Sm57's with Toms

They work just fine, especially when your overheads are picking up the toms when placed well...the initial thwack! you get from close mic'ng toms and more acurate panning are the benefits, if thats important to you.

as a drummer, I tend to lean towards overkill (11 mics on drums at times) and have used 57's on toms very effectively. I've also not used tom mics and was happy as well...so if its a matter of budget or if you already own enough 57's, I'd have no problem going with them.

on the other hand, if you have a "great sounding room" and have the cash, then of course there are other options like the senn. 421's, audix d2's, etc....I have been using Sp B-1's ($79.00) on toms with real nice results. the bleed I edit out and use fades in my DAW. the LD B-1 mic does pick up a bigger attack and for the same price as a 57 its hard to pass up! ....so thats where I'm at now, but 57's served me well for a long time especially in a not so great sounding room.

good luck
 
Bobalou - You use B1's on all your toms?

Sounds like a good deal for the price!
And also -- what drums are you playing?
[So I can get an idea of whether or not they'll sound OK on my Birch drums...]

Thanks,
Justin
 
My drummer has an Audix D4 mounted inside each of his toms, and a D1 inside the snare.

I use ATM25 on kick and toms, was using SM57 on snare but still experimenting on this one. Beyer M201 is real nice on snare, and I just acquired an Audix D4 to try on snare for a bit, fat rock snare sound. The Audio Technica ATM23HE is supposed to be real sweet on snare, also.

I'm looking at dynamics that will do double duty between drum and guitar cabs, which is why I picked up the D4.
 
Drummer4Life05 said:
Bobalou - You use B1's on all your toms?

Sounds like a good deal for the price!
And also -- what drums are you playing?
[So I can get an idea of whether or not they'll sound OK on my Birch drums...]

Thanks,
Justin
Click to expand...

Justin,

my kit is a DW Birch 10" 12" 14"floor all traditional depths w/coated Ambassador heads. I like that rounder old school sound, as I use those Moongel damper pads just to take a bit of ring out of the tom, (but leaving that wide open unchoked sound)

first off, since my 14" floor is a bit small (for a floor) i get great results using that $49.00 CAD KBM421 kick mic on my floor tom!...I know $49.00 sounds sooooo cheap, but I was amazed on how much bigger sounding it made my 14" sound (mainly due to its scooped mids and enhanced lows CAD built into it trying to make it a "real" kick drum mic) I use an Audix D6 on my 22" kick BTW.

as I said the 57's worked great on my smaller toms, but I do like the B-1's better as they just add a bigger impact and some enhanced highs the 57 cant. I didnt like the B-1 on my floor, but I think thats my 14"'s fault. I think the CAD has been my secret weapon I only stumbled upon by accident. (if I had a 16" or 18" floor, I'm sure I wouldnt need to cheat with the CAD)

of course, there is a bit more bleed with the B-1's, but as i said, the magic of editing and fades takes care of that problem. If you were going out to buy 57's for toms, I would seriously look at the B-1's as an affordable option to the more expensive tom mics.

peace!
 
FWIW.......

This is a clip of a project I'm working on and I used 1 SM58 with the grill removed (esentially a 57) in between the rack toms and one SM57 on the floor tom.

MD1b's as OH's fairly low which picked up a lot of the tom sound.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=3897&alid=-1

Please excuse the scatch guitar track.
This is a straight up mix as it is on the deck with no eq or compression on the mixdown to .wav file.

Using a little Wavehammer on the drum 2 mix really brought out more of the body of the toms (especially the floor).
Haven't had the chance to post that though.

I would really like to hear a Senn 421 on the floor tom.

-mike
 
Bobalou - Thanks a lot dude!! :D

I actually have a CAD Drum Mic Pack, and I'm using that mic on my bass drum. And yeah, it sucks. I'll throw it on the floor tom and see how it sounds!

Glad I'm not the only Birch player here. :D

- Justin -
 
Danke.

I am happy and most importantly the the drummer was very happy.

Its hard to beat an SM57 for the money.
They are just soo damn versatile.

-mike
 
ive used 57's on toms a million times and they rock.



bgavin- if you want a dynamic that will do well on gtr cabs than some great choices are the md-421, the e 609 silver and the 57.
 
57s can work for live tom mics. But for the recording they are marginal at best. SP B's kick 57's to the curb for toms in the studio.

Listen to the low tom on any of the tracks on Sessions 6 & 7 where a B3 is listed on floor tom. Especially the very end of "Lemon Tree".
http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/sessions.htm

And listen to all the toms on "NY Blues" and/or "LizBarber".
http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/jazzooo.htm
B1 on each rack tom and a B3 on the floor tom.
There's pics of the drum mics at http://studioforums.com/6/ubb.x?q=Y&a=tpc&s=1436041581&f=1526095781&m=7736025634&p=4

Dan Richards
Studio Forums
The Listening Sessions
The Project Studio Handbook
 
Last edited:
submix the drums?

With 11 mics, how are they run through the mixer? Do you submix the drum mics.

I'm a guitarist who has suddenly become saddled with being the band's sound engineer. I have a 12 channel Mackie mixer and only have about 4 channels available for drums. (We'd like to record onto a CD recorder from the mixer.)


I posed this question on drummer cafe and received advice not to have anymore than 3 drum mics (2 above and a kick drum mic)

I'd be interested in your viewpoints.
 
When I first got started, I bought (8) SM57. Since then, I have pared that back to (4), and replaced them with more specialized mics.

Some of the fundage went into a mint (used) pair of Studio Project C4, and a mint (used) MXL V67M from ChristopherDawn here on HR.

I just acquired an Audix D4 that is going to have it's maiden voyage today when my daughter's band plays an outdoor benefit. During sound check, I'm going to have her test the D4 for vocals. It appears to use the same capsule as the Audix OM6, so I can get an idea about the OM6 for a vocal mic.

I've got my eye on an Audix D6, just to have an alternative to my regular ATM25 on kick. The D6 is truly a 1-trick pony, and probably useless on anything but kick, due to its heavily scooped pattern.

Also watching for an ATM23HE as an alternative to SM57 on snare. I also want a Beyer M201 because I've heard Recording Engineer's M201 in his studio, and it's seriously tasty.

And I want to win the lottery, too.
 
Re: submix the drums?

phaser1 said:
With 11 mics, how are they run through the mixer? Do you submix the drum mics.

I'm a guitarist who has suddenly become saddled with being the band's sound engineer. I have a 12 channel Mackie mixer and only have about 4 channels available for drums. (We'd like to record onto a CD recorder from the mixer.)


I posed this question on drummer cafe and received advice not to have anymore than 3 drum mics (2 above and a kick drum mic)

I'd be interested in your viewpoints.
Click to expand...


Kick, snare and 2 carefully placed overheads should be fine.
 
Re: Re: submix the drums?

vox said:
Kick, snare and 2 carefully placed overheads should be fine.
Click to expand...

in a great sounding room I would agree. however, IMO for those of us with small low ceiling (extra bedroom) type rooms, close mic'ng toms, snare bottom, hats, and even a mono room mic (to manipulate distance) gives you many options to help make up for a bad room...I said "help"

I use an audix D6 inside my kick through a great river ME-1NV and still I like using a front of kick speaker mic for additional low end sub thump!...I wish I could get away with less, but my room does not allow it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top