The Glyn Johns Technique

The Glyn Johns Technique 

A Recording Revolution

Who is Glyn Johns?   

Glyn Johns is an English musician, recording engineer and record producer. He was born in Surrey in 1942 (age 75), started a band at 17 years old called The President's, and is the author Sound Man; a memoir to mark his past 50 years in the studio and stadium.

At the beginning of his career, in 1964 he engineered the first Kinks singles “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night”. On 14 April 2012, Glyn Johns was installed into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, USA. He was honoured for musical excellence.

Glyn Johns’s extensive discography really jumps out, he worked with such names as; The Beatles, The Clash, Eric Clapton, The Steve Miller Band, Joan Armatrading, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin and many more, all of which he was either the engineer or producer.

  His Technique

The basic Glyn Johns technique uses only 4 microphones.

2 overhead mics (ideally large overhead diaphragm condensers), one kick mic (dynamic or condenser), and one snare mic (normally a dynamic).

The overhead mics are going to pick up ambient sounds, transients and an overall blend of the instruments being recorded, in this case, the drum kit.

• For the first overhead mic (placed above the kit) when testing and listening back to it you should be hearing a complete balance of kit; a nice blend of snare, toms and cymbals all smoothly combined in one mic.
• The second overhead microphone is placed low and to the right of the Floor Tom. This mic is positioned not necessarily as an “overhead mic” but more of a to-the-side mic to secure the kit’s sound from a different perspective. When placed correctly, the two mics should be working together to create a balanced and clear sound; a sharp snap from the Snare drum in the center, the brightness from the Symbols, and the low attack of your Floor Tom.
• The kick mic will either be placed inside or outside of the kick drum, there is no right or wrong way to do this, it’s wherever gives you that resonating fullness that counts in order to complement the first two mics.
• The last mic will be positioned on the snare drum in order to fill out the snare sound and to get that satisfying bite of the drum.

Instructions

To begin, here is a diagram of a drum kit:

• Place the first overhead microphone 3-4 feet directly above the snare drum, or in the middle of the kit. Make sure that the microphone’s grille is facing downwards. Some people prefer it above the front rim of the snare drum, above the inner rim or above the drummer’s knee, it depends on the sound you are looking for, so just experiment!

• The second overhead mic (or the to-the-side mic) will then be placed low down to the right of the Floor Tom. Now you need to make sure that the grille of the mic is exactly the same distance from the center of the snare as the first overhead microphone. To do this, measure the first overhead mic to the center of the snare drum with a cable, and then make an arc over to the Floor Tom to see where the second mic needs to be placed.

It should look something like this:

Now for the easier part.

• Take the kick mic and place it close to the face or inside of of the kick drum, decide where gives you the right punch.
• Then grab your last mic and position it a couple of inches above the rim of the snare drum in order to fill out the sounds, angle it across the snare or wherever else sounds satisfactory.

Video walk through:

    Distinct effects, and why his technique became so famous:

Glynn John's technique became highly reputable and widely used because of the simplicity of it. Within itself, it is a quick, simple, and reliable method. Continuing with this, it's low maintenance, requiring only 4 mics (2 overheads, one kick mic, and a snare mic), because of this, it didn't take much time or expense to set up, giving it a wider appeal to a larger market.
It produces a live, punchy and natural tone from the kit, leaving out a jungle of instructions or taking up too much space. This unsurprisingly vibed with many musicians and producers.

An everlasting effect was the incredible sound it leaves behind for producers to mix with, the 4 mics provide rounded acoustics, whereas beforehand if only one mic was provided, it would have been flaccid and thin sounding, nothing like a real live sound.

More on:
Glyn Johns interview: My 50 years of producing rock classics

Helpful links!

The Glyn Johns Drum Recording Method

Recording Drums: The Glyn Johns Method

The Glyn Johns method of recording drums

Glyn Johns: My top 6 productions