May Miking system and drum mics

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Pinkfloydfan

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Hello,

I am new to this forum so be nice :o

Anyways,

I’m placing an order for my DW Drum kit probably within the next week. I am going to get the May Miking system built into the drums, and then later buy the drum mic's myself. I was thinking more of the Audix line of things because I have heard a lot of good things with the D Series and the SCX1 Condenser Microphone. I want to get the best sound out of my DW drums, and Paiste Cymbals... Would this be a "good" choice?

I would think that with the MAY System, having a microphone inside the drum would interfere with the overall sound?

I also want to get straight to recording. So what is a good program for the computer for about $250-$500 Canadian? I guess I would also need a good soundcard for recording as well?

Thanks,

Max
 
A mic inside your drum is going to dramatically effect the way the drum sounds..... And you may have some serious "out of phase" problems.

I'd really like to help you, but I don't know as much as some of the other guys, so I'll let them do their thing....

Congrats on getting a d.w. kit, I had a buddy who had one and I absolutley LOVED it. Hands down it was the best kit I've ever played. It made pork pie, and orange country seem like g.p. percussion. (IMHO).

:D
 
Thanks a lot!

The May Miking system is used by many well known drummers. Terry Bozzio, Marco Minnemann (used it) etc. Just because they used it doesn't mean it will be good, but there were probably some benefits of using it; which is probably why they played it. Either that or May Miking needed big name drummers to play their products for good advertising since the product is terrible.
:(
 
The May mic'ing system is used because it is *convenient*, and placing mics inside drums decreases mic bleed. This is an excellent concept for *live* mic'ing.
I would not personally recommend this system for *recording*. When you listen for that perfect drum sound, do you stick your head inside the drum? Does the audience? The overheads will compensate a good deal for variances in tone. Audix is a good solution again for *live* mic'ing, and I think for a certain sound, the D6 is a pretty good recording mic. Myself, strictly for recording, I'd put a D6 or an AKG D112 in kick (depending on the sound you're looking for), the best dynamic you have on snare (many folks like SM57, I use SM7B or AKG D770), and a kickass pair of overheads. In recording, 80% or so of the kit is captured by the overheads, and that is where the big bucks go. I have heard no evidence whatsoever that putting shit loads of mics and channels on a drum kit does anything other than stroke the drummer's ego.-Richie
 
Richard Monroe said:
I have heard no evidence whatsoever that putting shit loads of mics and channels on a drum kit does anything other than stroke the drummer's ego.-Richie
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That is really genre dependant. You can't have a heavy metal album using 3 or 4 mics, it just won't do it.

Anyway, back to the may system. The big trick is proper placement, don't put the mics in the center of the drum, you will get phase issues. I really do like the sound of normal micing better. Most of the people that use this system have enormous drumsets with the toms steeply angled and hundreds of cymbals placed an inch above the toms. This makes normal close micing impossible. If you are getting a 5 piece kit and you play the type of music that benefits from an open sound, don't bother with the may system. However, if you are one of those guys that refuses to cut a hole in your front kick head, put one inside, everyone with thank you.
 
I Have the May system.

Save your money.

The May system really only sounds good to me on the kick and snare.

Mic'd from the inside, the toms don't sound quite as good - in fact, to me, the floor toms kind of wind up sounding like kick drums when mic'd from inside.(Keep in mind I'm using 18" and 20" Floor toms)
This system is really intended for live use. most serious recording engineers wouldn't even look at a mic built into a drumset.

If I were you, I would get one built into the snare, and the kick drum(s), and go ahead and buy them with the mics.

That way, you have the basic foundation of your kit covered, then use external mic's on your toms and overheads.


Tim
 
Farview said:
That is really genre dependant. You can't have a heavy metal album using 3 or 4 mics, it just won't do it.
Click to expand...


Sure it will! I'm a metal drummer, and for recordings - all I ever use is a pair of overheads, and kick and snare mic's. It's the preferred sound. Big Drums don't close mic that well - but put four or five feet between them and the mic's and they kill.

