Hi there

I'm curious what drum mics ya'll buss together when tracking. I work on a 24 track and for a drum kit typically have 1-2 mics on kick, 2 on snare, 2 per tom, maybe cymbals left and right, and room left and right. That quickly eats up a bunch of tracks. I noticed in one post someone said Steve may buss a left cymbal mic with the left side of the stereo mic in front of the kit and the same for the right side.

Steve, are you in the habit of sending both top and bottom snare mics to one track, both mics for each tom to their own track, and both kick mics to their own track?

If you're recording a large band live to a 16 track how few tracks will you allow for the drum mics?

thanks for any insight,
Bill

I like to have one track per piece of the drum kit, one stereo "overhead" pair (can be -- or include -- a front-of-kit stereo mic), and a pair of room mics. If tracking doesn't permit, I have been known to abandon the ambient mics or mix them together with the overheads, or make a stereo pair for all the toms if there are a bunch. If I have plenty of tracks, I'll keep the batter side and front side bass drum mics separated.