drum mics

A

axeman_ukl

New member
i have a pearl forum kit
1 audix d6 kick mic
1 sm57 for snare
now i am looking for some other mics to mic up the rest of the kit all of the mics will be running to a rme octamic preamp,what would you suggest ?
 
That depends on your budget, and how you want to mic the drums. If you have a nice a room and a good drummer, you can spend your whole budget on a MATCHED pair of SDC or LDC overheads for an ambient sound, or if you want to close mic the toms you'll need to factor in those mics.

I don't really know much about decent overheads but I've used Audix ADX51s and AKG C414s to good effect.
For Tom mics I would suggest Sennheiser MD421s or Audix D2/D4 if you can afford them, or 57s if you're on a budget.
 
Really depends on your budget. There are so many options but the general rule, IMO, is start with the best set of mics you can afford for overheads. Once you have the kit sounding good in the room (fist step in any drum recording :) ), using a mic technique such as the 3 mic recorderman method will produce a very credible drum recording. You can decide after that wether or not you want/need to include close mics on the kit.

One important thing to remember is the more mics you add, the more likely you will need to contend with phase issues. Keeping it as simple as possible for getting the "sound" you want is usually the best way to go.

I can get very good drum recording using a D6 in the kick (which you have) a 57 on the snare (which you have) and a pair of MXL603 (low budget) for OHs. However, there are as many OH possibilities as there are microphones.

As sugessed, the AKG414 is a good choice (not just for OHs either) and you'd be hard pressed to do better than the MD-412 on toms as well. If budget is not a concern, some other possiblities for the OH are Earthworks and Royer (ribbons are nice...you will need high gain Pre as well). If you are looking low budget than MXL SDC aren't that bad and I have read on this forum that many folks have gotten good results with CAD179 (low budget).
 
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axeman_ukl said:
i have a pearl forum kit
1 audix d6 kick mic
1 sm57 for snare
now i am looking for some other mics to mic up the rest of the kit all of the mics will be running to a rme octamic preamp,what would you suggest ?
Click to expand...

I have two pairs of mics in the Free Ads section:

Fishmed_Returns said:
An AKG C-418 (Pair) and a Pair of Sen. e604.

$500 +shipping

(will split paypal)
Click to expand...

The C-418s can be used for toms or for OH.
 
Be careful. A lot of SDCs don't capture low frequencies very well---Shure SM81/PG81, nearly every Chinese SDC (MXL, Nady, etc.)---so you have to be really selective or you'll find yourself EQing a lot just to get your overheads to sound good. To some degree, you can make up some of that through close miking of toms, snare, and kick, but nothing beats having overheads that sound good to begin with.

I find that a pair of Oktava MK-012 mics is very flattering for overheads. It has ample low end with just a little roll-off starting at about 60 Hz or so. The high end isn't harsh or brittle, and is pretty close to flat all the way out to 20kHz. Not a lot of presence peaks to make cymbals sound harsh like many... nay, most cheap SDCs.

You'll also find that certain reference mics make good overheads. What you're ideally looking for in overheads is a response curve that's pretty much flat as a pancake, with possibly a dip near the fundamental frequency range of your cymbals (note: I don't say fundamental frequency since the fundamental varies continuously across a fairly broad range like a slightly tamed version of a flexatone). :D

What you absolutely don't want is a significant peak around there. Many mics intended for vocals, therefore, sound genuinely awful for overheads. :)
 
do the mics have to be matched ?

if so i have an SE 2A could i just buy another one of these for the overheads ?
 
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You [B[could...[/B] but that would not be a matched pair. I've never used an un-matched pair of the same mic so I don't know what it would sound like, but the general consensus is tp buy matched mics in pairs...
 
If you have a choice.........

Buy a matched pair. True, you may not NEED it as drum overheads, but it certainly won't be bad for that and you will then have a perfectly matched pair should you ever need to record a group of singers or an acoustic group/orchestra. Ya nevah know. :)
 
Miking for Percussion

This is going to be only a basic knowledge in relation to Home Recording and what could be expected in some of the 'studios'....Differents mics have differents characteristics,and are going to be good to reproduce, high,middle,and low frequencies.You need to start by conditioning the place where you are going to do the recording,to eliminate overtones,vibrations,exterior noises,etc.Then the proper tuning of the instruments,then using the proper mics to obtain the specifics frequencies,the proper setting of the parametric equalization of the system which is going to process what you are recording,and the use of the right speakers to reproduce the sound,music,etc.The final project required the technical skills and equipments for the mixing and mastering.A multiple choice for mics., could be...For Drum Kick..(AKG D112 - SENNHEISERS E602,or E609 -SHURE Beta 52,91 - NEUMANN U87)....For SNARE-PERCUSSION...( AKG C418 - SENNHEISERS E903 - SHURE SM57,PG81,SM 91 - NEUMANN 127)...FOR OVERHEADS..( AKG C411,C416,C 414 - SENNHEISERS ME105,ME102,ME104 - SHURE PG81 - NEUMANN TLM103.Also Shure have a package set PGDMK4..and AKG have a DRUM-SET Package.All in relation to budget,or availbility in the recording studios. Dr. Zaragemca
 
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