Which Kick Mic?

Which Kick Mic?

  • Shure Beta 52A

    Votes: 14 22.6%

  • AKG D 112

    Votes: 13 21.0%

  • Audix D-6

    Votes: 15 24.2%

  • Other

    Votes: 20 32.3%
  • Total voters
    62
I have to be honest, I've only tried the AKG D112, but I chose that over the D6 because it would give me more of a classic sounding bass drum, which is what I wanted. And it does that.

I also want to get a D6 sometime soon as well.
 
Depends on what kind of sound you want to get. I don't do much in the way of drums, but I have an Audix D-6, EV RE-20, Audio Technica ATM25 and a couple Beyer M380s (ones a TD model) that get used depending on whether I want modern or more traditional kick sound. of course other mics like the Sennheiser MD421 and a Neumann U-87 can be used as well.
 
I have the D6 and the D112...I prefer the D6 on most things, though the D112 gets the gig on the jazzy kind of stuff.

Frank
 
Depends on the genre of music you're doing, other uses and current gear. Here's mine in order of favorite:

EV RE20: Easily the best of this list. Big, sturdy, deep, natural sound with good high end. Great for 70's rock, jazz. EQ it moreto get hiphop or hard rock. Also good vocal mic, bass amp, guitar amp. Thickens things.

ATM25: Natural, takes EQ well. Good on Toms and other percussion as well.

AKG D112: Solid sounding but not as solid as the RE20 or ATM25. Good on bass amps.

Shure Beta 52: Very scooped EQ - I'd only buy this mic if I needed a kick mic for live sound in addition to recording. Pretty cool on bass amps. Think of it as already EQ'd - but that means it doesn't take EQ as well as the others for recording purposes. Has that basketball bouncing sound - kind of hollow - which can be great if you're going for that.

You can't really go wrong on any of them. If you've got $300 the RE20 is a no-brainer. I haven't used the D6 but I gather it's got a deep lows and particularly extended highs = metal.
 
Last edited:
nuemes said:
Depends on the genre of music you're doing, other uses and current gear. Here's mine in order of favorite:

EV RE20: Easily the best of this list. Big, sturdy, deep, natural sound with good high end. Great for 70's rock, jazz. EQ it moreto get hiphop or hard rock. Also good vocal mic, bass amp, guitar amp. Thickens things.

ATM25: Natural, takes EQ well. Good on Toms and other percussion as well.

AKG D112: Solid sounding but not as solid as the RE20 or ATM25. Good on bass amps.

Shure Beta 52: Very scooped EQ - I'd only buy this mic if I needed a kick mic for live sound in addition to recording. Pretty cool on bass amps. Think of it as already EQ'd - but that means it doesn't take EQ as well as the others for recording purposes. Has that basketball bouncing sound - kind of hollow - which can be great if you're going for that.

You can't really go wrong on any of them. If you've got $300 the RE20 is a no-brainer. I haven't used the D6 but I gather it's got a deep lows and particularly extended highs = metal.
Click to expand...

You are correct on the D-6. It has more of a "modern" sound. The MD380 (which is a figure 8 dynamic) is closer to the RE-20 than the other mics. Also great on bass cabs.
 
If I'm not mistaken, the ATM25 is the least expensive of all the names we're bantering about. And I gotta tell 'ya, it's become my favorite. Bought one here on the board to use live (instead of the ultra cheapie that's in my cheapie live kit)--it was so easy to eq and dial in a great sound all weekend, that I just had to try recording with it.

I still like some of the non-kick specific dynamics, but of the kick-specific mics, I now use the 25 (and I own a D112 and have access to a 52).
 
I have been shilling the ATM25 on these and other sites for a number of years and then they discontinue it......

Love the EV RE20 but have had an eye-opening experience with the EV RE27. Its simply a bit better in the kik.

I still use two mics on the kik and have found the best inside mic to be the Audix D4. Small, light, easily placed, trememdous klick and solid lowend, a great mic mixed with the ATM25 placed in the hole or slightly outside.

Another great kik mic is the Kel HM1. VERY woofy.....in a good way. Leave it outside for jazz, country, soft rock.....automatic.
 
the Audix D6 owns my soul. it's an awesome mic for kick, it really picks up that big bottom THUMP. thats all i use these days on my kick drum and it is the bomb. it even has a nice presence on the high end too, which makes it SUPER easy to mix with as far as recording.
 
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I blend an ATM25 and a home-made subkick. Any of those mics alone will work well, depending on your recording and EQ skills. However, utilizing both works better than Viagra for me ;).
 
D112 or the RE20 for 'natural'

Beta 52 or D6 for scooped, but you'd have to pay me to use one of these mics, I just don't like having that big of a chunk of my tone scooped out. Of course it's easier to mix with these, there's a big hole in the middle where all those other instruments fit in the frequency spectrum go.

I used the Sennheiser evolution e902 as it was the house mic at one of the clubs we used to play, and it did as well as the d112, but I don't see many people mentioning it.

The CAD KBM412 is 3/4 less the price than these others but it seems to get good reviews, but again, little mention. Anyone own one of these?
 
The mics I have had the best results with for kick have been the Beyerdynamic TGX-50 and the EV RE-20. The EV is probably above your price line, but you might find a good deal on a used TGX-50.

I love the ATM25 on my floor tom, and imagine it might make a great kick mic, too. I've never tried it as a kick mic as I love the way my RE20 sounds.
 
I too like the TGX-50 on bass drum and ATM-25 on floor tom. I haven't used my SM7 on a bass drum yet, but I've heard that it works well.
 
+1 re-20, though lately I've been using an acm-4 on kick with excellent results (don't do this unless you use a big foam windscreen or pop filter. Unless you hate your ribbon mic...in which case, go ahead and use it without a windscreen.)
 
Electrovoice RE 20 every time. It's the only mic in my collection I can throw on a kick or a bass amp and get eqactly the sound I'm looking for without dialing in EQ.

It can be a great vocal mic on screamers and does a nice job of thickening up thinner weaker sounding singers. I've used it on acoustic guitar, guitar cabs, didg, bullhorn....

Gets some great looks in the studio too when you pull a mic off the kick drum and throw it up in front of a vocalist

I like the ATM25 as well but that's my go to floor tom mic at present.
 
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