Drum Mics for Home Recording Studio

  • Thread starter Thread starter OnlyGrace
  • Start date Start date
I have behringer c-2s!! They work pretty well. I paid my friend for his used pair - only $30. We miced an entire kit with them and the results were pretty good.
 
OHs depend on what sound you're going for. For a tighter, darker sound PG81s are good. Don't use SM57s for OH.

For your bassdrum mic, you've gone out of budget since the AKG alone would be your entire budget.

If that's what you're going for, just grab the shure drum mic DMK57-52. You will not replace any of those mics immediately, as they all have uses. This kit runs $420.

Then for a pair of OHs you can grab the PG81s for $125 each.

This is what I'd consider the lowest-end acceptable result gear that you won't directly replace.


Past that, the differences in the kits are very negligable. The samson 7 piece kit gets you 2ohs, 3 tom/snare, 1 bd mic for $280.

Nady's 7 piece is the same setup for $200.

Essentially, you're going to see bizarre reinforcement and cutting of frequencies on these kits, and depending on your hardware and cymbals they'll either play nice or be a nightmare.

You're also not going to find too much accuracy in the "pairing" of the OHs in these kits like you would buying a matched pair of OHs. This also screws up any attempt to balance by measured placement.

I really would recommend the shure kit for $420 and spending ~$100 on each OH if you want some sound quality. If you're just into capturing demos and the quality is secondary to the writing process, any kit will do!

I found that with the first kit I had it was easier to think a song "wasn't working" simply because of how everything didn't sit well when put together. This got cleaned up a ton with the shures, and as I've slowly upgraded each piece I can see the huge differences.

The difference between a kit snare mic -> SM57 -> Beyerdynamic201 -> careful use of a condenser or ribbon can impact that songwriting if you're analyzing things at that fidelity.


If $250 is the hard limit, I'd spend it all on a pair of overheads/condensers. You can capture an entire drum kit this way.
 
condensers on snare? Maybe... I don't see why not though - except for bleed from the other drums... I'll give it a try with my at 2020

and yeah actually buying a kit is a decent idea, although I myself am just going to stick with a 58 on kick and a soon to be 57 on snare + 2 over heads
Yeah you get more bleed, but does this really matter if you're going to be mixing all the sounds together? Good placement with ensure no phase issues and you get a much crisper sounding snare. I love it! :D
 
A condenser doesn't pick up any more bleed than a dynamic. That depends on the pickup pattern of the mic.
 
i've used the samson CO2 pair for quite a while and gotten good results from them. you can hear them on both of the songs at this link:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=434437




they have recently been retired since i have upgraded but i see no reason why they would not get you through for a good amount of time, and at a reasonable price as well.
 
A condenser doesn't pick up any more bleed than a dynamic. That depends on the pickup pattern of the mic.
They're generally more sensitive(especially high frequencies), so they do a little more, even cardioid, but it's not a bad thing. :D

Do you like condensers on snare?
 
They're generally more sensitive, so they do a little more, even cardioid, but it's not a bad thing. :D

Do you like condensers on snare?

Nope. That shit worries me. My snare is loud and I hit it hard.
 
If the snare is too loud would it wreck your condenser? How loud does something have to be to wreck a microphones.. I heard ribbons microphones are easily wrecked... what about conensers (LDC/SDC) or dynamics?
 
I have an at2020 which is supposedly a MDC

at2020.l.jpg


would it be a bad idea to put on snare? or even kick should I have to wait to get a kick microphone... I'm making do with with what I have. I also have a matched pair of SDC's called the behringer c-2s which I would use for overhead. Could one do snare and then the other as an overhead along with the at2020 as an overhead... I'm just trying to make use of what i've got in the best way.
 
Don't stick the 2020 inside a kick. A kick moves a lot of air and condenser mics aint too happy with air movements and pressure.

You could probably mic a snare with it, but why? The 57 or any other good dynamic is better for snares.
 
what if i you put it in front of a kick?

I would use the at 2020 because I don't have a 57 and I won't for another month and a bit. I don't see what's the big deal with always using a 57 on a snare. I've had unreasonably good luck micing things with the limited amount of mics I have (3 - 2 of which are a matched pair)
 
mic bleed...

In regards to the "mic bleed" issue - I'm not sure what you're using to capture your sound, but if it's software based (pc or mac recording) many of the programs either have compressor/gates, or an individual gate option available for each channel. If the software doesn't happen to have this option, a plug in is probably pretty inexpensive.
On the other hand, if you're not using software, get a dbx comp/limiter and put each channel to use (one on kick, and one on snare) - it's well worth the ($150-$200)investment.
 
what if i you put it in front of a kick?

I would use the at 2020 because I don't have a 57 and I won't for another month and a bit. I don't see what's the big deal with always using a 57 on a snare. I've had unreasonably good luck micing things with the limited amount of mics I have (3 - 2 of which are a matched pair)

Sure you have. Let's hear em.

The big deal with a 57 on the snare is that it works, it's cheap, and more great sounding snares through history have been recorded with a 57 than probably any other mic. You seem to be hellbent on defending the AT2020. Fair enough, use it. I have one too. It's a cheapo condenser mic that's way too bright. I'm sure it'll sound great next to a snare. :D
 
Any mic "will do" in a kick. But if you want it to sound good, then there are about 100 better options.

What kick mic do you use? I really like the drum sound you get on your tracks.
 
a condenser is fine on a snare and can give a really nice crack. just make sure that the mic can handle the SPL and i would use one that has a pad on it also.
 
Nope. That shit worries me. My snare is loud and I hit it hard.
Me too, but if you have a condenser that can handle a high dB level, then there's no problem(apart from maybe hitting the mic, but a good drummer shouldn't do that).
 
I have an at2020 which is supposedly a MDC

at2020.l.jpg


would it be a bad idea to put on snare? or even kick should I have to wait to get a kick microphone... I'm making do with with what I have. I also have a matched pair of SDC's called the behringer c-2s which I would use for overhead. Could one do snare and then the other as an overhead along with the at2020 as an overhead... I'm just trying to make use of what i've got in the best way.
I'd use two of the same microphone for overhead. The at2020 has a dB limit of 144dB at 1kHz(but lower frequencies might damage it at lower levels), so there shouldn't be a problem as far as loudness is concerned. But just make should you don't hit the mic. I use a cheap condenser on snare, the SC300 from thomann.de, just so i don't have to worry so much.

I wouldn't use it on kick unless you space it from the reso head. Make sure you have the windscreen on too. But I'd probably recommend a dynamic for kick.
 
Back
Top