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Sean Cook
Glyn Johns is a well known british musician/engineer/producer, who has worked with Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Clash, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Kinks, and many more notable artists as well. He worked with the Beatles on Let It Be and Abbey Road, and in 1969 saw the release of Led Zeppelin's debut album, on which he engineered and produced with Jimmy Page. He utilized a unique technique for recording big drum sounds with only four mics.
This has been coined "The Glyn Johns method", and all you need for this method are 2 overhead mics (large diaphragm condensers), one kick mic (dynamic or condenser), and one snare mic (typically a dynamic). The big picture is that the sound comes from the overheads while the kick and snare mics act as “spot” mics to fatten up those two huge elements of the kit and give you a bit more to mix with.The way the two “overhead” mics work together is very unusual and this is what makes the Glyn Johns method so unique.
To get started ....you take the first overhead mic and place it three to four feet directly above the middle of the snare kit. Point it down at the kit. Then record a bit and listen back to that one mic, what you want to do is listen for a complete balance of the kit. You'll want to hear a nice balance of snare, toms, and cymbals all in one mic. If you have don’t have enough of the hi and mid toms, then angle the overhead more towards the toms. If the cymbals are too sharp, move the mic up a bit more.
Then take a second overhead mic and place it just to the right of your floor tom, maybe six inches above the rim and facing across the the tom towards the snare and hi hat, this “overhead” mic isn’t actually overhead at all, its actually more of a side fill mic capturing the kit from a different perspective.
The trick to getting this mic in phase with your first overhead mic, is that you wanna make sure that the grill of the microphone is exactly the same distance from the center of the snare, as the first overhead mic. I actually take a tape measure and measure it out, or you can take a mic cable and have someone hold one end of it tightly to the center of the snare as you stretch the cable up to the first overhead and mark out the exact distance. Then with your helper still holding his end tight to the snare, bring the cable over to the second mic and make sure that the mic is lined up with where your finger is marked at
these two mics alone can give you a completely balanced, and clear stereo recording of the kit. You should be able to hear the crack of the snare right in the center, and the cymbals all the way around, and the toms should be punchy and clear as well.
Now..... what you will however be lacking is the low end punch to the kick and also some fatness of the snare, but that’s where the other two mics come in.
Take a kick mic, and place it close to the head, or inside the drum, then you might even wanna cushion a blanket inside and over as well, and what you want is to get the fullness and mad attack of the kick, to compliment the first two mics. With the snare, place the mic a couple of inches above the rim, angled out across the snare. You can experiment, and play with the angle of this mic for incredible differences in sound. You can then adjust these other two mics to your liking, just to color in your drum sound even more.... you have the kick and the snare coming in through your overhead mics as well so these two close mics should paint in what might be missing from that initial sound. This is an awesome method, we use it constantly in the studio, Glyn Johns really blazed a sweet trail for us to ride on.
