Hey guys (and girls),

We reguarly do gigs that are to small for the owners to get a PA system. That's why we bought a small PA installation for ourselves to use when there isn't one present at the place we play. Anyways, I bougt a bass drum microphone, cause the bassdrum sound is the first thing that doesn't come trough, but now i'm thinking of buying mics for the rest of the drum to. I'm not sure what's best to do... Should I buy two overhead mics for the complete drum (except the bassdrum ofcourse) or should I buy two overhead mics for the cymbals and individual mics for the toms and the snare? The second option seems to be an overinvestment for an amateur band , but I don't know if two overhead mics for the complete drum will make the sound of all the toms, snare and cymbals come true...

So any advice of you professional   drummers would be very welcome.

Thanx, Snuf

I've played lots of gigs using 2 overhead condensors and a kick mic, in various sized rooms.  The condensors, if positioned right will pick up everything.  You may sacrifice a little as far as the low end frequencies coming from the floor tom or larger rack toms but IT WORKS. If you're not using an elaborate sound system, don't buy mics for everything and then figure out later that you have to turn down the snare mic, or hat or something else because you're covering up the other instruments.  From your description of what your band is doing, miking the kick and an overhead condensor or two should do the trick.

Thanx guys, excellent advice. It's all simple when someone who knows these things explains them, but when you have to figure it out yourself, you're spending tons of money before you finaly get the wright aquipment for the wright sound. So this helps a lot.

I only have one more question, what's the best way to set up the overheads, like, in height above the drum, angle, place...?

Thanx again, Snuf

I pretty much do what felix does.  You're going to have to look at the parameters on the condensors.  As opposed to something like a SM-57, condensors cover a "wider area", for lack of a better term.  If you have two condensors, place them on a boom stand (straight stands don't work very well with this), like felix said, 1 to 2 feet above the cymbals on both sides of your set up.  This will cover your entire kit.  If you use one, place it dead center.  If I use one, sometimes I'll raise it a bit higher so the coverage expands.  You will just have to experiment with it.  If you use a wedge monitor you may have to reposition a couple of times if you get feedback thru the monitor.  A good sound tech can remedy that problem though.  Good Luck...