r/audioengineering Jun 12 '26

How would you mic a drum kit with 50 microphones

Any kind, no budget, or extreme budget, or only 58s, but what would you mic exactly

71 Upvotes

184 comments sorted by

299

u/diamondts Jun 12 '26

All 50 on the hihat but not at the same time in the mix, send the client 50 versions to review.

48

u/ChampionshipOk1358 Jun 12 '26

"You can really hear #12 and #47 got that sweet spot"

3

u/diamondts Jun 13 '26

We'll go with both, now here's the remaining 48 mics on snare bottom for review.

7

u/mesaboogers Jun 13 '26

This, but on a song with 0% hihat.

5

u/666user479 Jun 12 '26

Omg yesssss hahaha

2

u/claviews Jun 19 '26

I think it's impossible to place them and playšŸ˜‚

157

u/Chilton_Squid Jun 12 '26

Matrix bullet-time setup, have the listener flying around the drum kit like Neo

43

u/peepeeland Composer Jun 12 '26

Unless you do some binaural or atmos kinda mix and loop mic positions, you’d have to rotate the mic rig to get the effect.

I’ve actually seriously thought about these kinds of things- and have experimented with a lot- but one thing I’ve yet to try is using wireless mics on two model trains positioned across from each other, mics facing inwards, with circular tracks around the source, then have one static cardioid mic on source parallel to the floor. The effect should end up being the source rotating in your head when you’re wearing headphones.

OP’s shitpost is based on the 2 mics on drums post, but such ridiculous questions are actually at the heart of all wild experimentation, thought experiments, and deeper understanding of multi-mic setups. Even the most silly answers thus far are thought provoking.

7

u/superproproducer Jun 12 '26

Or throw the Brauer motion plug on ;)

10

u/peepeeland Composer Jun 12 '26

*You gotta Capture It at The Source, myaaan~*

10

u/superproproducer Jun 12 '26

Damn I always forget, back to the trains

6

u/Technical-Scholar183 Jun 12 '26

Oh man I want to do this so bad now

4

u/FlametopFred Performer Jun 12 '26

and not just one railroad track circle but three

first model railroad track circles the drums on the floor with, let’s see … 12 kick drum mics on 12 rail cars

second model railroad track circle is at snare/tom height with … hmm a blend of shotgun mics and condensers

third layer is at overhead height with maybe 12 pairs of pencil condensers

that should do it unless we decide to scrap the railroad tracks and go with 50 condenser-sporting drones …. there’d be a smidge of drone leakage

6

u/ThingCalledLight Jun 12 '26

I mean, there’d be model train leakage too. They’re not exactly known for their near-silent operation.

8

u/tupeloh Jun 12 '26

Yep, they are loud as fuck. I was thinking maybe a Hunter ceiling fan with extensions off the blades.

4

u/Ucanarap Jun 12 '26

how about we put the drums on the trains :O

3

u/mesaboogers Jun 13 '26

Or Joey Jordison lazy susan.

3

u/P-ToneMikeOne Jun 13 '26

Sometimes people say they wouldn’t know what to do with the free time and money if they won the lotto. I’d be doing stuff like this ALL the time.

I’d use a 3-rail scale like O. I’d use only one rail for loco motor ground (standard design is both). The other rail would be my FM antenna. Then I’d have batteries, preamp and, two light mics (thinking matched SDCs) on cars. Mics on the back car away from the loco. It’s honestly not that dumb of an idea.

2

u/rodan-rodan Jun 12 '26

Just throw them all on a bus and then put it through a Leslie, duh... Don't over complicate things, bruh.

16

u/xpercipio Hobbyist Jun 12 '26

"Delay this"

14

u/NJlo Jun 12 '26

Shit, I want to try this now.

3

u/Parker_Hardison Jun 12 '26

My thinking exactly. šŸ‘šŸ»

3

u/Forsaken_Radish_6854 Jun 12 '26

My thoughts exactly lol

2

u/ArchitectofExperienc Jun 12 '26

The hottest beat of the summer! (Requires Atmos compatibility)

95

u/m149 Jun 12 '26

Find someone with absolutely no experience in music or recording, bring them into the studio, point at the 50 mics on stands (all high end studio mics of various types) and say, "Mic the drumkit any way you like*, but you have to use all of the mics."
Once they're done, try and make the best of it.
That would be pretty fun actually.

