Kick Drum mic Poll

  • Thread starter Thread starter nezpierce
  • Start date Start date

which Kick Drum mic would/did you buy?

  • ATM 25

    Votes: 50 15.2%

  • AKG D112

    Votes: 134 40.9%

  • Sennheiser e602

    Votes: 36 11.0%

  • Shure Beta52

    Votes: 108 32.9%
  • Total voters
    328
I have a fairly intense dislike for the D112. It just never seems right to me. I am very fond of the Beta 52. I just bought one tonight, in fact. The RE-20 is a classic choice, but expensive. Another very common choice is a Beyer M 88. The M 88 is more often thought of as a live vocal mic, but it is my first choice for modern R&B kick drums, and well as most Funk drummers. It has a very nice attack in a kick drum. If you can find old silver head one, that is preferred. The black head ones are nice though.
 
I've used about every kick mic extensively except for the new Sennheiser 602 – which I'd love to get my hands on 'cause I've heard a lot of great things about it.

I really like the AT mics, both the ATM-25 and the Pro 25. They give a really nice definition with not a lot of fuss. If you're just starting to learn to mic drums and are building a mic collection, I would recommend these. Good for classic rock and pop.

AKG D-112 – I like this mic for hard rock. Very solid, round tone can easily be had with this mic. I also like this mic for jazz – where the point is to often get this fluffy, shitty kick sound. This mic is forgiving on less-than-perfect kick drums.

Beta52 – this is a good mic if you're going for an in-your-face sound. It picks up "clicks" well for heavy metal [ metal washer duct taped to kick head at point of impact and struck with a wooden beater ]. Also good for R&B and Hip Hop. It's not the most musical kick mic, but it does pack a punch. There's a sort of a "honk" to it, and I wouldn't recommend for general kick miking purposes unless you want more "smack" than "boom". Good on tight kicks.

EV RE20 – This is a classic and probably my fav kick mic when it works and least favorite when it doesn't. This mic will make a really good well-tuned kick sound great, but wouldn't help the less-than-perfect kick sound as much. It's pretty flat and very unforgiving. This is the one mic that you'll find you get more use out of than just kick drum. It can make a great vox mic on the right voice.
 
Dot said:
I've used about every kick mic extensively except for the new Sennheiser 602 – which I'd love to get my hands on 'cause I've heard a lot of great things about it.

I really like the AT mics, both the ATM-25 and the Pro 25. They give a really nice definition with not a lot of fuss. If you're just starting to learn to mic drums and are building a mic collection, I would recommend these. Good for classic rock and pop.

AKG D-112 – I like this mic for hard rock. Very solid, round tone can easily be had with this mic. I also like this mic for jazz – where the point is to often get this fluffy, shitty kick sound. This mic is forgiving on less-than-perfect kick drums.

Beta52 – this is a good mic if you're going for an in-your-face sound. It picks up "clicks" well for heavy metal [ metal washer duct taped to kick head at point of impact and struck with a wooden beater ]. Also good for R&B and Hip Hop. It's not the most musical kick mic, but it does pack a punch. There's a sort of a "honk" to it, and I wouldn't recommend for general kick miking purposes unless you want more "smack" than "boom". Good on tight kicks.

EV RE20 – This is a classic and probably my fav kick mic when it works and least favorite when it doesn't. This mic will make a really good well-tuned kick sound great, but wouldn't help the less-than-perfect kick sound as much. It's pretty flat and very unforgiving. This is the one mic that you'll find you get more use out of than just kick drum. It can make a great vox mic on the right voice.
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Used anything in the audix line?
 
I have on one occassion Vox. A band I recorded once had one of those mic packs. I didn't care for them. They had no ass. Just my humble opinion. YMMV.
 
Glad to see a few people here mention the Beyers... smart people indeed. Not only will the M88 make a great kick mic, but it makes a great snare mic, guitar cab mic, vocal mic, ass mic, whatever it is you want it will pretty much do better than most.
I have a Beyer TGX50 kick mic that I like a whole lot, and its been replaced by the Opus something or another but it is worth a huge mention.
If I had a choice of all of the stuff thats been listed so far, it would be the M88 because of versatility and the fact that I like getting more for my money than most of you guys do. But, I'm just weird I guess. Spend more money if you think you need to. I'll spend mine wiser. :)
By the way, I love an RE-20 on kick.
 
