micing percussion inst. which mics??!!!

[chris healey]

I'm multitracking congas, timbales, shakers ,upright bass ,and vocal harmonies. which mics!!? can I use the same mics with music and vocals? I'm testing sure sm 58's aren't these pretty low end? any help would be appreciated, system is laptop with mbox. would you use a mixer?? I'm just starting and want production quality please tell me what you think, thanks

 

[Stefan Elmblad]

The sound sources you mention cannot be seen as a group of similar sounds, upright bass for instance, is a whole different approach than shakers and so on.

For what it's worth, I've been getting great results tracking congas with the SM7 microphone, and would assume it to be very good for timbales too. For vocals I'd go for a quality LDC first. Shakers would maybe need a omni microphone, since the sound source itself is moving around when shaken. I've never miced upright bass, but I would try one (or two) LDC's to capture it.

 

[gtrman_66]

I'll second the '57's on the congas, I've never found anything that I thought did a better job on them. For the shaker, I use a large diaphragm condensor mic set to omni pattern. I haven't recorded a whole lot of upright bass, but for the tracks I did with one, I had good luck with a sennheiser md421.

 

[chris healey]

what is the diference between the 57's and the58's besides the pop shield? is the 58 good enough to do multi tracked vocal harmonies?

 

[Stefan Elmblad]

Eeh..when I wrote SM7, I did mean the SM7. Not SM57, although I'm sure it would be up to the task.

 

[mikeh]

As far as dynamic mics, I still find a trusty old SM57 works as good as anything on concas. There is very little difference between the 57 & 58 and both can be used for many of the same applications. The 57 or 58 can work well as a studio vocal mic for the right voices (I find male voices singing more "in your face rock & roll" tend to work better with a 58 (vs. say a breathy female R & B vocal). I prefer the 58 over the 57 for vocals simply becuase of the ball. I prefer the 57 over a 58 for instuments simply because of the lower profile.

I've had good luck useing Otava MC 012 condensor mic's on percussion and surprisingly one of my favorite mics for smaller hand percussion (shakers, etc) is the much hated AKG C3000 (also a condensor).