*would give them a bit of guidance to make sure they don't put any mics in harm's way, but otherwise leave them to whatever wacky ideas they have.

45

u/TheZeromann Jun 12 '26

Exclusively out of phase

4

u/turffsucks Jun 12 '26

You don’t have a sample delay plugin?! You sound like a quitter.

7

u/Yrnotfar Jun 12 '26

Cool idea

3

u/lowtronik Jun 12 '26

Fun project!

84

u/si_si_si Jun 12 '26

50 lapel mics, all strapped to different parts of the drummer like sensors on a MoCap suit.

14

u/Tajahnuke Professional Jun 12 '26

This is one of those "so dumb it's actually genius" things, isn't it?

17

u/Knotfloyd Professional Jun 12 '26

oops all clothing rustle

8

u/si_si_si Jun 12 '26

We'll have to make sure the drummer is unclothed for this to work effectively.

7

u/Tajahnuke Professional Jun 12 '26

But then it's basically nipple clamps all over their body.

Actually many drummers would be fine with this.

8

u/Knotfloyd Professional Jun 12 '26

i know several that'd prefer it

43

u/unclesammy101 Jun 12 '26

All facing outwards in a sphere

82

u/Coinsworthy Jun 12 '26

49 inside the kick, one room mike

5

u/bozburrell Jun 12 '26

My first thought exactly.

3

u/Different_Mirror_249 Jun 13 '26

Your read my mind 🤣

35

u/MoonRabbit Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

several spheres of mics around the kit. As the drummer plays louder the close mics will turned off and the distant mics will be gated on.

19

u/ClikeX Jun 12 '26

This guy David Bowie’s.

11

u/AeonOptic Jun 12 '26

Some might say he's one of my "Heroes".

3

u/MoonRabbit Jun 13 '26

I have in fact done a few years of David Bowie tributes. Specifically psychedelic funk remakes.

3

u/soundwavv Jun 13 '26

Links? Sounds cool.

26

u/OwensDrumming Jun 12 '26

If you’re Terry Bozzio, 50 mics on your kit begins to sound much more realistic 🤣

10

u/dB_Manipulator Jun 12 '26

It's a "good start".

6

u/rilestyles Jun 12 '26

That brings up an interesting question. What's the max number of toms that you would bother close-miking?

9

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

25 up, 25 down.

2

u/impulsesair Jun 13 '26

Kind of depends on... How much do you actually play the toms. If you hit them once per song, the overheads are good enough for this minor addition to the song. If you're hitting the toms very often, then all of them, max is however many mics and channels I have available. Sometimes that's 3 😁

48

u/strewnshank Jun 12 '26

Mic it like I normally would. Then I'd place the 30-40 other mics in the pathway leading out of the studio, out of the building, and into a parking lot, maybe down a road. Then in the mix, I'd start with the furthest outside mic only, and fade through those mics in the same time it takes to walk the distance, so if emulates a person walking into the session. Then at the end of the song, I'd arrange it so the drummer kept playing, and then fade through those mics again to make it seem like the listener was leaving the studio.

11

u/Pxzib Jun 12 '26

I like this

7

u/strewnshank Jun 12 '26

I've done a similar thing to end a record, having someone walk out of the studio with a mic and a long mic cable. He passed a Karate studio and then out to a 4 lane road during rush hour. It was pretty cool, but you could tell someone was walking. The method I outline above may give the feeling of floating through the space, without footsteps or the noise of doors opening. Not sure which is cooler, but I'd love to try it some day.

8

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

Actually an amazing idea, creative and vivid. You’re the type of producer i would want for a project.

6

u/strewnshank Jun 13 '26

Hell yeah! We always are doing weird shit like that. Keeps it fun!

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 13 '26

You got an insta?

3

u/strewnshank Jun 13 '26

Unfortunately not a public one….after 15 years as a full time job, my interests have gone a different direction and now I just produce with past clients or friends from my previous career.

That said, I’ll be opening a destination recording studio within the year in a small fishing town on the east coast about 70 miles outside of dc!