Track Rat said:
I have on one occassion Vox. A band I recorded once had one of those mic packs. I didn't care for them. They had no ass. Just my humble opinion. YMMV.
Click to expand...

Cool.. Thanks.... I have a D1.. and I really like it for the snare.... But I was just interested in what other people think...

Joe
 
Cool to see this thread back up here again!

I have to say, a lot of these Chinese condensers have nothing on the classic all-round dynamics: 57, RE-20, M88, MD441...
 
OK. Cool... Just thought I would ask......

If you ever get a chance to try one against the others, your opinion would be greatly appreciated... just post here...

Jow
 
To Voxvender: I liked the Audix D2s on toms so much that I bought 4 of them. I like them on guitar cabs as well, although I usually add another mic in with it. Since then I've decided to use MXL 2001s for toms, so I may be selling off or trading at least 2 of them.
 
Cool.. Thanks for the info..

Why are you moving to the mxl... what are the differences.... Maybe I should look at them too????
 
Actually I like the MXL 603 on toms but it picks up too much of everything around it due to it's wide pattern. Next in line I liked my AKG 451s, but damn are those things expensive. The MXL 2001 didn't sound a whole lot different than the 451 and it's a helluva lot cheaper. The 2001 sounds brighter than the D2 and it has a lower frequency responce. But if what you want is a tight pattern good all around tom and percussion mic, you can't go wrong with the D2. Oh yeah, believe it or not I've used that 2001 on snare with great results too.
 
Peavey 520i.

It makes almost any kick drum sound good. And is overall a pretty nice mic in itself. You normally can find one for around $110 on ebay or other places. I got mine at Lentines for $109 with shipping.

Beezoboy
 
CAD E-100. Nice little electret condenser that has a very focused boom to it. They've discontinued it, though, and I've seen some places throwing them out the door for less than 150. Useful for many things besides kick drum, as well.
 
I own a Beta 52, an e602 and a CAD E-100. Of the 3 I like the Shure the best. The CAD has a loose polar pattern and will pick up a LOT of bleed. I wasn't happy with the bleed so I bought the e602. The e602 let me down I felt (I now use it for the low tom) and I bought the Shure. The Shure has done well for me and of these 3, I feel it's the best.
The e602 has a design flaw. It has a built in mic clip that can be cross-threaded very easily. I was aware of the problem when I bought it and still managed to cross-thread it within 6 months.
If you already own a CAD, I would say it's not a bad choice... but I wouldn't buy it specifically for kick. Of ALL the mics I own, I am probably least satisfied with the e602. (Doesn't sound BAD, but never seemed to produce a useable sound without eq--and of course there's the wimpy threads.)
The Shure is heavy. I put a five pound weight on the bottom of it's stand when I need to boom it in.
Of the 3, I think the CAD is best for bass guitar. I'm not crazy about the top end on this mic (it can be harsh and unforgiving), but the low end has good detail.
 
Its amazing so far that no one has really mentioned the Sennheiser.

I purchased the d112 out of the widely accepted attitude, and yes it works but man, you guys should seriously invest or at least investigate the sennheiser.

Ive used that in with an RE20, and basically, i've gotten the best of both worlds. The Senn actually is a little bit lacking in attack, but my god the tight bottom end, and little eq makes this mic almost fine by itself.

I would almost go so far as to say, for the $$$ its really one of the best and unique sounding kick mics out there.

Run from D112 land and try something different.
 
agreed as well bout the 421 / re20 combo, amazing as well. I still havent tried the Shure 52.

Ill have to investigate that as well.
 
I find it strange that no-one has mentioned the AKG D20 or D25, as I have heard the D25 is the Daddy of kick drum mics?

Is it because they are pretty scarse and very expensive... Well not always, I just bagged two of them for a killer price!! :)

If anyone wants one, PM me. It won't be cheap though!
 
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