will i hurt my condensor if i use it on a snare or kick?

[freakkguitarist]

i have 2 octava MKsomthingorothers that i useally use for overheads, and a GT55, if i used the Pads, would it damage my mics to use on somthing that loud? for kick obveously i would put the popfilter infront of the GT55

[Light]

As long as it is padded, probably not. I have used 414's on a lot of snares being played by guys with sticks the size of redwoods, and as long as the pad is on I have never had a problem. Of course, I have never tried it without the pad.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[boingoman]

I don't know about damage, but be aware the pad does nothing to protect the mic diaphragm. It pads the signal going into the microphone electronics, if the source is too loud for them, keeping the signal from distorting. I'd be wary of putting a LDC right inside a kick drum, but like I said I'm not sure.

[setabkcin]

Check the SPL rating. Although in most cases it should be enough to handle that kind of situation. But...just to be safe, eh?

[Dot]

Both the Oktava MK219 and MK319 have an SPL rating of 140 dB. So you're OK using them on toms and snare. MK319 is a great OH mic.

Max SPL for GT55 is 135 dB. Good there, too.

[Harvey Gerst]

Condenser mics, like ribbons, can take high SPL levels in general, but they don't like air blasts. As long as it's placed where you can put your hand and not feel a lot of air movement, you should be fine. Placing it right at the hole in a kick drum head (or in the port of a bass cabinet) is NOT fine.

[distortedrumble]

so if the hold in the kick drum is on the bottom right...you can put the mic in the center or the bottom left depending on if you want a drier or fuller sound?

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by distortedrumble

so if the hold in the kick drum is on the bottom right...you can put the mic in the center or the bottom left depending on if you want a drier or fuller sound?

Put your hand there first; if you feel a lot of air movement, it's probably not a good idea. If you don't feel a lot of air movement, you're probably safe.

[sdsi]

Originally Posted by Harvey Gerst

Put your hand there first; if you feel a lot of air movement, it's probably not a good idea. If you don't feel a lot of air movement, you're probably safe.

What if you have a pop filter set in front of the mic?

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by sdsi

What if you have a pop filter set in front of the mic?

That would probably solve the problem, or at least help a great deal.

[notbradsohner]

harvey, glad to see you back and helping out the community again!

[chessrock]

They let him outa' detention.

[tubesrawsom]

it will be fine i used a mk012 on a really loud ride without a pad (paiste rude power ride ) it sounded beutiful no damadge done i placed right under the bell so the mic should be fine on the kick and snare
good luck

[tvanveen]

Not to hijack or anything, but is there a web page that lists spl's for various intruments? I would guess you'd need to know the distance too.

[tvanveen]

Nevermind, found one -

http://www.coolmath.com/decibels1.htm

So I guess my MXL990, which can do 130db, wouldn't work on snare. Dang.

tv

[boingoman]

Originally Posted by tvanveen

Nevermind, found one -

http://www.coolmath.com/decibels1.htm

So I guess my MXL990, which can do 130db, wouldn't work on snare. Dang.

tv

Give it a shot before giving it up. I'm betting your drummer isn't quite that loud, at least not all the time. That baby might have a little too much bleed for snare in any case.
Thanks for the link.