Help?

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millsale

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Hi
Im in a band and we have to decided to produce some home recordings. We have all the equipment except from drum mics. We really do not have a clue what mics to get and i could really do with some advice as everyone seems to have a different opinions.

The kit is a pearl export and we would be looking to pay £150 maximum ($300). Really we want to spend as little as possible for a half decent sound.
I could really do with help on what mics to use and how many. Also is it worth getting a set.

Sorry about the essay :)
 
A good rule of thumb is to try to get a good sound with 4 mics - 2 condensor mics to serve as "overheads" or room mics which pick up the entire kit and then one mic on the batter head of the snare and another mic on the kick (either mic'ing inside the kick, on the resonant head or on the batter head). Normally the mics for the snare and kick tend to be dynamic mics - but more and

The key is to get the best sound through the room mics and then blend in as much snare & kick as needed (naturally having seperate mics for the snare and kick also allows more control if you need compression, reverb, etc.

Certainly you can use more than 4 mics - but the fundamental concept is to get the best room sound and then use the other mics simply to dial in a little more if needed.

What mics are best? As you indicate there are hundreds of different opinions.

I've used a CAD drum mic pack (for live applications) which worked well at a low cost. If you don't want to go with a mic pack some individual options.

Snare - Shure SM57 an $80 dynamic mic that can also serve well mic'ing guitar cabs, as a vocal mic for certain rock & roll voices and it is sturdy enough to use as a hammer.

Kick - I'm not sure waht is out there in your price range (I use a D12 - which is probably more than you want to spend)- maybe someone else can offer an idea.

Condenser mics - The are soooo many low cost condensors that could work as overheads. CAD M179 (or M177), MXL has I think the 991. Octava had the MC012 - candidly, almost any condensor can work for drum overheads - some simply work better than others.
 
millsale said:
Hi
Im in a band and we have to decided to produce some home recordings. We have all the equipment except from drum mics. We really do not have a clue what mics to get and i could really do with some advice as everyone seems to have a different opinions.

The kit is a pearl export and we would be looking to pay £150 maximum ($300). Really we want to spend as little as possible for a half decent sound.
I could really do with help on what mics to use and how many. Also is it worth getting a set.

Sorry about the essay :)
Click to expand...

kick:
D112 or Beta52
Snare: SM57 or audix i5, same for toms (if needed, i don't mic toms, I just use the overheads for toms_
Overheads: MXL 603s work well for me (little bright and need to be placed jsut right), as have niant MSH-01

Then look for the thread with the recorderman technique.

I am not sure about hte translation to pounds, but i bought all my mics used in US dollars, decent prices would be:
D112/beta52: $120
SM57: $60-70 each
Overheads: $110.pair.

You could skip the snare mic, but i wouldn;t skip the kick mic.

Daav
 
millsale said:
Hi
Im in a band and we have to decided to produce some home recordings. We have all the equipment except from drum mics. We really do not have a clue what mics to get and i could really do with some advice as everyone seems to have a different opinions.

The kit is a pearl export and we would be looking to pay £150 maximum ($300). Really we want to spend as little as possible for a half decent sound.
I could really do with help on what mics to use and how many. Also is it worth getting a set.

Sorry about the essay :)
Click to expand...
I have these mics. BD300, MB75, 2x SC300. They'd cost £105 total, but you could buy this pack for £125. To get free shipping, you need to spend more than £140, so you could get some cables, 8x these = £37, or 8x these = £64(better quality). And stands, these and these. The only thing is, just now, the £ is weak compared with the Euro, so everything is dearer than usual.
 
daav said:
I am not sure about hte translation to pounds
Click to expand...
It's around £0.4824 to $1, so roughly $2 for every £1. Only thing, we in the UK are usually ripped off :mad: so you can't really rely on american prices to judge £s.
 
If you are on a limited budget, I would definitely forget about tom mics unless you are buying a drum specific mic kit that comes with them. With good overhead micing the toms will sound just fine. The Recorderman method is excellent for picking up the whole kit.
 
I use the Audio-Technica MB/Dk6 microphone pack(6) + SM-57 on the snare, with satisfactory results. Costs US$ 291 at Amazon. I bass drum mic, 3 tom mics, 2 condensers.
 
daav said:
kick:
D112 or Beta52
Snare: SM57 or audix i5, same for toms (if needed, i don't mic toms, I just use the overheads for toms_
Overheads: MXL 603s work well for me (little bright and need to be placed jsut right), as have niant MSH-01

Then look for the thread with the recorderman technique.

I am not sure about hte translation to pounds, but i bought all my mics used in US dollars, decent prices would be:
D112/beta52: $120
SM57: $60-70 each
Overheads: $110.pair.

You could skip the snare mic, but i wouldn;t skip the kick mic.

Daav
Click to expand...

Definitely a good place to start.
 
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