Without getting into microphone choice, I'd say one on the bass drum (no hole in the front head and only felt dampers if you really want to go the whole hog) backed well off the head plus two overheads ideally about a foot above each of your ears. At a pinch one in the snare/hi-hat area but that was rarely par for the course way back then - but a largish ambient room would be nice.

For a young engineer you pretty much need to tell them you want the ambient miking only (with the exception of the bass drum) and not the close miking. They'll probably look at you like you're insane so spell it out or them.

Upside of no close miking is it also negates a multitiude of rattle and tuning sins (no excuse of course - make sure everything as it should be).

I'm sure someone who's really an expert can tell you the ideal mikes as well.

Cheers,

David

The biggest part of any good drum sound is the overheads; but for what you want to achieve you actually need room mics. They should be some distance away from the kit. Then I like to delay these tracks - something you can't really do with analog gear, so at least that's one thing you can take advantage of with digital methods.

Thanks guys! This advice is great, and much appreciated :)

Play a lot of snare drum. As I'm sure you've already done, listen to a lot of Bill Haley. I think you'll hear a lot of snare, kick, hi hat and ride. Depending on the vibe, you may not need to set up the toms at all. I agree with everything everyone said. No close miking. Hopefully the room gives you a good ambience.

Enjoy.

G

I'd use single ply heads and tight tunings.