MIC\'ING THE SNARE...TOP AND BOTTOM???

personly i dont bother different people go for different things. if you have the inputs and mics you may aswell record it but only bring it into your mix if you need it. usualy you need to put it out of phase but it is never perfecticy in/out of phase so you will always have some kind of phase issue.

like bb said, I've never seen them 'perfectly' out of phase. just zoom in and line up the hits manually with the hand tool. I love the bottom of the snare. it's so, um, snarey! just for [bleep] and giggles... one day try putting the two sm81s (I usually use LDCs) out in front of the set forming an equalateral triangle with the center of the kick about a foot off the ground. I usually do it about 3-4 feet out. add the rest of the mics to fit. I read this once and tried it and I rarely look back for rock drums(it's not an R+B sound for instance). unless you're a double kick band, the bottom snare get's picked up great by the snare side mic. I usually have a mono overhead, a kick and snare mic but rarely use any of them. if there's lots of floor tom ala cramps or something, I'll mic that as well. I'm evangelical about this sound. it's so rock and roll. Will

yeah 2 mics is good.. and most engineers use it in a live setting... but you have to make sure that they are in phase... meanign the bottom one has to be opposit the top so taht when the top is hit.. instead of the waveform for them both goig up.. when one goes up the other goes down. or else it might sound a little wierd.

Yes, exactly..but we use our ears to immediately detect gross 180% phase misalignment. cheers,

well If you knew what my job was and you know the equipment lists and board layouts i see every day for live concerts... every setup uses 2 mics. But you could be right.. it might not be top and bottom.. it could be head and rim.