Non kick mics to use on kick drum

TylerDrums109

New member
What are some non-kick drum mics i could use to get a descent sound out of a kick drum and what sort of EQing would i be looking at doing if i dont use a mic specific for kick drums...

Right now the mics i have include
PG57
SM57
Pg58 x2
MXL 909 Large diaphragm condenser


Please be patient with me on these forums as i am a complete audio noob...playing is more my thing =] or maybe you could suggest me a good kick drum mic under 100$?
 
probably the 57. But none are going to be superior by all means. You could download the demo of drumagog and replace what ever sound is recorded with a good kick sample. Or replace it by hand with a good kick sample. It is time consuming but I have done it in a pinch.
 
Nothing says you can only use a "kick" mic for a bass drum. I've used SM-57's before with great results.

The only rule of thumb/cuation here is that kick drums can move a lot of air. If you're going to use something like your MXL condenser, don't put it right up in the soundhole... leave some room between the mic and the front head.

Experiment to see what works best for you!
 
The AT Pro 25 us a pretty good and reliable inexpensive kick mic and can be had for about $80. It's the cheaper cousin to the ATM 25 (which is my personal favorite kick mic ).
Probably the most widely liked mic for kick drum is actually a broadcaster's mic that is fairly expensive and that is the EV RE20 (costs about $400 +)
 
I agree on the atm 25 being a great mic for kick. I have had mine for over 10 years and got rid of the akg d112 for it and never looked back.
I originaly got it for floor tom but it worked so much better as a kick mic.
 
RE 20 is great - £350 though but you do get what you pay for. It's great mic on lots of things. I'd rather own one of these than two or three cheap Chinese mics.

The thing about a good mic is that the signal takes EQ so much better.

SM57 is liked by some people on kick. Trashy but characterful.

Heil PR40 is worth checking out at around £200

I heard the Peavey PVM 520i was a great little (and easy to position) kick/tom mic. Around £100 if you can find one.
 
When I started out and was short of mics I used a SM57, both live and in the studio, also a SM58 some of the time. I even had a cheap Audio Technica vocal mic that I used, they all gave good results. Just experiment with placement, and get a workable sound before touching the eq.

A friend of mine that does live tours only uses a SM57 kick and swears buy it.

I now used a D112, or D12 most of the time. But the old recordings with the other mics still sound good today.
 
i agree that given what you have at present the 57 is your goto mic... since you seem to like the pg shures try looking for a 52... or the 56 whiuch is a 57 with some filters and pads on a permanent mount...
 
Of what you have, I agree that the only one that will work is the SM57, but, it will give you a much shallower picture of your kick. If you aren't looking for a rounded kick sound and all you are interested it is the attack, then it is fine. But if you want a rounder deeper tone, you need to cough up a few bucks for a kick mic.
 
I often use an LDC in front of my kick drum with a kick mic in the hole. I would imagine if your kick sounds good, that the MXL LDC a few inches in front of the kick (not in front of the hole because of the air like someone said) would give you a really good sound by itself. Definitely would catch the rest of the kit somewhat, but should still work well. If you want something in the hole, you probably have to go with one of the dynamics. I've used a tom mic on a kick before because I didn't have anything else and it worked ok.
 
Im surprised no one has mentioned the recording industry's standard for kick miking; the Shure Beta 52. I say you save up a little more money and maybe even look into buying it used. Used you can probably find it as low or even lower than $130. New I believe they run for around $180. You cannot go wrong with a the beta 52.

Also if you wanna get technical, you can reverse wire a speaker to be a microphone. Ultimately, speakers and microphones are the same exact thing. Microphones are wired to turn acoustic energy into electric energy and speakers turn electrical energy into acoustic energy. My audio engineering instructor at my college (New England School of Communication- look it up) reverse wired a 10" speaker and it picks up that low frequency kick sound like nothing else. You can place the speaker (turned microphone) in front of the kick about a foot away and then place the beta 52 right inside your bass drum hole (providing you have a hole in you head). You can try that combination or anything else you'd like. I've also placed the beta 52 in the kick hole and then miked the batter head with an sm57 which picks up the attack of the beater. What ever sounds good to you but definitely invest in a Shure Beta 52, you'll be glad you did.

**Edit**

I just realized after posting I basically went into explaining what Minion just posted. The sub kick is just a speaker but reverse wired to be a microphone so yeah.
 
