#002 - Tech Talk: Your Microphone Locker

Jan 'Yarn' Muths : Welcome back to the production dog podcast. Thank you for tuning in again. And a special thanks to all our subscribers, it is great to have you on board with me today. This episode is a tech talk about your microphone locker or your collection of microphones. So I would like to sum it all up and try to guide you to make good decisions when you buy microphones and set yourself up so that you can get the maximum amount of work done with the least amount of dollar spend. And if you are familiar with microphones, you may know what kind of a subject it is how easy it is to get lost and spend ridiculous amounts of money. And there are definitely a couple of people out there who have fantastic collections and probably spend the equivalent of a house deposit on those microphones. In as much as I understand where they're coming from, you know, I'm a bit of a sucker for microphones myself, but business wise, it's not the wisest idea. not too important to go into really deep into technical details, but let's briefly brush over the different types of microphones. So the first one that I would like to introduce to you is the dynamic microphone. In there also known as a moving coil transducers. Effectively they worked like a speaker driver in reverse. There's a magnet there's a coil and I know when the diaphragm is pushed by a vibration that the coil moves across the magnet and that's inducting electricity. Look that's as far as it should go from a technical point of view. So what are these microphones good for and what are their pros and cons. First and foremost, the price tag is something we should point out here. Generally speaking, moving coil microphones are a little bit cheaper than their counterparts And they're really rugged and roadworthy. So most live sound vocal microphones So first and foremost, ribbon microphones are known to have a very quiet output. In other words, the lack of electricity at the output of a ribbon microphone is generally very low. which then means you need to pair this with a preamp that has enough gain to lift it up to where you needed to be. So roving microphones are not for every sound source. Also, they're extremely sensitive. So if you drop a 57, we're talking about the dynamic microphone sm 57. Later, there's a very good chance that we'll survive and most sm 50 sevens on stages have been dropped many many times and still work perfectly fine. A ribbon microphone will not survive any mistreatment in any way. Even a light blow across like this across a ribbon microphone can damage the diaphragm permanently. So they are to be treated extremely delicately. So for that reason, I don't suggest to buy ribbon microphones unless you can, you know look really well after them. They're just very delicate. However they sound beautiful. At least the better ones. They've got a really natural tone and they're a bit more open sounding then moving coil transducers and they have a certain beauty that can just sound really nice on some guitars for So therefore, I would like to dedicate this episode to making the absolute most of out of the microphones who have already and maybe giving you some advice for purchasing others that complement the ones you have already. But before we get too far into the subject, let's have a quick chat about high end microphones versus budget microphones. There is definitely a place for for fantastic high end vintage microphones. So let me just throw a couple of names at you another vintage seat 12 microphones are absolutely adorable and held in much regard and the audio community the fat 40 sevens, the use 60 sevens, I could keep going now there's the manly reference mic, or, Well, some people call this gear porn. It's effectively no really expensive gear that is just absolutely dropped at gorgeous. But it's probably not for everybody, either. There are definitely a high end studios that should buy those kind of microphones because in their treated environments, you can basically take advantage of the sound benefits to the full extend, which you probably can't enter in a home recording studio. So in other words, what I'm trying to say here is, all of these beautiful microphones are beautiful to have. But let's be perfectly honest, if you don't have a treated room at top notch studio, it's not the right kind of gear for you. It's a little bit like buying yourself a Ferrari and never getting it out of second gear. That wouldn't really make sense. And the same thing applies to high end microphones. So I'm actually a big advocate for a budget microphones although I love high end microphones I do I really do. And I think they have their place. But for you as a self producing musician at home, stick with a budget microphones because they are surprisingly good as well and they will give you a really good value for your money. So what do we need to know about microphones? Look, I think it's are dynamic microphones because they simply have a little bit of a rough life gets thrown around a bit. And other microphones would simply break all the time. Moving coil microphones are actually they're known to last a while and they can take the fair bit of abuse. Also, there are lots of advantages here. What are the disadvantages, you could talk about the frequency response, the frequency response is a measure of how accurately a microphone produces all the frequencies at its output. And when it comes to moving quad microphones, I would say that their strength is the entire mid range. But what they're not very good at is the extremes means the very lows, now the base and sub base area and the top of range. Now they're really bright clarity. And that's what they don't do as well. So most moving quite microphones therefore are really good for anything that contains made such as the human voice or guitars or some drums and so on. Good and then in contrast, we have the condenser microphone, that's the second