? Mics for the road and the studio?

[everdred]

I play in a rock band and I need some suggestions on mics. I need some that are high quality and well suited for home digital 4 track recordings(its a boss,i dont knowwhich model,ill have to look) AND also well suited for taking on the road and using for live shows.We play rock and roll that has dynamics with soft/hard parts to the songs. We tune down to Eb and C on our songs.I'm giving you all this info in hopes that it will help get me some more specific answers.

I play an older Pearl Prestige Studio BLX kit.All birch shells 6 ply 7.5mm
16 x 22 bass drum
16 x 16 floor tom
11 x 13 tom
10 x 12 tom
5 x 14 free floating maple snare

Zildjian cymbals
20" avedis medium ride
18" fx oriental trash
18" z custom medium crash
17" z custom rock crash
16" a custom crash
14" k custom dark hihats

So basically I was thinking I need 2 good overhead condensers,a good low end kick mic,maybe something for the hihat (even though it cuts through decently already) and something for my toms and snare . We have like 4 sm57s,a sm58 already lying around at out practice room.Are those sufficent for decent snare and tom micing?

Someone please help me with some suggestions. I play shows almost every week and we want to try and get a great sounding home recording.

Thanks!

 

[Simman]

Don't know your budget but here's something.

Kick - Audix D6
Snare top - 57 (#1) or SM-58
Snare bottom - 57 (#2) (remember..reverse polarity)
Rack Toms - 57 (#3 & 4)
Floor Tom - ATM25
MXL 603s for the overhaeds; there decent mics at a low cost.

If you've got the budget , put MD421s on all the toms

 

[Tim Brown]

Unless you're in a signed band, the odds are that you won't need overheads live - and most soundmen at this level wouldn't really know what to do with them.

I ran sound for a band a few years ago, and I only mic'd the kick, snare, and an overhead directly over the drummers head, aimed at his knee. The clubs regular soundman came up and was having a fit he was like "Those drums sound like thunder, man! What kind of effects do you have on them?"

He about had a cow when I told him the only processing was gate and compresson on the kick and snare, and just a single overhead catching the entire kit.

He said he didn't know you could mic a drumkit like that live, and he had been a soundman for over 10 years.


The problem is that most soundmen haven't had much recording expoerience, and most recording engineers haven't had enough time in the live field to comfortably switch between the two. The techniques do carry over, but you have to modify them.


Since you didn't give us a budget, here's what I would suggest:

For the Kick and toms, get one of those Sennheiser mic packs. It's a few 604's or whatever they are - the small ones that come with the mounts, and a Kick mic.

Then I would suggest that you get another of the kick mic's (The 602, I believe is model) and use that on the floor tom.

Overheads and Hi-hats: MXL 603's.

OR if you really want to get fancy, get the hi-hat mic of your choice, and a set of K&K Audio's Cymbal Microphones. These attach to your cymbals at the cymbal post, and allow you to individually pan the cymbals, since each cymbal has it's own mic.. or you can stack the mic's with Y adapters - up to 4 mic's per channel. These cost about $40 each. They don't sound as crisp as condenser overheads, but give you individual control over each cymbal.






Tim