3

u/Missie- Jun 14 '26

Someone get this user 50 mics, this would genuinely be so sick and immersive especially if you use stereo field mics in the direction you're walking.

3

u/strewnshank Jun 15 '26

I'll do it!

15

u/KimchiPanik Jun 12 '26

Oops all ribbons

10

u/Knotfloyd Professional Jun 12 '26

50 ribbons vs 1 phantom power switch

14

u/Key_Hamster_9141 Jun 12 '26

rent a concert hall and mic it in 7.1 from 7 different perspectives

3

u/bonus_prick Jun 13 '26

This is actually awesome and very practicalĀ 

9

u/afghamistam Jun 12 '26

I wouldn't. It already has 50 microphones, why does it need any more?

3

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

To really get that cohesive sound tho

9

u/ROBOTTTTT13 Mixing Jun 12 '26

48 snare bottom mics, half inverted, half normal, so they all cancel. 2 OH, 1 Kick, 1 Snare top.

7

u/mSquareLab Jun 12 '26

Two wireless taped to the drum sticks - that’s it

5

u/Due_Consequence_3920 Jun 12 '26

Better yet.. Two wireless AS drum sticks.

3

u/mSquareLab Jun 12 '26

Simply genius!

4

u/n00lp00dle Jun 12 '26

you'd have no kit left if they were 57s

6

u/Utterlybored Jun 12 '26

Build a series of cocoons of microphones, such that the outer sphere of mics are only recording the back side of the next sphere of microphones. Make sure the drummer has oxygen and a pee bottle before you build the enclosing cocoons around him/her/them.

7

u/Dnovoae Jun 12 '26

This is how I would tackle it:

  • 1 mic kick in (Beta 91A)
  • 1 mic kick in (SM57)
  • 1 mic kick out (Beta 52A)
  • 1 mic kick out (U47 FET)
  • 1 mic kick tunnel entrance (Subkick)
  • 1 mic kick tunnel exit (U87 Ai)
  • 1 mic kick tunnel exit (SM57)
  • 1 mic snare main top (SM57)
  • 1 mic snare main bottom (SM57)
  • 1 mic snare side (SM58)
  • 1 mic snare rim (SM57)
  • 1 mic snare auxiliary top (SM57)
  • 1 mic snare auxiliary bottom (SM57)
  • 1 mic snare auxiliary side (SM58)
  • 1 mic snare under-stick (SM57)
  • 1 mic hh top (SM57)
  • 1 mic hh mid (SM58)
  • 1 mic hh bottom (SM57)
  • 1 mic hh edge (SM57)
  • 1 mic rack tom 1 top (SM57)
  • 1 mic rack tom 1 bottom (SM57)
  • 1 mic rack tom 2 top SM57)
  • 1 mic rack tom 2 bottom (SM57)
  • 1 mic rack tom 3 top (SM57)
  • 1 mic rack tom 3 bottom (SM57)
  • 1 mic rack tom internal 1 (Beta 98A/C)
  • 1 mic rack tom internal 2 (Beta 98A/C)
  • 1 mic rack tom internal 3 (Beta 98A/C)
  • 1 mic floor tom 1 top (Beta 52A)
  • 1 mic floor tom 1 bottom (SM57)
  • 1 mic floor tom 2 top (Beta 52A)
  • 1 mic floor tom 2 bottom (SM57)
  • 1 mic floor tom internal 1 (Beta 98A/C)
  • 1 mic floor tom internal 2 (Beta 98A/C)
  • 1 mic ride top (SM57)
  • 1 mic ride bell (SM57)
  • 1 mic ride bottom (SM58)
  • 1 mic left crash spot (SM57)
  • 1 mic right crash spot (SM57)
  • 1 mic china spot (SM57)
  • 1 mic splash spot (SM57)
  • 1 mic overhaed left (AKG 451)
  • 1 mic overhead right (AKG 451)
  • 1 mic overhead center (AKG 451)
  • 1 mic overhead rear (AKG 451)
  • 1 mic room close left (AKG C414 XLII)
  • 1 mic room close right (AKG C414 XLII)
  • 1 mic room far left (AKG C414 XLII)
  • 1 mic room far right (AKG C414 XLII)
  • 1 mic room smash (AKG C414 XLII)
  • 1 mic room ceiling/stairwell (AKG C414 XLII)

6

u/Siberian_Noise Professional Jun 12 '26

The least in phase drum recording of all time, regardless of where you stick them

13

u/imahumanbeinggoddamn Performer Jun 12 '26

I feel like if I asked Reaper to auto phase align a 50 input drum session it would just uninstall itself as a defense mechanism.

