Getting good kick recording with Shure 52A

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pegger

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So the Shure 52A super cardoid dynamic microphone....

What the deal with this mic? I've been messing around trying to get a decent recording of my kick drum, but everything I try sounds like garbage!

I've tried up against the res head in various places. Nothing.
I tried hooding the bass drum with quilts and placing the mic inside. Nothing.
I cut a hole in my res head, and tried the mic in about 200 positions inside the drum. Nothing.

Ok now, when I say nothing, I mean nothing "good". I am looking only at the raw sound waves. nothing edited yet, no pre or post effects or EQ applied. I know I will need to shape the sound, but I'm kind of expecting something a little better in the raw file....right?

To get enough sound, I have to turn the gain up so high that I end up with way too much bleed through from the rest of the kit. and when I turn the gain down to try and reduce the bleed through, I get a sound similar to beating a rubber bin with a pork chop.

I've been hunting for the recording sweet spot on the kick, but I must be missing something. Or am I just expecting too much out of this mic?

Any advice regarding this mic is appreciated.
 
Sounds like the kick itself is the problem. Mics only reproduce what they hear.
 
Obviously make sure all your cords are good etc etc.

Are your levels ok?


Try a different mic .

Is the drum worth a crap?
 
Track Rat said:
Sounds like the kick itself is the problem. Mics only reproduce what they hear.
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dreib said:
Is the drum worth a crap?
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Both excellent suggestions. I will check my drum itself.
Out of curiosity, does it make sense to try and tune the drum to resonate in the peak response frequencies of the microphone itself? Or am I overthinking this now?
 
Assuming you are talking about a Beta 52, the best place for it tends to be right at the hole in the reso head. Basically, line up the head with the point where the grille meats the body.

Of course, the mic can only do so much. You didn't say what sort of kick sound you were after, what sort if heads you are using, what sort if beater you are using, or what style of music you are playing. All of these things will affect thesoynd.

The raw file will generally sound dull compared to the finished sound.

If you are getting an unusable amount of cymbal bleed, you might not be hitting the kick hard enough while beating the hell out of the cymbals. The drum set is a single instrument and it is up to the drummer to "mix" the drums by hitting everything wuth the proper dynamics.

For example, if you are beating the crap out of an open hi hat while gently tapping on the snare drum, it isn't the snare mics fault that it is picking up too much hat, it's the drummer's fault.
 
Farview said:
... it's the drummer's fault.
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That always seems to be the way doesn't it? :laughings:

Ok so sounds like I really need to focus on the sound my drum makes on it's own. Thanks to all so far for giving me a point in the right direction.
 
pegger said:
That always seems to be the way doesn't it? :laughings:

Ok so sounds like I really need to focus on the sound my drum makes on it's own. Thanks to all so far for giving me a point in the right direction.
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Absolutely. the mic only picks up what is there. If you stick it in front of a bad sounding kick, the mic won't fix it. If you put it in front of a beautiful sounding kick, it will sound awesome.

As with just about anything, garbage in, garbage out.
 
The trick is to use the beta52 AND a Shure beta 91 on two different tracks.

Use the 91 for the attack and punch leaving the 52 to cover the meat and growl of the low end.
Place the 91 on a small pillow inside the kick and place the 52 just as farview told you , just inside the res head.

Mix to taste.
 
moresound said:
The trick is to use the beta52 AND a Shure beta 91 on two different tracks.

Use the 91 for the attack and punch leaving the 52 to cover the meat and growl of the low end.
Place the 91 on a small pillow inside the kick and place the 52 just as farview told you , just inside the res head.

Mix to taste.
Click to expand...

^^^ This!!

Good enough for Heart, good enough for me!

board.webp
 
If the kick mic is getting bleed from the kit and you have to turn the gain way up then the drummer is not hitting the kick hard enough, and/or the mic is in the wrong place. Normally with a 52 on a rock kit I have the gain close to all the way down.
 
moresound said:
The trick is to use the beta52 AND a Shure beta 91 on two different tracks.

Use the 91 for the attack and punch leaving the 52 to cover the meat and growl of the low end.
Place the 91 on a small pillow inside the kick and place the 52 just as farview told you , just inside the res head.

Mix to taste.
Click to expand...

I'd like the flexibility of multi-mic'ing the drum, but I'm saving for reference monitors at the moment. $250 bucks for another mic will have to wait for another day.

From the sounds of it, I am my own worst enemy here. I need to check the tuning on my drum, and learn to hit it right by the sounds of it. I'm not a drummer, but I dabble enough to lay down a groove...just no finesse I guess.

I'll maybe post a sound clip later when I get home and perhaps you guys can tell me if it sounds like it's not bad, or if it's way out in left field.

Appreciate all the input so far. Lots to think about.
 
pegger said:
I'd like the flexibility of multi-mic'ing the drum, but I'm saving for reference monitors at the moment. $250 bucks for another mic will have to wait for another day.

From the sounds of it, I am my own worst enemy here. I need to check the tuning on my drum, and learn to hit it right by the sounds of it. I'm not a drummer, but I dabble enough to lay down a groove...just no finesse I guess.

I'll maybe post a sound clip later when I get home and perhaps you guys can tell me if it sounds like it's not bad, or if it's way out in left
Appreciate all the input so far. Lots to think about.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the used is about half price.
 
I do like the 91-52 sound, but I've done dozens of albums using just 52's. Just having 52's will not doom you to a bad kick sound.
 
I use a Beta 52 for live stuff. Adds the low end.

The thing about these mics is that they're so mid scooped the natural sound they reproduce tends (for me anyway) to be not so much unlike a basketball. This works if that's the sound you want. For a more natural sound I might use a 441 or SM7b instead.
 
To basically repeat what everyone else says, if the drum sounds like crap when you're standing in the room, it won't sound much better with a mic in front of it.

There's a reason we get excited when a DW kit comes through our studio and ask the drummer to politely use our studio kit when they bring in something that looks like it's made by Fisher Price. xD

Of course, if it's a nice kick drum, as mentioned previously, tuning and heads and the beater are all a factor in the sound. Tweak as needed.
 
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