Drum Mic Dilemma

sowpunk

sowpunk

New member
Hey :)

I have a dillema at the moment when it comes to choosing drum mic's :(

I have $800AUD to spend and have the following two options.

Option 1:

Buy an Audix Fusion 7 peice mic kit
  • 1x F14 Kick Drum Mic
  • 1x F12 Floor Tom Mic
  • 2x F15 Overhead Mic's
  • 3x F10 Snare/Tom Mic's

For $450AUD leaving $350AUD for a headphone amp, cables and headphones etc effectivley activating my recording capabilities. The problem is I would need the mic's shipped in from the United States which would take a couple of weeks.


Option 2:

Buy a Shure DMK57-52 Drum Mic Kit
  • 1x Beta 52 Kick Mic
  • 3x SM-57's
  • 1x SM-57 I already own

For $635AUD leaving $165AUD for overheads. Delaying my recording abilities for at least a month (Holiday leave pay :)) and probably ending up with a less than great pair of overheads for the first couple of bands I record.

Should I go with the Audix kit or the Shure kit?
 
my feeling is the shure, i use sm57s on everything bar kick and overheads at the minute and although it would be nice to try a beyer m88 on the snare and a couple of u87s or c414s on the toms, they dont let you down:) Its better to buy good solid sm57s as you'll never need to replace them. You'll grow out of the audix, my friend has a set and they aren't great.
Buy cheap buy twice etc.
 
sow,

Have you looked on ebay Aust., there's a guy (Alan Chan, if I recall correctly)who sells Shures, etc., for damned good prices, he is legit and reliable.

You won't get a pair of o'heads for $165, not even from the US at their prices. Have you considered hiring mics from an audio hire company........obviously, that could be dependant on your location but if you can find one that has condenser mics suitable for o/heads, then you only need worry about getting the 57s and a kick mic and save your dollars until you can afford some decent o/head mics.

That said, if your drum tracking room is lacking acoustically, it won't matter what condenser mics you use, your recordings are going to suffer.

The other alternative to consider, is to use your existing 57 for snare, buy a kick mic and a pair of reasonable o/heads. This setup will yield good recordings, IF you take time to learn correct micing positions, etc., IF the kit is set up and tuned correctly and IF the drummer knows how to play.

Did I mention the importance of room acoustics?

:cool:
 
Thanks for the replies guys :)

I had a look at Alen's microphones. That was originally where I was going to buy the Shure package... but he upped the price 100$ for some reason :(

I have a plan that involves swapping a pair of behringer C2's for some Rode NT5's which involves a mate's school and some ignorant music teachers but let us not get into that lol.

So if I got the Shure mic's ($635), and 2x Behringer C2's ($99) and 'traded' the Behringers for the Rodes would I be better off doing that?

I'm working on an acoustic setup :) Should get a good sound of it. Room acoustic's are everything :) (like you said).
 
I'd def. go the Audix route. You only put your SM-57 you already own in your Shure list. If you buy the Audix, you still have the SM-57, which means you have a spare mic. You may want it so you can have two on the snare drum. Or you could sell one mic to fund you headphones and stuff, although I think you won't need any more than $350 for headphones and headphone amp (if you even need an amp).

I'd go Audix, giving you more options and more flexibility
 
Thanks for the advice iancl :)

I am a little worried about the quality of the Audix mic's. Especially the kick Mic. I've heard great things about the Beta 52 but the F14 is rather unknown... :(

Headphone amp will cost me $50. It'll be cheap but it should do. I need a further 6 XLR cables and a 20m jack-jack lead for my setup to be complete after I get the headphone amp and drum mic's.

Mic stands and Headphones I can borrow :)
 
Ah yes, I kinda made a bit of a hasty reply, I didn't really take in which Audix mics. I don't know anythign about the F series.

I gotta say I still think more options is a massive bonus, and having the extra mic may just make the difference.

And yes, if you can borrow headphones, $350 will easily be enough for cables and h/p amp. I've been getting XLR-XLR go for about $15 each: that's the 20' SoundLab ones at my local store. $29.95 retail, but you just ask for a discount and you get it.

Good luck.
 
On a budget based on my experience I would go with:

(2) MXL 604 (overheads)
(1) SM57 (kick, you own one)
(1) Earthworks Kickpad (coupled with the SM57 it rocks)
(3) CAD TSM411 (toms, you won't regret it)
(1) Audix i5 (snare)

In American dollars (new) you're talking $575 which seems to be $754 AUS.

I've used all of these mics in their given positions, side by side with tons of other stuff testing testing testing...and each are the stand out in their given budget category (I am also a drummer). The SM57 with Kickpad might seem strange, but in a drum mic shootout last week against about 35 other mics in that particular position the SM57 / Kickpad combo really pulled together the most cohesive useable kick sound for rock one could want.

If your head is exploding because that seems too strange of a suggestion, the Audix i5 on kick and SM57 on snare would be good also.

War
 
Thanks for the tips Warhead :)

I'll see where I can get these mic's and if I can get some locally. I heard the i5 is one of the close rivals to the 57 :)
 
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