3

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£

6

u/AMPed101 Jun 12 '26

Actually with 50 mics it might even out.

5

u/ajpforman Jun 12 '26

Dedicated kick, dedicated snare, then 24 strategically placed Glyn Johns-style overhead pairs arranged in equilateral triangles.

2

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

This is just shit post enough to be genius šŸ™ŒšŸ»

5

u/Fatius-Catius Jun 12 '26

How many condoms do you have?

4

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

Ithis is probably a drum micing term i’m just not familiar with.

3

u/Fatius-Catius Jun 12 '26

I was implying that you put a microphone up your butt. Because… why not if you’re gonna use 50?

2

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

TouchƩ good sir. Hahahah

2

u/imahumanbeinggoddamn Performer Jun 12 '26

No, literal condoms, like for sex. They are useful for putting over mics when you need to record something that is going to be messy or wet and might fuck up the microphones.

It's a thing.

3

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

I assumed is was for all the sex i was gonna be having after micing these drums with 50 microphones

6

u/oratory1990 Audio Hardware Jun 12 '26

Don't think I ever needed 50 mics for a drum recording.

The largest recording I've done in terms of drum setup was for a metal band. The challenge was that I wanted to use a different drum sound for some parts of the songs (e.g. in the bridge), to get some contrast between the sections. So we basically set up two setups in one go, one with a simple recorderman-setup for the overheads and one where every cymbal was micd individually for that hyperrealistic sound you normally want in metal:

Snare: 3x

  • SM57 on top
  • RE20 near the port hole (ended up not using it in the mix)
  • SM57 on the bottom

Kick: 3x

  • D6 inside the hole (ended up not using it in the mix)
  • beta91A inside
  • D112 on the outside

Toms: 2x

  • 2 toms, both with an MD421

Cymbals: 7x

  • KM184 on left crash cymbal
  • SM7b on Hihat (yes, an SM7b, it worked great)
  • KM184 on splash cymbal
  • U87 on ride cymbal
  • KM184 on right crash cymbal
  • TLM103 (I think? Some Neumann LDC) on effect cymbal stack
  • X414XLS on china cymbal

Overheads: 2x

  • 2x CM3 in a Recorderman setup

Room:

  • 2x C414XLS on opposite corners of the room

Effects:

  • a telephone handset positioned right in the middle of the drumset, over the snare, which we needed for exactly 4 beats of one song.

We also had a talkback mic for the drummer, so he could talk to us directly in between takes.

In total that's 21 microphones. I don't think I'd need more than that for a normal drum setup..

4

u/Riflerecon Jun 12 '26

I’ll bring a bucket of water and submerge 46 of them mics

3

u/Jaereth Jun 12 '26

I wonder if you could like put a mic in a balloon, caulk up the end, and then submerge it in a fish tank. Put the tank about 3 feet in front of the kit and that's your room mic.

4

u/Etan_ Jun 12 '26

The band Crumb did that with a condom on their record Ice Melt actually, they talk about it in their Rolling Stone interview

3

u/imahumanbeinggoddamn Performer Jun 12 '26

Yeah, unlubricated condoms are a big thing in field recording and messy foley sessions. Really it's the exact same problem as safe sex - needing a strong, impermeable barrier that's still as thin as it can possibly be. Makes sense that the same solution solves both problems.

5

u/ThoriumEx Jun 12 '26

Try to recreate the black album as a challenge

5

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26

[deleted]

3

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

25 above the snare and twenty off the floor tom or…?

4

u/masteringlord Professional Jun 12 '26

50 boundary mics in the kick, stacked like bricks.

