This technique is somewhat experimental, in the end, that’s the reason we’re creating this blog, so take it for what it is.
Place an acoustic guitar on a stand around 2 feet in front of your drum set. Preferably with the guitar’s opening looking away from the drums. Place a condenser microphone pointing at the guitar's sound hole. The sound of the drums will reverberate inside the guitar’s body and be picked up by the condenser. A lot of reverb, maybe some echo. A fun experiment.
Then place your snare mic 3 fingers from the top drumhead, pointing at the center.
Regarding the bass drum, it would be a good idea to place it inside the bass drum. You really don’t want a lot of room sound with this technique, given that the guitar will have a lot of reverb. Want to hear how it sounds? Check out this video.
As mentioned above, this technique was made to experiment, so experiment when you’re mixing it as well. Maybe try a “boomy” mix—with lots of reverb and echoes—which will come from the microphone placed in the guitar, and add clarity and punch by mixing in the bass drum and snare mics.
Pros of this technique:
- Simple and straightforward to set up. Which is also a great thing given how uncommon this approach is. You can tell pretty quickly if this is something that serves you or not.
- Mono compatibility. As with the previous technique, don’t overcomplicate it. Keep everything in the middle and focus on the sound. You get 3 signals, get the best sound possible out of them.
Cons:
- The sound coming out of the guitar mic might be too ringy, reverberated and uncontrolled. Yes, we know.
- This technique might not be suitable for busy drumming. The reverberations and echoes with a lot of notes can create quite a cacophony.
- Not a lot of cymbals in this approach.