category. It uses a different electrical principle to capacitor plates, and they generally need to be charged for us before they work. And that's why those condenser microphones commonly require phantom power, which is the 48 volt button that you usually find next to a microphone preamp, you've probably come across this at some stage. condenser microphones are generally a little bit dearer in price than moving coil microphones. but not always, the cheap range nowadays is has gotten really far and really affordable. But that's where most of the really expensive microphones can be found. So all the models that I mentioned earlier for vintage vintage microphones that are condenser microphones. What are their pros and cons. First and foremost, don't throw a condenser microphone in the back of a truck, or don't hate it with a drum stick, they will probably not survive. So they're not as roadworthy. They're more sensitive, and they don't take abuse as much so when you have condenser microphones treat them really well and look well after them. Their frequency response is generally a lot flatter means they produce a tone at the output that is generally more natural. We could then further distinguish between large diaphragm and small diaphragm condenser microphones. The small ones are usually front address and they look like a pencil hence pencil microphones that's the nickname The large diaphragm condensers are usually bit bulkier, and they're commonly set up upright their side address microphones and other large diaphragm condenser microphones are commonly found for vocals. They're very common for that, and we'll talk about that in a few moments. So and the third category are ribbon microphones. Strictly speaking, they're also dynamic microphones. However, they don't have a moving coil, but a tiny thin metal ribbons suspended in a magnetic field, which also then triggers or induces electricity to the terminals, the connector. So it's the same electric principle as the moving white microphone. However, the ribbon microphones sound different, and they behave different. Example. ribbon microphones are also not very cheap, by the way, the most of them are a bit dry. So those are the pros and cons of all these types. If you consider buying yourself a microphone, there are a couple of things that I would recommend you look up. So the first thing we discussed already, it's the electric principle, condenser microphone moving coil or ribbon. So choose those wisely. Then the next thing you need to look up is the polar pattern. The polar pattern is a way to describe how well microphones pick up sounds from different directions. So in my case, I'm just speaking into my microphone, which is a cardioid microphone, also known as directional microphone, and I'm right on axis in my case, that's a large diaphragm condenser microphone. So yeah, I'm on axis and I'm now moving out sideways, and you can probably hear my voice, I'm not reducing my volume at all, I keep on speaking exactly at the same volume. And it now seems to turn down the volume a little bit. I'm now about 90 degree from the side. And I keep my distance at an hour round the back and the sound is entirely almost entirely disappearing. So let me just move around back to the front again. Just to clarify, I was speaking exactly at the same volume. And you could probably hear a fair drop in volume around the back. And you may have also heard the different tone when I moved out to the side. So most microphones just perform best exactly on axis, that's when they have their truest of tone. However, sometimes it is actually a wise idea to use the side effect to EQ the signal so to speak. Now that is often used for guitars when microphones are placed off axis to this change the sound that way. Okay, and then we need to talk about the tone of the microphone. When it comes to tone, we're definitely in a very subjective range now and subjective land, and what some what one person likes may not be suitable for the next person. So it's everything I'm about to say please take that with a pinch of salt. I would say that a large diaphragm condensers, like the one I'm using today, and generally have a very pleasing tone to other human voice, they color the sound a little bit. In other words, their frequency response is not perfectly flat, they often have a little brightness, boost or presence range. And they add a certain fullness to a human voice that is perceived by most people as quite pleasing. Small diaphragm condenser microphones are even flatter, meaning they are even more neutral in sound they have next to no coloration. And that is not always a good thing, especially for the human voice. So in my case, I really like the sound of this microphone, which is a road k two. It's a good suit for my voice. So I would say microphones and their tone. It's a little bit like a pair of shoes. You know there is no one size fits all and what fits one voice you really well may not fit another person. So that's the best take I have on this if you are considering to buy, my recommendation is see if you can get into a shop where you can bring your own headphones, plug in a couple of different microphones and just check how they sound on your voice. Okay, that's enough technical talk, let's talk about your microphone locker, which is your personal collection of microphones. And when you set up your locker when you buy microphones, it's a wise idea to spec it up so that you cover all grounds and that you're prepared for almost any situation. So I would generally suggest to think about what you already have, and then add new aspects to it. So buy new microphones, only if they bring something new to the table that you can do already. So I thought long and hard and I came up with what I would call the small microphone locker with only four microphones. And that is my recommendation for you to set yourself up quickly and cheaply without breaking the bank and set yourself up for