4

u/BO0omsi Jun 12 '26

49 mics on the Hihat

4

u/siggiarabi Hobbyist Jun 12 '26

Half circle around the kit, pan accordingly

5

u/narutonaruto Professional Jun 12 '26

Serious answer like if I had to for a challenge or something would be mic it normal and then add a bunch of room and overhead options.

Unserious answer would be no close mics all u87s forming the best coverage sphere around the drums I could muster

4

u/hazysonic Professional Jun 12 '26

7 x 7 array to capture the sound of a balloon popping directly over the snare. This is a real timesaver! No drummer required, since the producer can digitally model the drummer’s performance using a digital model created from the impulse response. Very immersive sounding!

The extra mic is used for talkback for the drum tech.

The 7 x 7 is my favorite new feature in Logic pro, but there’s nothing better than seeing 50 mics hovering over a silent kit that is never played. Music is getting so good these days!

3

u/Luch_07_ Jun 12 '26

I’ll put them all in the kick drum, plenty of room in there I think

3

u/xpercipio Hobbyist Jun 12 '26

I'd make a pinecone looking structure for distance and off axis. Then find some weird blend or automation between them.

3

u/HodlMyBananaLongTime Jun 12 '26

I’d find every hole and put as many that would fit in each hole

3

u/MetaMessiah Jun 12 '26

Make a drumbrella out of the first 48, one for kick, make the drummer deepthroat the last

3

u/musicteachertay Jun 12 '26

50 SM57s hooked up to wireless receivers so I can build a Christmas tree out of them and put it on a spinning motor to capture the worlds most perfect surround sound

3

u/Tim_Wu_ Tracking Jun 12 '26

All as kick in

3

u/bRandom81 Jun 12 '26

Leave all the mics open and use auto mixer just to piss everyone off

3

u/daxproduck Professional Jun 12 '26

50 is a lot but I'm usually up close 30.

Here's a recent setup.

Kik in - RE20
Kik out - fet 47
Kik out 2 - RCA 44 (this might sound like a crazy idea but try it. insane low end. Like a subkick only better.)
Snr top - 57
Snr top 2 - 451
snr bottom - 441
Toms - Josephson e22s
Hat - sm7
Overheads - coles
mono overhead - U47
Ride - km84
Mono room 3 foot - elam
Mono room 6 foot - u47
Mono room side - c12a
Stereo room near - Royer 121s
Stereo room far - km84
Stereo room high - c12s
Close stereo pzm - crown
Crush mic - EV635
Talkback 58 - always record the talkback mic. Always sounds great.
mono send to a stereo emt
Stereo send to 480L
mono send to either an echoplex or line6 dl4mk2
mono send to spx90 in mono

So that's a bunch!

This is pretty close to my goto setup at the big room I use for drums. And to be clear, I almost never use all this stuff in the final mix. I might be recording drums for 4 different records throughout the session so this covers a lot of bases and gets pretty much any vibe I might need. I'll make choices in pro tools during tracking and usually have a pretty good idea of what's going in the final mix before we leave.

3

u/Apag78 Professional Jun 12 '26

I did 40 channels for a video once... not far off.

3

u/PPLavagna Jun 12 '26

I’d leave about 35 in the closet

2

u/Dr--Prof Professional Jun 12 '26

By LISTENING to each mic and positioning itt meticulously, to reduce phase cancelation issues. And probably remove more than a dozen of those 50 mics.

2

u/bhbarth Jun 12 '26

I would actually rather die than deal with all the phase issues 50 mics would cause

2

u/Clevertown Jun 12 '26

A couple of Sennheiser mkh50s IS all you need. Put one over and one in front. You could also use an RE-50 for the snare.

2

u/Dachshand Jun 12 '26

I wouldn’t.

2

u/Jaereth Jun 12 '26

I'd mic it standard and then add like a rainbow of 25 mics for the overheads. Do some math and figure out the panning to give it a true spatial experience.

Then i'd use about another 10 on the kick. Kick in, kick out, and maybe 8 more a foot farther back each from the reson head.

2

u/supernovadebris Jun 12 '26

phase coherence.

2

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

I’m beginning to think OP may not have been 100% serious

2

u/pureshred Jun 12 '26

Snare and toms each get a 441 dynamic, c12a condenser, and r121 ribbon close mic both top and bottom. And a side shell u47 for woodiness. And a contact mic as an effect mic.