Im surprised no one has mentioned the recording industry's standard for kick miking; the Shure Beta 52. I say you save up a little more money and maybe even look into buying it used. Used you can probably find it as low or even lower than $130. New I believe they run for around $180. You cannot go wrong with a the beta 52. .

on the one hand you must have standards other that the industry i participate in....


on the other hand... from post #9 "since you seem to like the pg shures try looking for a 52..."
 
Another question for you guys...when trying to get a bass drum with alot of attach and punch do you mic the drum with or without a reso head?...what are some of the benefits and cons of doing either one
 
Im surprised no one has mentioned the recording industry's standard for kick miking; the Shure Beta 52. I say you save up a little more money and maybe even look into buying it used..

The Shure Beta 52 isn't really the industry standard. It is a very colored mic that only works well for classic rock and heavy metal. The industry standard is actually the AKG D112 (which is a perfectly good mic but very very sensitive to placement) I personally prefer the ATM 25 as a very well rounded mic that works equally well as a kick mic, a tom mic and is my preferred mic for the skin side of a doumbek/darbukah or a djembe. It also works real well as a mid-range vocal mic.
The Audix kick mic has somewhat taken over the Shure Beta 52 as the preferred mic for Rock music.
Please don't be offended becau
 
Im surprised no one has mentioned the recording industry's standard for kick miking; the Shure Beta 52. I say you save up a little more money and maybe even look into buying it used..

The Shure Beta 52 isn't really the industry standard. It is a very colored mic that only works well for classic rock and heavy metal. The industry standard is actually the AKG D112 (which is a perfectly good mic but very very sensitive to placement) I personally prefer the ATM 25 as a very well rounded mic that works equally well as a kick mic, a tom mic and is my preferred mic for the skin side of a doumbek/darbukah or a djembe. It also works real well as a mid-range vocal mic.
The Audix kick mic has somewhat taken over the Shure Beta 52 as the preferred mic for Rock music.
Please don't be offended because I'm not trashing the Beta 52, it is a very good mic for specific applications; I'm just correcting your statement that it is the industry stabdard, because in almost all of the studios that I have worked in, the kick mic that they would choose first was the D112.


EDIT NOTE:
How did this happen? I only hit submit once and I have two submissions and one was posted as I was typing and hadn't finished my post. Weird!
 
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The Shure Beta 52 isn't really the industry standard. It is a very colored mic that only works well for classic rock and heavy metal. The industry standard is actually the AKG D112 (which is a perfectly good mic but very very sensitive to placement) I personally prefer the ATM 25 as a very well rounded mic that works equally well as a kick mic, a tom mic and is my preferred mic for the skin side of a doumbek/darbukah or a djembe. It also works real well as a mid-range vocal mic.
The Audix kick mic has somewhat taken over the Shure Beta 52 as the preferred mic for Rock music.
Please don't be offended because I'm not trashing the Beta 52, it is a very good mic for specific applications; I'm just correcting your statement that it is the industry stabdard, because in almost all of the studios that I have worked in, the kick mic that they would choose first was the D112.

Which Audix mic are you referring to? The D6? Unless it was a type-o and you meant to say "AKG" :p
 
Originally Posted by Rimshot
The Shure Beta 52 isn't really the industry standard. It is a very colored mic that only works well for classic rock and heavy metal. The industry standard is actually the AKG D112 (which is a perfectly good mic but very very sensitive to placement) I personally prefer the ATM 25 as a very well rounded mic that works equally well as a kick mic, a tom mic and is my preferred mic for the skin side of a doumbek/darbukah or a djembe. It also works real well as a mid-range vocal mic.
The Audix kick mic has somewhat taken over the Shure Beta 52 as the preferred mic for Rock music.
Please don't be offended because I'm not trashing the Beta 52, it is a very good mic for specific applications; I'm just correcting your statement that it is the industry stabdard, because in almost all of the studios that I have worked in, the kick mic that they would choose first was the D112.
Which Audix mic are you referring to? The D6? Unless it was a type-o and you meant to say "AKG" :p

I'm sorry, I thought I was clear. In most studios that I've worked in they opt to use the Audix D6 as their first choice for that punchy Heavy Rock kick instead of the Shure Beta 52. But the all round "go to" mic for studio engineers to pick to use on kick drum and bass cabs is the AKG D112. Lots of people use and like the Shure Beta 52 and it is a very good mic, but you'll see more of the Audix D6 being used in studios for recording than you will the Shure and the mic that beats both of them in popularity is the AKG D112.
What does that mean in terms of quality? Nothing, we were talking about industry standards. I myself prefer my ATM 25 and when I've used it, the EV RE20(I gotta get me one of those).
 
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