almost all kinds of recordings. So let's get into this microphone number one in your small microphone locker Is it nice sounding vocal microphone. For that I generally recommend to consider large diaphragm condenser microphones and when we talk about a bunch of microphones in that range, let me just mention a few names that I believe kick a little bit above have their price range. And I have to give credit to rode microphones who have a worldwide reputation to build really sweet microphones for a surprisingly affordable price tag. And I'm using a Rode microphone today, it's the K two, I think I mentioned this earlier, which has a really nice tone that I liked for my voice a lot. They have a fair bit of a selection of different microphones. So there's Yeah, models to choose from. One more thing to mention about rode microphones is that I've had very good personal experience with their warranty and repair services. So and also know lots of my friends who own rode microphones, who had a lot of good things to say about, they're very generous technical support. Obviously, that is an important factor. So if ever, something's wrong with your microphone, and you need to fix on a warranty, I think that road offers a fantastic customer service there and I'm not sponsored by them. I'm not getting any money for saying so it's just my private opinion, and my honest opinion that this is probably a good brand to stick with. But obviously there are other choices as well. So if we look at Audio Technica, they have the 80 2020s and 4040s, and 4040 sevens, they're all large diaphragm condenser microphones at different price ranges, none of them would break the bank really badly. And then there's of course AKG to mention, now who have microphones and the top notch range as well, but they also have a couple of entry level microphones that are quite affordable and surprisingly great and sound. So let's also mention a Sennheiser they have a vocal microphone by the name of MK four. There's also another alternative the Mk eight, which I've used before and I have to say that I was actually quite surprised just by how good these microphones are considering that they can be had for under 300 bucks in the case of the Mk four. So that's definitely a microphone that I believe kicks above its price range in lewitt is another microphone brand that I've come across just recently only although they've been around for a while. They also offer some great sounding microphones for for a budget. Look, this is not a complete list. There are so many brands and I apologize for all the great ones that are missed today. However, there's a lot of good microphones to be heard when it comes to the to your vocal recordings. large diaphragm condenser microphones will definitely do a good job there. But always be sure to also invest into a pop flutter. Pop flutter is one of these black disks that you put between your mouth and the microphone. And let me just show you a little demonstration of why this is important. Attention Attention. Some of the sound examples demonstrated in this episode require decent headphones or stereo speakers, on sheep, ear butts, phone speakers, or in noisy environments, you may not be able to hear much difference. We're going to trigger the alert here, because this is something that you may not be able to hear on bad speakers or bad headphones. But let me just take the microphone or the pop photo away for a moment. And when I keep talking to the microphone, nothing really changes I unless I speak sounds with a P or a B. So there we go. This is called a plosive. It sounds really nasty on the microphone, it's a low frequency rumble. And let me just put the pop filter back in place and do the same thing. That's the mic puppet in place can we take it away and back in place. So if your playback system supports low frequencies, you could hear that it grossly misbehaved when I made a p sound without a pop flutter which causes a low frequency plosive on the microphone that's basically when the airflow hits the diaphragm and moves it and proportionally upward. It really doesn't change the sound of the voice much but it keeps these nasty plosive from happening. And that is definitely required for condenser microphones. Okay, so now we have the first round of microphones covered with a large diaphragm vocal microphone. Let's just talk about a few things that you can also do with these microphones because they're not as good for vocals but for other things as well. large diaphragm condensers work well on most quiet sounds and that includes things such as acoustic guitars. Room recordings, use them for shakers for percussions you can use them for overheads. There's very, very few things that might large diaphragm condenser microphone is not good at so they're very universal. And when you need to record instruments, they're also really really nice choice for most signals. So let me just think about situations in which I would advise against a large diaphragm condenser microphone for your first microphone choice for vocal microphone. We need to talk about room acoustics. Actually a touched on it in the last episode already. In large diaphragm condenser microphones are very detailed and sound and that's due to the lightweight of the diaphragm, they pick up very quiet signals really well. And that's a good thing, especially if you have a singing voice or an acoustic guitar where all the subtle little nuances come through, it sounds very detailed, intimate and just pure and beautiful. But what of the quiet signals are not desirable. So let's say you might be in a room where you have an unpleasant room sound. In the last episode, I took a microphone into different places in my house, and they were definitely a few places where I would never consider to record because just because the room acoustics are so bad, or what happens if there is a little bit of background noise. That's usually when these large diaphragm condensers