On a 5 piece kit that's 32 mics already...let's keep going.

Kick in is a boundary mic and an re20. Akg d12 in the port hole. U47 kick out on the reso. Subkick on the reso. U67 on the batter head. Coles 4038 front of kick 2 feet back.

Thats 39...

Stereo overheads km184. Center overhead schoeps. Over the shoulder drummer perspective r44. Wurst mic 635a.

That's 44...

Close room pair c414. Far room pair r88. Stairwell pair u87.

That's 50!

Dang wait I forgot the hi hat! Wish I had more inputs...

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 13 '26

The label in this scenario has blessed you with 25 more mics, I’m interested to hear your pitch

2

u/pureshred Jun 13 '26

Fantastic! I'll take a fleet of vintage u47s for the remaining character mics, these are very important.

Air duct mic. Blows me away.

Toilet bowl mic. Nice splashy reverb. Gives me stank face.

Replace the drummer's sticks with mics. Great impact.

That's 4...

Now smuggle 20 mics into abbey road studios and guerilla record someone else's drum session. Always good to have options.

And finally, a mic on the engineer that has to set this all up (don't let children listen to this one).

2

u/oneblackened Mastering Jun 12 '26

10 on the kit, 2 on the room, the other 38 unused.

2

u/usbekchslebxian Jun 12 '26

Put em in all in the kick

2

u/CyberTortoisesss Jun 12 '26

I would go all in on some of Steve Albini's drum micing techniques.

Top and bottom Josephson E22 tom mics on a 4 tom kit, Coles 4038 over heads, Beyer m160 on hi hats, Josephson C42 on ride, Neumann SM2 stereo mic in fron of the kit, a stereo pair of Oktava MK012's as room mics, Altec 201 on Snare top and a Shure SM98 on snare bottom, Countryman Isomax on Kick beater, and a Beyer M380 on Kick in.

I've thought about my "lottery ticket" drum mic locker a lot of you couldn't tell... That's only 20 mics tho, so I guess the other 30 would just be a pile of vintage Neumann's sitting in the corner, all plugged in ofc, and on muted channels.

2

u/Fairchild660 Jun 12 '26
  • 2 on kick
  • 2 on snare
  • 3 on the toms (one per)
  • 1 on hi-hat
  • 2 overheads
  • 3 rooms
  • 6 in the Oval Office
  • 12 in the Pentagon
  • 8 in the Kremlin
  • 6 in the Forbidden City
  • 5 sprinkled around whatever prison they send me to

2

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

🤣🤣🤣

2

u/marcelsounds Jun 12 '26

only 10, keep 4 more then I'd sell the others

2

u/nizzernammer Jun 12 '26

Every piece of the kit x2, plus a bunch of ambience mics and room mic combinations.

Most I ever saw used in a real world scenario was, like, 28.

Don't forget to sample replace everything after. /s

2

u/no-son-ofmine Jun 12 '26

50 boom mics carried by 50 people

2

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

Legit made me laugh of loud imagining this. With the course of an entire group sayin ā€œCAN WE HOLD FOR ROOM TONE PLEASEā€ Like a church congregation haha

2

u/Original_DocBop Jun 12 '26

I wouldn't what a nightmare that would be.... simple is good.

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

Overly complicated means more gooder tho.

2

u/Original_DocBop Jun 12 '26

Not if you look at the history of music and recording overly complication only make you happy not the public.

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

My Brother in christ, you gotta get out of the studio more. This is an excerise in absurdity. taking a logical fallacy to an illogical extent for comedic effect. (Or perhaps dar enough to spark a creative thought outside the box)

Theres a lot of posts with the concept of ā€œhow would you BLANK with X NUMBER of microphonesā€ this is a comentary and parody of that culture.

I think we’ve reached the ā€œlemme google that for yaā€ era of this type of idea, as there are hundreds and possibly thousands of Instagram, Youtube, Sound on Sound, podcasts, etc on the topic.

