ATM25 kick mic too hot; inline pad the answer?

[nuemes]

For harder drummers the ATM25 kick mic is too hot and I'm unable to place it inside the kick and end up placing outside the kick and building a tunnel. The problem with this though is that the beater sound gets lost this way and other instruments end up finding their way back into the mic despite the tunnel.

Would a -12dB Inline Pad be the answer allowing the mic to be placed back into the kick drum? http://www.naiant.com/studiostore/cleverdevices.html

I guess my question is, is the issue that the ATM25 has a low SPL and that it can't handle the signal upfront or is its output just so hot that a pad will fix it?

 

[mixsit]

The mic should be fine. It's not unusual to need a pad with some pres.
http://www.frontendaudio.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=7178
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/68600-REG/Shure_A15AS_A15AS_In_Line_Attenuator.html
I went with the AT, at one point needing a variable pad, I was skipping a pre and going direct mic-to A/D.

 

[Minion]

You can also Make a Pad really easilly useing as Little as 4 resistors (Cost about 0.20c) you can Make a 20db Pad useing a Voltage divider on each of the Signal Pins useing a 2k2 resistor in series with a 240r resistor to ground and the Output being between the 2 resistors...... You could build it directly inside the XLR Connector in a XLR Cable and just use the cable when you need a pad for a Particular Mic.....

Cheers

 

[nuemes]

Thanks to both of you - both ideas sound like the fix.