microphones the minimum for serious drum recording that competes with fully-miked productions.

Configuration Options

The standard four mic arrangement uses one kick microphone, one snare microphone, and a stereo pair of overheads. This provides independent low-end control, snare punch, and full stereo imaging of the kit. The Glyn Johns and Recorderman techniques both fall within this category, though they position overheads unconventionally.

Alternative configurations substitute the stereo overheads for other purposes. One kick, one snare, one mono overhead, and one room microphone capture both close detail and ambient space. This approach suits genres where room sound contributes significantly to the aesthetic.

Some engineers dedicate the fourth microphone to hi-hat, using kick, snare, and single overhead plus hi-hat close microphone. This configuration provides extra control over the hi-hat’s position in the mix without requiring full stereo overhead treatment.

Stereo Overhead Techniques

Spaced pair positioning places two overhead microphones at equal height, spread horizontally above the kit. This technique creates wide stereo imaging but requires careful distance matching to the snare drum to prevent phase issues. Typical spacing runs three to six feet between microphones.

Coincident techniques like XY positioning use two microphones at the same point, angled apart. This eliminates timing differences between channels but produces narrower stereo width. ORTF spacing—17 centimeters apart at 110-degree angle—compromises between width and phase coherence.

The Glyn Johns technique positions one overhead above the kit and the second beside the floor tom, both equidistant from the snare. This unconventional approach creates a unique stereo image while ensuring phase alignment through equal distances.

Recorderman technique uses two overheads measured to identical distances from both snare and kick drum. This mathematical approach ensures phase coherence across the most critical low-frequency elements while capturing full stereo width.

Achieving Balanced Sound

Overhead microphones in four mic setups capture the entire kit, not just cymbals. Positioning height and angle affects the balance between drums and cymbals. Lower positions emphasize drum shells and reduce cymbal prominence. Higher positions capture more room sound and cymbal detail.

The kick and snare close microphones supplement rather than replace overhead contribution. Blending close microphones with overheads requires attention to phase relationships and frequency overlap. High-passing the close microphones while low-passing the overheads can create clean frequency division.

Cymbal balance comes primarily from overhead positioning. If cymbals overpower in the overheads, lower positioning or angling away from cymbal locations can help. Alternatively, moving the drummer to play cymbals more gently maintains better overall balance.

Phase Management in Four Mic Setups

Four microphones create six potential phase relationships—each microphone interacts with every other. The overhead pair requires particular attention since they capture identical sources from different positions. Stereo coherence depends on proper alignment.

Measuring from the snare drum center to each overhead capsule ensures matched timing for the backbeat. Matching distances from the kick drum to each overhead prevents low-frequency comb filtering. The Recorderman technique specifically addresses both requirements through its placement methodology.

The close kick and snare microphones add complexity. Checking polarity on each against the overhead pair reveals whether reinforcement or cancellation occurs. Low-frequency elements particularly suffer from phase misalignment—the kick drum can lose substantial impact from destructive interference.

Processing Considerations

Four mic setups provide enough separation for meaningful processing while maintaining cohesion. Overhead processing affects overall kit character—compression controls dynamics across all elements, while EQ shapes tonal balance of the full kit.

Individual kick and snare processing targets specific elements without affecting overhead clarity. Aggressive compression on the kick creates consistent low-end foundation without pumping cymbal levels. Snare EQ can cut boxiness or add crack independently from overhead frequencies.

Parallel processing works effectively with four mic setups. Crushing a blend of all four microphones and mixing it beneath the original signals adds excitement and density without sacrificing dynamics or clarity. This technique appears on countless rock and pop productions.

Reverb application typically treats the overhead pair as the primary source, since they capture natural spatial relationships. Adding reverb to close microphones can create strange disconnected effects unless carefully matched to overhead ambience.