Hi everybody, this is Jerad at BAMM.tv. I’m here to discuss our most used in-house microphone setup for drums, the Glyn Johns Technique.
Glyn Johns is a master recording engineer that has worked with such bands as The Who, Steve Miller, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, The Eagles and many more. The technique is most widely heard on the Led Zeppelin recording of drummer John Bonham. In fact, Glyn’s younger brother Andy used this technique (with the aid of a Sennheiser 416 placed three stories above the drum set) to record the Zeppelin song “When the Levee Breaks,” which has been considered one of the best drum recordings of all time.
The Technique calls for 4 mics. Place a spot mic on the kick (Shure Beta 52, or AKG D112 are ideal), and a spot mic on the snare (SM57, Beyer dynamic M201). The other two mics will work as your overheads, and a tape measure is needed to get this part right. The first overhead (cardiod) is placed about 4"- 6" above Floor Tom facing Hi-Hat across Snare. The second overhead (cardiod) is placed about 2'-3' above the kit facing between the toms and snare. Room-mics, bottom snare mic, 2nd kick mic, etc. are all optional. The overheads work best if they are large diaphragm condensers, but any mic that isn’t too bright should work fine.
Panning the mix is what makes this small four-microphone technique sound so big. First you want your snare and kick in the center of the mix like usual. Now pan the mic above the snare halfway to the right to give the mix a little balance without taking it too far to the right (if you did this, it would create an illusion of snare sound coming heavily from the right). Next, pan the mic near the floor tom to the far left. This gives a depth and stereo image to the overall kit. This amazing technique allows you to use less mics to get a giant drum sound, but remember, a good drum mic technique must be complemented with a good tuned drum set, a good sounding room (like BAMM studios), and of course a good performance.
