mics for electric drum set

[bloomboy]

I am currently working on building an electric (not electronic) drum set. The basic idea is to stretch membranes of various types (drum heads, metal sheets, etc.) in front of microphones, which are then routed thru a mixer at very high gain in order to incur distortion and then through a compressor, and then amplified. I have gotten very good results using SM-57s and listening on headphones, but I plan to use the resulting drum set in live performance. The obvious issue is feedback, and although I haven't actually run the output through a live amp yet I am pretty sure that it will be a big problem even at low volumes becuase of the very high gain used (please note that the goal here is not in any way to imitate the sound of an accoustic drum set). The other factor is cost- the lower the better, and quality is really not an object at all here because of the amount of signal distortion.

Does anyone have a reccomendation as to what type of microphones would be useful? my price range would ideally be no more than 10-20 dollars- ridiculous, I know, but like I said quality is really not going to be an issue- more like replacability.

I remember reading on this forum about something resembling just a diaphragm with an output that's commonly attatched to the surface of an accoustic guitar for a grungy, lo-fi sound, but for the life of me I can't remember what they're called or turn one up in a search. If anyone knows what I'm talking about, would this be a viable option? I also remember some company putting out a series of rediculously cheap tiny condenser mics, but I'm pretty sure that feedback would be an issue.

thanks,
theo

[BlackHawk2029]

the surface mics would be piezos, which might work if you mount them on a shallow shell. or you could find some schematics for those XLR connector mics.

[bloomboy]

Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going to try making a piezo contact mic. It's certainly cheap, and it seems like it would do a very good job of rejecting unwanted sounds as well.

[mixsit]

I'd guess that whatever you use it's going to be some discovery. Other than watching out for overload levels, any of the inexpensive mic caps could be candidates. Even omni's -if they're up close to the membrane' might be fine.
Sounds like fun.

[BlackHawk2029]

if you use piezo's dont attach them to the head, as you will kill them. throw them on the shell instead.

[ermghoti]

It'll have to be piezos. If you crank the gain enough to get the sound of a membrane being struck to distort, it'll pick up the sound of your hair growing.

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by ermghoti

It'll have to be piezos. If you crank the gain enough to get the sound of a membrane being struck to distort, it'll pick up the sound of your hair growing.

Not necessarily. Any struck membrane is very loud close to the source, such that the signal to noise ratio (noise being your hair) is very high.

So there is the simple problem of designing a circuit to distort without causing feedback. The output from the mains doesn't have to be loud to distort the signal, you just need to clip the mic, clip the preamp, or both. So set the preamp gain loud, then you can pull down the channel faders or bus faders to set the mains level wherever you need.

[ermghoti]

Reread the OP, I was thinking of something like a mesh head, which wouldn't have been loud at all. I just feel the hyperbole "pick up your hair growing" is woefully underused.