pick up all the details. And the problem with that is often that in recording you don't really notice it's there. And once you play the recording back from a computer, suddenly you hear what you weren't paying attention to when recording, there might be a little bit of traffic noise and could just hear a dog barking not quite sure if that came through on your end. But I could definitely hear it. And if you're dealing with ambient noise AND ROOMY, roomy sounding spaces, then a large diaphragm condenser microphone might actually turn into a disadvantage. Because it picks up these details a lot. And in this case, you may want to consider to replace your larger from vocal microphone with a larger from dynamic microphone. There are a couple of models that I would like to point out. I think everybody knows the Shure SM 58. If you've been on the stage before, chances are you've seen one, it's the best selling vocal microphone for stages on of all times. Those microphones also sound pretty decent for the human voice. However, they are not as neutral in sound, they color the sound a little bit better. But at the same time that tune our details a lot more because you can also get a lot closer. So producing distance can have a great deal to do with reducing ambient noise and unwanted sounds as well. Good. You will probably not find too many sound engineers who believe that the 58 is a particularly great sounding microphone. Most people like it because it's so good on stages or so roadworthy. it rejects feedback really well you can get loud on stage. But its tone is very rarely appreciated with a lot of passion. When it comes to dynamic microphones, maybe consider other choices. So we need to venture from the budget market into the upper range of dynamic welcome microphones for a moment. And I would like to talk about the ar e 20. For a moment, the microphone that you're listening to now is called the electro voice ra 20. The ra 20 is a dynamic microphone that's commonly used for radio DJs. It's one of the more expensive dynamic microphones However, it's definitely considered to be a top notch microphone. When it comes to dynamic microphones, it doesn't get much better. This microphone has got a very interesting sound that I actually quite like. And if we compare the sound of a condenser microphone to that offer larger from dynamic microphone, we will find that it's still very good when you speak close proximity. However these microphones don't pick up the tiny little details quite as much. In other words, it blends out ambient noise a little bit better than large diaphragm condenser still, and my understanding is that it simply has to do with the weight of the diaphragm. The credenza microphones have a very thin, lightweight metal diaphragm, which is just micro meters thick. And the tiniest little bit of air movement can move that and create sound, while the dynamic microphones have a heavier diaphragm and therefore, you know they're just not as good as capturing details which sometimes can actually work for you. All right. The sound of this microphone and ages ago we even saw a little video of James Hetfield of Metallica singing in the control room at the back of the studio in the control room, holding an SM seven B in his head. That's how they recorded James Hatfields Wolcott's. By the way let me switch microphones again and show you the sound of my voice now coming through an SM seven B. So here we go again, the SM seven B, the SM seven B is made by Sure. It's one of the pricier microphones again, we're talking about a couple 100 bucks about six $700 depending on the exchange rates, and it's a very popular microphone that you can speak to in very close proximity. It's got a really great sound. I like the tone of it a lot. However, it requires a microphone preamp with a lot of gain or you need to use it for very loud sound sources. It's definitely not the right microphone to record quiet whisper from three meters distance, that microphone will not do a good job at that. But if you speak into it, if you sing into it, if you play guitars or even record drums, this microphone will do a really good job for you. Good. Just to demonstrate the sound difference. Let me just move back to the condenser microphone. Good. So now that we've explored the choices for the first microphone in your small microphone locker, let's just sum it up again, large diaphragm condenser with a pop filter for most people, or a large diaphragm dynamic microphone if you deal with ambient noise, and yet traffic noise and things like this room acoustics, they're probably better because you can get closer they also have a really nice sound. Okay, so now that we've covered all of this, let's add a microphone of a different color deliberately. So the second microphone in the small microphone locker that I recommend is a good instrument microphone. And if we look at the most popular choices here, it literally comes down to well, pretty much only one model, it's the Shure SM 57. If you're a musician, chances are you've seen them before. They are definitely on. They can be found at almost any stage and they do a fantastic job for all kinds of instrument recordings. They're very affordable, they're very rugged, and they can take a fair bit of abuse. They're also really good for snare drums for electric guitars, for percussion, for all kinds of things have even once seen a DJ on stage miking up the crossfader with the 57 to get a bit of clicky sound and then he reset for all of these things. 