These audio files accompany my 'The Drum Squash Mic Trick' technique article, published in SOS September 2025, and demonstrate the potential benefits of adding a fifth ‘squash’ mic to a basic four-mic setup on acoustic drum kits.
www.soundonsound.com/techniques/drum-squash-mic-trick
Check out the SoundCloud MP3 files below, or download this ZIP file of hi-res WAV audio files to audition in your own DAW.
squash-mic-trick-wav-sos0925.zip
1. SMT_01_Mix1_SquashOut
In this example, you can hear a basic four-mic drums recording — just a raw balance of stereo overheads (AKG C414B-ULS large-diaphragm condenser mics in omni mode), kick-drum close mic (an Electro-Voice RE20 cardioid dynamic mic), and snare-drum close mic (Rode NT5 cardioid small-diaphragm condenser mic), without any mix processing at all. Although the sound isn't half bad for so few mics, the drums lack a little shell character and sustain, especially the snare.
2. SMT_02_Mix1_UncompressedSquashSolo
This is what my 'fifth mic' signal sounds like — here an Oktava MK012 small-diaphragm condenser mic with its omni capsule fitted. It's about 10 inches underneath the snare, close to the side of the kick drum and shadowed from the cymbals by the snare and toms. While it has a strong under-snare component, it's not too strident in the high frequencies on account of the mic being pointed roughly towards the drum stool, and there's plenty of character from the kick drum and toms too.
3. SMT_03_Mix1_UncompressedSquashIn
Here's what it sounds like when I mix my fifth mic in with the basic four-mic balance (as heard in the SMT_01_Mix1_SquashOut example file) — again without any mix processing. Notice not only that the snare now has more brightness and texture, but that the kick drum and toms also have more character. The cymbals, however, change very little.
4. SMT_04_Mix1_CompressedSquashSolo
Now I've heavily compressed the fifth mic using about 12dB of gain reduction from the all-buttons mode of Stillwell Audio's 1176-style limiter plug-in, The Rocket. Here's what that processing sounds like with the mic soloed.
5. SMT_05_Mix1_CompressedSquashIn
Even though the compression sound in the SMT_04_Mix1_CompressedSquashSolo example file is fairly heavy, it doesn't sound nearly as heavily-processed obtrusive within the context of the whole drum kit sound — as you can hear in this example. All it does is enhance the drum sustain and ghost-note details, as well as subtly warming the cymbals.
6. SMT_08_Mix2_CompressedSquashIn
To demonstrate that this fifth-mic technique can work in more elaborate recording situations too, here's another drum kit recording made in a different project studio, this time with seven mics on the drum kit (stereo overheads and close mics for kick, snare, and three toms) and with a bass guitarist performing with their amp in the same room. Again, no processing has been used on the drum mics.
7 .SMT_07_Mix2_CompressedSquashSolo
Here's the squash mic I used in this case: another Oktava MK012 small-diaphragm omni condenser mic fed through an Empirical Labs outboard compressor during tracking. As before, you can hear that the signal has a strong under-snare component, but that there's plenty of character from all the other drums too, and the bass amp is also clearly audible.
8. SMT_08_Mix2_CompressedSquashIn
And this is what it sounds like if I now mix the squash mic into the drum+bass balance heard in the SMT_08_Mix2_CompressedSquashIn example file.