Tom mic options

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Outlet7

New member
I intern a pro recording studio and I was wondering if you guys had some tom mic tips. I have a pretty big selection of mics to choose from, mostly condensors and ribbons. I havent really tried anything but dynamics (we only have sm57s) on toms yet, and was wondering what some good choices would be. Check out the list below and let me know which you guys think is a good choice.

AKG414
Neumanns:
M147 (2)
U87
KM184
TLM 193
Royer 121
AT4033 (2)
AT4060
 
it wasn't on the list, but in my humble (not as humble as it should be) opinion, you can't go past the md421's on toms
 
Out of the mics listed i would go with the C414s and the AT4033s. Im sure the studio will have some other dynamics. Like the MD421 already listed.

I like condensers on toms, but i know the owner of that studio will shit his short if you put them up on toms and let them get hit by a drummers stick. One hit will most likely break the microphone. Check for MD421s, Sennheiser e604s, etc. Im sure he must have something else in there.

Danny
 
57's are horrible on toms. If it's a "pro" studio, there's gotta be some Sennheiser 421's or even 441's around. If not - they should pick some up.

414's or sometimes U87's are the only condensers on your list I'd use for toms. Hey, but who knows. Try them all out [ record it ] and find out for yourself.
 
I dunno. I don't know what all this stuff is about drummers "smacking" mics. I've drummed myself for hundreds of hours in studios and never even came close to hitting a mic. I've recorded tons of drummers and never had anyone hit a mic.

I mean - it's gotta be a pretty shitty, green drummer who hits mics with sticks. [ Or maybe an engineer who doesn't know as much as they could about mic positioning. ]
 
Whats really funny is the first time i ever decided to try a C414 on a tom the drummer hit it his first take. No more C414.

Theres hit marks all over my e604s. I might just come from an area shitty drummers i dunno.

Danny
 
SM58s are quite good for toms. Even just placing one inbetween tom 1 and tom 2 can be good. And another for the floor tom.
 
Even with the best drummers accidents can happen.

darnold said:
Whats really funny is the first time i ever decided to try a C414 on a tom the drummer hit it his first take. No more C414.

Theres hit marks all over my e604s. I might just come from an area shitty drummers i dunno.

Danny
Click to expand...
I hear you brother... or maybe some of us just haven't been as lucky as others. Anyway, I sure wouldn't advise using any treasured vintage mics on toms no mattter how good the drummer was.
 
<<Beating on mics can actually produce a rather interesting percussion effect.>>

yeah.....as in "they become shakers"......

of course, around my neck of the woods, beating on mics usually leads to beating on the drummer. grrrrrr. for that reason alone, i only put up dynamics on the drums (and usually "cheap" ones at that--57s, etc). if i'm going to be using anything worth any $$ at all, i make the drummer sign a release saying he's responsible for anything he breaks.


personally, i've only smacked a mic once.....that was a shure 545 hanging a little too far out over the rim of the snare. i was far more intoxicated than i should've been--let alone to be behind a drumkit at the time--especially one with mics hung. thankfully, though, it was with one of those promark "lightning rods", so it didn't get the brunt of a "real" stick (and it still works quite fine).

and i kicked my own ass for that.


cheers,
wade
 
My 545 took a whack in the studio today ... not a good thing! I should've stuck with 57s or 835s, but I wanted to use it. It still works, but it's one of the old US ones (still with original red sock!!) so I really have to start looking after it!
 
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