50 sevens were do an amazing job. I once worked at a studio where the main engineer loved the 57 for acoustic guitars. In all honesty, that's not my preferred choice. I like other microphones better, but he had a certain placement a certain way to aim the microphone that really brought out some great qualities from the acoustic guitar. This is the sound of my voice coming through 57 and now let's switch back to the road condenser microphone. In all honesty, I don't think the 57 is a good sounding vocal microphone definitely not for my voice, but I can imagine that it works in some situations for the voice as well. It is definitely built to be an instrument microphone and it's an all rounder that can be used in literally any situation in the studio. On stages wherever you are 57 is great for instruments to have. It's most popular probably for guitar cabinets, and for snare drums. But you can also try it on Tom's and all kinds of other things. The only thing I would not my gap with a 57 is signals that require a lot of low end such as bigger Tom's and kick drums or base cabinets. The 57 starts to roll off at about 150 hertz which is not that good for for bass heavy signals. It would take a lot of EQ to undo that so don't use a 57 for for basis sounds. So if you don't like the 57 let me just give you a couple of alternatives. The onyx I five is definitely microphone to be reckoned with. It definitely sounds really good on most drums and it's really good on snares. If you need an instrument microphone for electric guitars, I recommend to consider the Sennheiser in line oh six. That is actually a microphone that I personally like a lot. I know some people disagree with me here. But I like this microphone on electric guitars. There's also the little brother, the six or nine. Both of these microphones we do a good job on electric guitars. Okay, this concludes microphone number one and two of your smaller microphone locker. Let's look at the last two and for the last two, I recommend a stereo pair of Small diaphragm condenser microphones, also known as pencil microphones, you can buy those in stereo pairs. Some of them are sold as metric pairs where you get two microphones in one box, or you can to buy two individual ones, but get the same model twice because this allows you to do stereo recordings. And it also covers the top range of the hearing spectrum means the brightness that you don't really cover with dynamic instrument microphones yet. So the smarter from condensers are really clean and natural and sound. And they usually go higher up the natural from condensers. And definitely much higher up than dynamic microphones and therefore cover everything that is bright and clean and natural really well. Small diaphragm condensers are worked really well on acoustic guitars. I love those on acoustic guitars. To be honest, they work really well on percussion instruments such as shakers, and they work well on choirs, you can use them for a cymbals on drums, you can use them for a huge range of different applications. This strength is instruments, everything that is clean, and bright and natural and sound. I'd like to share a couple of tricks with you about setting up stereo microphones and recording to capture a stereo width at the source basically to use the instrument and move it around and to know find its place in the stereo field. So I hope you enjoy the upcoming sound example. Attention Attention. Some of the sound examples demonstrated in this episode require decent headphones or stereo speakers, on sheep, earbuds, phone speakers or in noisy environments, you may not be able to hear much difference, you will definitely need to listen in stereo to hear what's going on. So let's do a little test here. This is my voice coming out of both earplugs or speakers equally loud. And this is my voice coming only from the left ear. And here's my voice coming only from the right ear. If that didn't pop out on your end, if it just seemed to come from the same place, then you might need to relook at your listening setup and see why it's not popping out in stereo. So I've got a little demonstration prepared, you can first hear mano cadenza microphone used for shaker and then I will pan this to the left ear and a little bit later to the right ear. Now that we've listened to this, let's do the same thing. Again, I've set up two microphones, and I'm playing the shakeout a little bit towards one side, have a listen, if you can figure out which side chances are, you could hear an interesting sense of space here. If I wanted to add new signals, now I would then place the next instruments in the opposite direction, let's say my Viber slap. Let's try the same thing again, here's the Viper slap into my stereo microphones. I hope you could hear that I'm not occupying a different space. And that's a very powerful tool. And so you can literally play the instrument into the microphones and create a certain width or a certain your stereo effect, which is an very interesting little tool to have. If for whatever reason you don't like it later in the mixing stage, you can probably split your stereo file into two modifiers and get rid of one. That way you still have a mono signal that you can then mix using a pan port if you prefer that sound, which is obviously a matter of choice. Other things you can do, you can use stereo microphones for creative effects. For example, as you play an instrument you can move it from the left to the right so that you hear a certain movement on your cans. It works really well with the vibra slap. Let me show you. Good Now that we're done with the small microphone locker let's To sum it up one more time the vocal microphone, an instrument microphone and his stereo pair of pencil condenser sets you up for almost anything. So let's just have a look what you cannot do with your microphone locker at this stage. drums are definitely problem and bass that is not something that we can fully cover yet. So if you're a drummer, or if you play in a band with a drummer You may need to consider extending your microphone locker or beyond the small microphone locker. And the first thing that I recommend to add, we again follow the principle of buying only microphones that bring a new quality to the table is of course it kicked on microphone kicked on microphones are commonly all dynamic microphones, there are a couple of condensers, but they