My drummers looking to spend $2700 more dollars on mics for his drums. He's already going to get a Blue Baby Bottle cuz I already have one and we'll use them as stereo overheads. What I really want to know is good tom condenser mics. Should I get internal mounted, clip-ons, or just shoks. Thanks for your help.
$2700 towards more mics
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tubedude
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1st advice: Buy used as much as possible... go ebay or something...
2nd: If the Bottles work good for overheads, the thats covered. With that kind of money, I would do things two different, smart ways. A) For snare, get a used Sennheiser MD 441 off ebay for $300 or so, best dynamic around and it'll double as an everything else mic, especially guitar cabs and lotsa vocals too. Its about a $700 mic, so get it used. Next, for toms, get a few of the little Sennheiser square mics, I think they are the 603? Not sure the number but they slam on toms and double as a great guitar mic also. If not, get the little cheaper Sennheiser clip ons, the sound nice. I highly recommend the Beyer TGX-50 kick mic, and anything by Sennheiser. B) and even more important... what do you have as preamps? At the very least you want some super nice preamps for overheads, and snare f possible. If you have some already then pass this up. Otherwise, you can have all the mics mentioned, and a Sytek 4 channel mic pre with Burrs for maybe even less than what you mentioned, and have a great setup for everything els thats not drums, too. Get a few good cables, too. Blue Kiwi are only $35, get at least 2. If you have the cash, look into a Vintech Neve model or a racked API, they make drums fat and sound great on guitars too, and the Vintech even doubles as a nice bass DI.
2nd: If the Bottles work good for overheads, the thats covered. With that kind of money, I would do things two different, smart ways. A) For snare, get a used Sennheiser MD 441 off ebay for $300 or so, best dynamic around and it'll double as an everything else mic, especially guitar cabs and lotsa vocals too. Its about a $700 mic, so get it used. Next, for toms, get a few of the little Sennheiser square mics, I think they are the 603? Not sure the number but they slam on toms and double as a great guitar mic also. If not, get the little cheaper Sennheiser clip ons, the sound nice. I highly recommend the Beyer TGX-50 kick mic, and anything by Sennheiser. B) and even more important... what do you have as preamps? At the very least you want some super nice preamps for overheads, and snare f possible. If you have some already then pass this up. Otherwise, you can have all the mics mentioned, and a Sytek 4 channel mic pre with Burrs for maybe even less than what you mentioned, and have a great setup for everything els thats not drums, too. Get a few good cables, too. Blue Kiwi are only $35, get at least 2. If you have the cash, look into a Vintech Neve model or a racked API, they make drums fat and sound great on guitars too, and the Vintech even doubles as a nice bass DI.
Michael Jones
New member
Tube, you like sytek pre's? Just curious, do you have one, have you heard one?tubedude said:
Sytek now owns Neotek, if I'm not mistaken. And I wonder how the Neotek pre's compare with the sytek. I have a pair of Neotek channel strips (mic pre, EQ, Comp.) and I'm wondering if it would be worth it to have them racked and powered? It would have to be a vertical rack as they're about 24" long. I'll probably have it done anyway, but I wonder what I'm getting into.
Oh, the channel strips are from an 1999 Neotek Elite. They're NOS, never been installed in a console before.
Light
New member
This would be my list for that amount (in fact, it is exactly what I am budgeting for).
Kick -Shure Beta 52 -$200.00 or less
Snare top & Bottom - Shure Beta 56 ~ $150Toms - Beyer M201 or Shure Beta 56 -The Beyer is about $250
Overheads - I tend to avoid LD mics for overheads in the studio, unless it is a traditional jazz recording. Buy a matched pair of Earthworks TC30Ks for $1000.00. They are crisp, clean, and will give you one of the nicest overhead sounds you can imagine, particularly when they have a fast, aggressive compression on them.
I also like to put an AKG 414BTL on the top of the snare, but it is not necessary. Assuming you need four tom mics, using Beta 56s on the toms leaves you with about $600.00 to buy your self some nice Atlas and K&M mic stands. And you can probably find better prices than I have listed.
These are mics I have used for drums many times in the past, and I find them quite easy to use, quite easy to get the sounds I want with. This is what I am going to be getting on a similar budget, but it is just an opinion.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Kick -Shure Beta 52 -$200.00 or less
Snare top & Bottom - Shure Beta 56 ~ $150Toms - Beyer M201 or Shure Beta 56 -The Beyer is about $250
Overheads - I tend to avoid LD mics for overheads in the studio, unless it is a traditional jazz recording. Buy a matched pair of Earthworks TC30Ks for $1000.00. They are crisp, clean, and will give you one of the nicest overhead sounds you can imagine, particularly when they have a fast, aggressive compression on them.
I also like to put an AKG 414BTL on the top of the snare, but it is not necessary. Assuming you need four tom mics, using Beta 56s on the toms leaves you with about $600.00 to buy your self some nice Atlas and K&M mic stands. And you can probably find better prices than I have listed.
These are mics I have used for drums many times in the past, and I find them quite easy to use, quite easy to get the sounds I want with. This is what I am going to be getting on a similar budget, but it is just an opinion.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Ah! At last a kindred spirit! I thought I was the only one who loved large diaphragm condensers on toms.
My favorite at the moment is the 414EB, but I've used all kinds of 414's - mostly because the -10dB pad on a lot of other mics isn't really enough to handle close mic'ing toms, but the -20dB pad on the 414's is great!
My favorite at the moment is the 414EB, but I've used all kinds of 414's - mostly because the -10dB pad on a lot of other mics isn't really enough to handle close mic'ing toms, but the -20dB pad on the 414's is great!