Drum mics on a budget?

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sam1

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Hi Everyone,

what is better, the Shure PG81 or the Akg perception 170? I am trying to build up a set of mics that would be good for recording drums, i have a tama superstar and play alternative, indie and rock stuff. I am either thinking of getting the Shure PGDMK4 kit if the perception 170's are better that the PG81 or the Shure DMK6 kit if the PG81's are better the the 170's. I would also buy a sm57 for the snare with either kit. Is this a good idea or is it smarter to buy individual mics?

I would prefer to not spend to much over $600, i do not neccesarily need to close mic everything (i could just have overheads, snare and kick).

Thanks.
Sam
 
I play the same type of music as you - a few years ago I bought the shure PGDMK4 and some cheap overhead SDCs. I was happy with everything at first, but I quickly realized I wanted to upgrade. Those mics just weren't cutting it for me. The 3 tom mics in the kit are decent, but other than that the rest of the mics aren't super great IMO.

I upgraded to a pair of Oktava MK-012s for overheads, a D6 for kick, and an SM57 for snare. My drum recordings improved tons after that upgrade. I still have all the mics from the Shure kit though and I occasionally use the kick mic (PG52) in combination with my D6 for a meatier sound. And I like to run some stereo room mics and a bottom snare mic sometimes, but I don't really mic my toms anymore (because I usually run out of inputs on my interface). So I just draw in samples by hand for the toms after I have recorded the drums.

For you I'd recommend that you buy your mics individually instead of a kit. For overheads look at the Rode NT-5, Oktava MK-012, and Shure SM81. Great used deals can be had on eBay, but it's worth it to step up a bit and get some decent mics that you won't want to replace in a matter of months. SM57 is great for snare, Audix i5 is another great snare choice. Good kick mics are the Audix D6, Shure Beta 52, and AKG D112. A solid OH, snare, and kick setup can be had for under $600.
 
I also play the same type of music and my setup is as follows:
OH: SM81
Snare: Neumann KM84
Kick: D112
Floor Tom: MD421
Rack Tom: C418

What I would recommend is getting an SM57, SM81's and a Kick mic like a D112, Beta 52, D6, e602. You can get all of those used for around 600. If the overheads are in the Glynn Johns or recorderman position you will get a lot of toms. You could also add tom samples as guitarplayer82 suggested. I snagged some piezos out of a rockband kit that I saw in the trash. Hooray for free drum triggers!
 
For an $800 budget , I think you could do FAR better with a 3 mic set up of much better mics than buying a bunch of cheap mics
 
Thinking about it, if you shop used I think you could get 319's for OH, a EV868 for kick and a Beyer201 for snare/HH

Much better than what you're looking at.
 
I recently started recording my kit.

At the moment I'm using the following mics.

AKG D112 - Kick drum
Shure SM57 - Snare
MXL 840 (pair) - Left and right overheads

The AKG D112 is all over the place and easy to find. I'm just starting with this mic and need to play with it more, but so far it has a very "pillowy" sound without gobs of EQ. If you're looking for a round sound this does it. However if you're looking for something with more attack to it, the Shure Beta 52 is a better choice. I'll be picking up the Beta 52 soon, while still keeping the D112 as it will have it's uses. They're both $200 new, and can be found used for around $100, although I've seen them both as low as $75.

Shure SM57 is the flathead screwdriver of the recording world. It can be used on anything, from snare drums to guitar cabinets, to angry vocals, or even as a hammer (I don't recommend that though). I use this on my snare in this case. New the SM57 sells for $100, but can be easily found used for $50 or so.

MXL 840's turned out to be better than I thought. I bought them as an affordable solution for overheads. At $150 for two small diaphragm condensers with shockmounts, these things are a steal. If you go to Guitar Center you will see them displayed on a mounting bracket that allows you to use one mic stand for both mics. This bracket does NOT come in the kit. For only $10 more than that bracket just buy another boom stand. With these panned wide stereo in your mix you will get not ony the cymbals but stereo tom rolls. Bang for the buck is definitely high with these little guys.


Grand total for all 4 mics is around $450 new or $300 used. You do not have to have a ton of mics to record your drums and get a good sound though. So even if you have only two mics you'll be able to capture a decent sound. It was far less daunting of a task than I thought it would be.

I hope this helps in some way.
 
drum mics

hey there
I bought a pair of these:
mainly because I had head them on snare and liked them.
they have proven to be useful all over the studio.
snare top and bottom
overheads
stereo room in xy
acoustic instruments.

I have jheard them on piano and they do really well
its a thought if you are in europe.

easy
long x
 
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