I'm looking for drum mics that won't let me down...

[Uladine]

I may be starting a new job soon so I'm finally going to have money for quality drum mics. My band has been planning a recording for months and months now, and right now we are out of the public eye so to speak so we have tons of time to get everything right. I figure since we're starting with the drums I might as well focus on getting a perfect drum sound and worry about the rest as we come to it.

So heres the nitty-gritty. We are going to record the drums in our rehearsal space (which sounds okay, but acoustic treatment is another topic all its own). I have pretty good condenser overhead mics, AKG C3000b's, which sound quite good to me for what I use them for, so I'm not looking for overhead mics.

However the rest of my mics suck as. They're made by Nady, need I say more? For the kick I'm looking at maybe the AKG D112 as it seems to be a favorite among many and not out of reach financially. For the snare I'm thinking about a sure SM-57 as it seems to be the workhorse for snare miking, but what about the toms? Do 57's work good for toms too or should I go with something else? Do the mics that clip to the rims of toms work good for recording?

My band plays metal and our preferences for drum sounds are a nice, prominent, wet, crisp thud for a kick, A snare that has a nice pop instead of say a crack (we use a picollo snare) and toms that sound huge with a nice full bodied attack. I am pretty much already capable of the cymbal sounds I want through the overheads. I know that the overheads are to pickup the whole kit and the close mics are to reinforce them, but I like a sound where the cymbals are a little less prominent and really shiny, and I like little room sound for the drums. Which brings me to the issue of acoustics...

Would that bed foam stuff that you can buy at walmart make a good absorber? At $20 for a king sized piece of foam, we can probably line the whole drum area of our practice room for about $80. I'm just wondering if it would be worth it. Maybe thats a question for the studio construction forum.

Anyway heres my gear:

Mackie 24.4 vlz mixer
8 in/8 out ST Audio C-port audio interface
Sonar Equipped PC

Thanks for any help/idea/opinions you can provide.

[chessrock]

All of your ideas sound good.

57's should be fine for toms.

Have fun with it.

[wes480]

here is where I have to convince you of the 3 mic drum technique...

hehe...j/k. Your ideas sounds perfect for your style.