Farview said:
Anyway, back to the may system. The big trick is proper placement, don't put the mics in the center of the drum, you will get phase issues. I really do like the sound of normal micing better. Most of the people that use this system have enormous drumsets with the toms steeply angled and hundreds of cymbals placed an inch above the toms. This makes normal close micing impossible. If you are getting a 5 piece kit and you play the type of music that benefits from an open sound, don't bother with the may system. However, if you are one of those guys that refuses to cut a hole in your front kick head, put one inside, everyone with thank you.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. The May system does not sound as good overall for recording- For live use it's great, because You don't have as much sound coming in, but the sound is kind of "tubby" sounding. The problem I wound, is that you can either tune the drums how you like them to sound to your ears - and they sound like shit through the May mics, or you have to tune them the way the mic picks them up best - and they sound like shit to the human ear in the room. Ultimately, I'm just not a fan of close mic'ing the drumkit.

For the snare though, I have it dead in the center, and aiming straight up. I just wired it out of phase inside the drum, and I love my snare sound.
If I intend to "close mic" the toms - I trigger a ddrum unit instead.


Tim
 
Okay, I have decided not to go with the May system. I'll sure save some money thats for sure...

My question now is what microphone will achieve the best sound out of my DW's for recording and live? Audix D Series with SCX1 Condensors? Or the AKG microphones ( I dont have that much info on AKG since the site navigation is terrible)...

Max
 
For toms, I use Sennheiser 604's or 421's


Tim, I'm not trying to be a dick, but I can't think of a metal album made after 1990 that didn't close mic the toms. There may be room mics and such, but the black album, for example, had 2 mics on each tom and 3 mics on the kick. Anything Albini produced has at least 24 mics on a 6 piece kit.I was there when Pantera was recording Vulgar and Far Beyond Driven, the kit was close miced. I could go on and on.
 
Farview said:
For toms, I use Sennheiser 604's or 421's


Tim, I'm not trying to be a dick, but I can't think of a metal album made after 1990 that didn't close mic the toms. There may be room mics and such, but the black album, for example, had 2 mics on each tom and 3 mics on the kick. Anything Albini produced has at least 24 mics on a 6 piece kit.I was there when Pantera was recording Vulgar and Far Beyond Driven, the kit was close miced. I could go on and on.
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Yeah, but that's the sound they are going for now, and I hate that sound.

Plus, Vinnie Paul doesn't use drums as big as mine.
I don't know what size kick and toms he's recording with - probably a 22" or 24", but I have 28" diameter kicks, and they don't close mic that well, and my toms are 15", 18", and 20" in diameter - and no matter how I tune them, the tend to yield a kick drum type of sound rather than a tom sound when close mic'd.

Sometimes, I'll actually put the "overheads" beneath the cymbals and that will yield more tom, and less cymbal in the mix.

My brother's band recorded a record at Albini's place, and he said they used tons of mic's on the kit as well. (He said I would die and think I went to heaven there.) :D

I like a BIG natural bombastic drum sound - ala Bonham - so I prefer the sound of big drums tuned tight, with a bit of space between the drums and the mic's. it yields a more natural sound that I find a lot more pleasing to my ears.



Tim
 
You're right, Vinnie was using 24's at the time. I don't know anyone that uses drums as big as yours. That is probably why your experience differs. I had 28 inch Ludwigs in the early 80's, it was cool at the time. I prefer tuning my drums low, so I have smaller sizes. (than you, I'm still bigger tom-wise than anything you can get at GC or Sam Ash)

I, too, think of Pantera, metallica's Black album, etc... as "new" however, looking at the calandar, all that stuff is 15 years old.
 
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Farview said:
I, too, think of Pantera, metallica's Black album, etc... as "new" however, looking at the calandar, all that stuff is 15 years old.
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Oooooh, I hate it when that happens!
 
I know its been a while since this has been posted on

I don't have a HUGE kit like some of you. I've opted for a 4 sometimes 5 piece 1971 Camco kit with a 12x9, 13x10, 16x16 toms and 22x14 bass. And taking after Zeppelin and other old favorites like that, I decided to mic my kit when my band recorded with only two mics. I had more, but decided to try with just that. I put a D6 about a foot in front of my bass (had a whole at that point) and a higher end sennhiser VOCAL mic directly above my head angled dwn towards the kit. This was recorded in a garage...and it had a more natural sound than some of my favorite recordings. Now a days I have no hole and I have had sound guys just put a D6 up to the head and it STILL sounds fricken amazing. Go with what you can afford and if yo intuitive enough you can always make it sound good.:) thats my two cents
 
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