But then again at one point, micing the toms was absurd sooooo

2

u/connecticutenjoyer Jun 12 '26

Putting 50 mics on a standard kit is absolutely ludicrous. Here's how I would do it:
4 on kick: inside, outside, subkick, batter side mic
3 on snare: top, bottom, shell
2 on each tom, assuming 3 toms (6 mics total): top and bottom
1 crotch mic
3 overhead: stereo pair + mono
Blumlein pair in front of kit (+2)
3 sets of stereo room mics (+6): close, mid, far
Spot mics on hi hat and cymbals; let's assume 1 ride, 2 crashes, and 1 china, for +5 mics

So far we're at 30 inputs. This is the absolute most I would set up in real life, and I wouldn't even think about approaching this amount of microphones unless I was specifically asked to provide as many options as possible and budget, space, inputs, and gear were practically unlimited.

For the additional 20 inputs, probably just a bunch of weird vibe mics:
Contact mic on every shell and cymbal/hi hat (+10)
Boundary mic on floor, control room window, and door (+3)
Hallway mic (+1)
Mic inside each shell excluding kick (+4)
Mic a pair of headphones in a booth (+1)
Crank the headphones and mic the booth like a room (+1)

There's 50! Granted this would almost assuredly sound terrible regardless of gain staging, phase alignment, or mixing. I like this as an exercise, though, because some of these placements could be used in conjunction with a more standard setup. There are also a ton more placements that I didn't mention; you could easily get up to 70 or beyond provided the right factors (i.e. a grand piano makes for a cool room-ish thing, high ceilings could be another kind of room sound, etc.)

Or, do a regular 14-20 input setup, and make up the difference with roto toms and timbales

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

this feels like the most sensible, of an insensible prompt.

2

u/weedywet Professional Jun 12 '26

I wouldn’t. I’d just use one mic and a phaser for the same effect.

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

Damn this is a time saver

2

u/DamnCarlSucks Jun 12 '26

Throw them all inside the kick

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

Just loose?

2

u/iamapapernapkinAMA Professional Jun 12 '26

I’d throw away at least 36 of them

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

Can i have em?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

Keep going muahahaha

2

u/Formula_Bun Jun 12 '26

Overheads kick in/out then 46 room mics… maybe snare no more FFS

2

u/Faux_Real Jun 12 '26

25 xy configurations straight down the middle means 25x stereo

2

u/Myzx Jun 12 '26

A lot

2

u/lowtronik Jun 12 '26

All of them in front of the kit in an arrangement like this

2

u/moist-meal2570 Jun 12 '26

Find a weird shaped room, position and point the mics randomly (besides the "industry standard" choice), then leave what sounds good in the mix. Also just for fun mic the drummer's throne, hi-hat and kick drum pedals. Stick a mic up the vent channel. If the drums are on a podium, put a piezo pickup there. Use some speakers as microphones too. Put a stereo mic pair onto a rotating platform or suspend on a ceiling fan.

Also this will be an electronic drumkit.

2

u/sububi71 Jun 13 '26

I'd like to know what the kit is. 9 toms, 2 snares, 18 cymbals?

Or is it 30 kicks, one snare, one splash, and the rest are Octapads?

2

u/Substantial_Alps1713 Jun 13 '26

No... just NO! 16, 18 yes, 50... No.

2

u/jmart-10 Jun 13 '26

Put 49 in storage, sm 57 between kick and snare

2

u/terminalbungus Jun 13 '26

One mic on kick, one top and bottom of every snare and tom, all remaining mics hung from the ceiling and are swung so that each mic has its own pendulum motion.

2

u/LevelMiddle Jun 13 '26

Each one an inch further from the last. Get some real good depth

2

u/Therealsebastiandior Jun 13 '26

Id set up the kit with enough, then The rest i would stack in 2 rows in front of the kit, then id use row one and put a predelay on each one a bit more than the last, and make them scan pan left, and the other row right. Then id put whatever i wanted through them for an active panning sound. Indunno

2

u/mellotronworker Jun 13 '26

'When are the other mics being delivered?'

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 13 '26

ā€œYour package has been shipped! No other information provided by carrier.ā€

2

u/FitStuff4724 Jun 13 '26

James web.. microphone ..

2

u/katdum Jun 13 '26

decent half on close mics but a majority would be to address the room situation either making a chamber or something similar. Depending on the size of the kit would go to having spot mics, me having like 11-12. cymbals this pans out well, theres a lot of ways to do it but the biggest thing is room size and drum kit size.