are rare. And the ones that you see in action most of the time, almost all of them are dynamic microphones. The cheap ones are take them with a pinch of salt, my recommendation would be to not go for the cheapest of the cheapest year but find a middle ground as they can be a little bit shy in base sometimes, and that might not be what you really want for a kick. So there are models from AKG from Sennheiser from sure from audix. There are plenty of different kick microphones, and all of them are specialists. They are designed to be placed in front of a cake or inside a cake. And they literally color the sound strongly already to make the kick drum sound better. Which also means these microphones sound pretty much useless on everything else. So they're definitely specialist with a very strong coloration that makes kick drum sound more punchy, more powerful, and generally better. In large studios, you might sometimes find condenser microphones enter dynamic microphones around the cake. And in this case, you often find a fet 47 on the outside of the kick drum. That is not for you to buy. And this is a very expensive microphone, it's very pricey. It is often used for it's particularly round and warm and for the bottom end. And in many situations, it's actually used to supplement the other microphone, the kick drum microphone. So my recommendation is don't go down that road that's too expensive. If you struggle to make your kick drum sound good positive to the hands of a good mix shown engineer. If it was miked up with a good dynamic microphone that can definitely be done, even if it was miked up with a fet 47 in the first place. Good. That's the kick drum. We already have a snare microphone or an instrument microphone from our small microphone locker room, let it be a 57 or something similar. And there's a very good chance that this will work really well on the snare drum. So we use that. And we also have our overhead microphones, the ones that are above the drum set aiming at the cymbals, that we've got those covered as well because that is a prime example for your small diaphragm stereo condenser microphones. So let's think about what's left on a drum set are the two microphones, we need to consider the toms and for your Toms. I recommend to consider clip microphones. So clip on microphones make your life a lot easier. They also work really well live. And some of them sound great in the studio. I like them a lot because in life scenarios, I can't have the bass player run into the the Tom microphone stance, which happens all the time. And then suddenly, the tongue microphone swings around and aim straight at the sky. With clip on microphones, these things don't happen. And even if the next drummer sets up the drum set a little bit differently. And they move along with the drum and maintain their position. So there's a lot of advantages to be had with a clip on microphones. And I actually own a set of a Sennheiser II six or four microphones. They are on the cheaper range, or the cheaper end of the price spectrum. And I have never had any complaints about Tom sound. Now with a bit of gain staging and a little bit of ACU. I can always pull a great sound with those no problem at all. There are other models as well like the big brother, the 904, which is really nice. audix has got the D four and D two microphones, which are also very popular. There's lots of different choices for clip on microphones in on this set. I often prefer to have the same model for all Tom's, so I like to just keep that consistent. So if you have two times or three times, just get identical microphones, clip them on and forget about it. That's just the easiest solution. It definitely works in the studio for studio recordings just as well as it does on stage. Especially if you produce on a budget. Good. So what else would one want for drum microphone techniques. We've got the kick sorted, we've got the snare sorted, we've got the Tom's and the overheads sorted out. hired microphones Well, in many situations you can skip those is specially if the drummer plays open high hats then most situations you just want to turn the Hi Hat down rather than up further. The only situation which I prefer to have a hired microphone is if a drummer plays very quiet and delicate finesse techniques on the high end. And that sometimes happens in funk, or reggae genres and in those genres, it can be beneficial to have a higher microphone. In most other cases like pop and rock and even jazz, chances are you can work without one and the overheads will do a great job at capturing the height just as well. So the only other thing that we may want to consider to add here is a room microphone. Room microphones are placed at a greater distance, their capture more of the room response and the actual drum sound. And for that your vocal microphone and large diaphragm condenser will do a phenomenal job. Depending on the model, you may find that your welcome microphone has got a fixed polar pattern, often there would be a cardioid. In this case, you can make a small room sound acoustically larger than it really is by taking the microphone and aiming it back to front. In other words, you aim the microphone into the room and wind with a rejection angle towards the drums you aim it literally away from the drums. In this case, you actually tune out the direct sound from that microphone and you increase the amount of room reflections that you capture which makes a small room sound bigger than it physically actually is. It's a trick that I've used more than once in my life and it's usually served me right. This said who microphones are most beneficial for for rock sounds and metal sounds and things like this sometimes jazz and laundry salt as well. But for pop sounds and you know cleaner sounding folk folk drums, I often find myself turning the room microphones down to the point where they don't contribute as strongly anymore as the the direct microphones.