Mic’ing up a drum kit can be one of the most difficult tasks an engineer can face – thankfully, with the right microphone, the job can become much easier. Traditionally, a drum kit is mic’d up with a mic on the kick, snare, hi-hat and two overhead mics for the cymbals and toms. However, as with all mic applications, there is no rule to this. For achieving certain sounds, engineers may prefer to add specific tom microphones, or further room mics to capture ambience. Many manufacturers make drum mic sets that consist of the essential mics. The Shure PGDMK6 Drum Microphone Kit provides three PG56 snare/tom mics, a PG52 kick mic and two PG81 overhead mics.

The AKG D112 dynamic mic is a studio favourite for handling the high-pressure of a kick drum and is also available at Gear4music.com