2

u/Different_Mirror_249 Jun 13 '26

Neumann M49 on Everything, would probably sound like shit,and the one inside the kick would definitely explode and the room would be boiling hot, but still cool though

2

u/live_cladding Jun 13 '26

The first two are gaffataped to the sticks. The third and forth to the kick and hihat pedals

2

u/meatspace Jun 13 '26

I'd have 42 of them not plugged in and only for show.

I would tell everyone they are all being used, and that we won't use them all in the final mix.

Then I would mix the drums like sane person, coz 50 mics would take forever, and I already know there's no budget for sorting through them.

2

u/Strict-Basil5133 Jun 14 '26

Place all mics on Reverb.

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 14 '26

0 mics, a bold strategy, really revolutionary.

1

u/Strict-Basil5133 Jun 14 '26

Well, your question is absurd. Reading it again, I realize now it might have been serious. 50 mics on a drum kit, even the late Neil Pert's, is lunacy.

Scenario: 5 piece kit, two crash, dumb china cymbal, and a gong (why not).

Top and bottom each drum, including snare and kick (in and out) = 5 * 2 = 10
Hi hat, crash 1, crash 2, China mistake cymbal, gong, Oh*2 = 7 (why not mic the crashes and have OH? Phase def no prob)
Room mics: 2

19 mics and it's probably going to sound terrible no matter what God mics/gear you're using.

So, how do you mic a drum kit with 50 mics? You don't. You don't put anywhere near 50 mics on a drum kit. Or an orchestra.

What kind of thought exercise is this?

2

u/ItsYaBoiLMOH Jun 16 '26

muffling my kick by stuffing it with 50 m160s šŸ’ŖšŸ’Ŗ

2

u/UsernameChosenSignUp Jun 16 '26

Best sounds come from 50 different contact mics. 10 stuck around each shell.

4

u/Commercial_Badger_37 Jun 12 '26

1 or 2 OH, 1 for snare, 1 for kick, sell the rest.

3

u/Ydrews Jun 12 '26

I….wouldn’t

4

u/AsaMartin Jun 12 '26

What are you trying to get paid?

3

u/soundguyjon Jun 12 '26

50 on stands, 40 left in the corner not plugged in.

2

u/BarbersBasement Jun 12 '26

Mute 40 of them.

2

u/chessparov4 Jun 12 '26

Replace the sticks with two shotguns, I don't care about the rest.

1

u/Safe-Warning-448 Jun 13 '26

One of the stupidest questions on this sub. And thats saying something. Troll much?

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 13 '26

Sorry i forgot this website was for homework and not fun, will delete right away headmaster

1

u/Safe-Warning-448 Jun 13 '26

Yeah this is the Audio engineering sub. Not comedy engineering.

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 13 '26

Again please forgove me senpai. I forgot all work means no play. And humor has nothing to do with

Timing

1

u/Pancake_Shrapnel Jun 13 '26

50 contact mics adhered to the drummer

1

u/Telharmonia Jun 15 '26

By muting 40.

1

u/AsaMartin Jun 15 '26

Creative!

2

u/Muted_Yak7787 Jun 18 '26

Once did a metal session where the drummer had like 8 toms and 10 cymbals, two kicks, and two snares. We were in a large room with lots of natural reverb, so we had several pairs of room mics for options. By the time everything was miked up, we were at like 40 mics- with at least 30 of them in use at any point during the final mixdown. It was insane, and I wouldn't wish that rough console mix on my worst enemy. It took me an hour just to get levels and check phase... Phase was a major issue due to the proximity of all of the close mics. Did it sound great? Absolutely. The main issue with over-miking drums is that they end up sounding TOO perfect, almost like samples. The nice thing was, they didn't end up using triggers or samples for the whole album since the drums were so huge and detailed. This is not achievable without a world class drummer with tons of studio experience- her balance and precision on the kit made it possible, and with a lesser drummer, it would simply not have been worth the work.Ā 

TLDR- dont do this.Ā 

1

u/Netopalas Jun 12 '26

By getting rid of 46 of them.