The trickiest drum to mic in a drum set is the bass drum. A good method to select microphone placement is to light a match and hold it just in front of the bass drum. Have the drummer start playing the bass drum and begin to slowly move the match in front of the forward head. As soon as the match goes out (from the force of the drum hit) you can place your microphone.
Keep the microphone about 4 inches away from the head and center it where your match went out. If you want more resonance on the bass drum, you can place the microphone closer. If there is a hole on the front of the drum, you can even place the microphone inside this hole and aim it at the point where the beater strikes the rear drum head.
When placing a microphone on the snare or tom drums, you must keep it far enough back from the performer to prevent damage to the microphone. The microphone should be placed at an angle about two inches above the drum head. Place the microphone stand in front of the set and make sure that the microphone does not exceed two inches past the rim. This placement will also help to minimize the sound bleed from the other drums.
If your drummer is right handed, you can place the microphone about 2 inches right of the center (if you are facing he drummer) of the rim. If the drummer is left handed, place the microphone two inches in the other direction. Some sound engineers choose to place a microphone on the bottom of the snare drum to add some snap to the sound. This is entirely unnecessary but can be done be simply centering the microphone on the bottom of the snare about three inches away from the bottom head.
To get the maximum sound results from a drum set, you will need to place two overhead microphones. To do this, sit on the drum stool and use a pair of drum sticks (stacked end to end) to measure from the head of the snare drum. The first overhead microphone should be placed at the top of the upper snare drum stick. To place the second overhead microphone, simply turn the drum sticks at a 45 degree angle so that they are in line with your shoulder. Most drum set recorders will place the second overhead microphone is this position. However, you may want to move the second microphone to be over the hi hat and ride cymbals. Experiment with the second microphone placement to achieve the sound that you want.