Bass Drum Mic

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junkyardearl

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I'm in the market for a good bass drum mic, but I'm on a budget, so I'll mainly just need something that works. I've been looking through the catalogs and I find a few bass drum mics for about $140, and then some three piece drum mic kits for the same amount. How much quality will I be missing out on if I go for the kit? Any ideas about what sort of mic I should get that could possibly be used for other stuff as well? I've seen the large diaphram mic from Marshall that runs for $100 in the catalogs. Can a 1" condensor do a bass drum, the blurb says it goes down to 20Hz. Help?

~james
 
Look here for info on kick-mics...

Don't know about the sets. For kick I will go with the ATM25, (just maybe the beyer TGX-50), SM57 on snare, and matched pair of oktava mc012's for overhead. I'll be buying them this weekend. Octava's maybe later, I'm still trying to find out where I can get the best deal for them. (MXL603's are good and cheaper choice too, from what I've heard...)
 
If possible, buy a dedicated kick mic. The previous thread has lots of great info. As mentioned everyone will agree there is no *right* pick. Beta52 and E602 are good picks for the ease of use.

There seem to be lots of ATM25 fans on this board. I have been displeased with them in the past.

By the way, no one mentioned the Audix D-4, which is a great mic for a tight, controlled kick.

Do a search for eBay for "Beta 52" or "E602". Sooner or later you'll find one in your price range. Just don't buy something you won't be happy with a few years down the road...

Hope that helps

Brad
 
An sm-57 can be used with suprising effectiveness on a kick. I personally think it's worth to save up a little more and get a Sennheiser 421. Basically, with that mic on kick you can't go wrong. The downside is it will run you $260-$300.
 
what about the AKG D112? It is world known as the infamous kik mic and is only $250 CDN which should be around $165 US.

this is the industry standard!!
 
Here is another good kick mic thread. :)

And just for the record, I have the D112 and am happy with it but I've never compared it to any of the other mics though (so maybe I just don't know what I'm missin' :D).

-tkr
 
the right mic

My first question would be what kind of set do you use, what music style do you record the most, are you the drummer, what's the footmachine like etc...

Theres loads of good drum mics out there,
Beside the mentioned 112 theres the older D12, a bit rarer but still on the 2nd hand market available ad cheap rates. It's nice for jazz sets and funk bdrums 16 inch up.

Theres the SURE SM91 boundry mic, that all the heavy guys go for, just lay it on a pillow inside the bassdrum and go for the typical sound that made rock & roll history by bands like metallica - you get pretty close with just one mic. ( I personally would mix it tho - with an above positioned D112 maybe...

Expensive but great for reagge is the EV RE20, a mic that equals its price first time when you lift it out of the box...

Or try my personal choice for good quality and natural sounding bassdrums:

Earthworks SRO - just keep it away from the hole and you get loads of bottom end down to 7(!) Hz - for round about 300$
For that one you need a stable 48V from your pre - and lots of headroom and a good 20db pad

Oh, I nearly forgot:
Beyerdynamic M88 - for rock as well as fusion funky drums and with a very specific sound.

And remember, you can always look out for used mics... no need to by everything new...

have fun

kg
 
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