Radio Shack "Drum Mic"...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim Brown
  • Start date Start date
Yo BennyBob,don't mean to sound so harsh! I'm no mic expert,
but when it comes to Radio Whack mics,I'm only talkin' from experience. Like BigKahuna stated earlier,50.00 is a waste of money on 1 of those damn things! Of course my statements
mean crap to any-1 concerned but HONESTLY,if you use the "Closed Eye" test and compare a R.Wk. mic to another
I'll be damned if you can't tell the difference!
Peace
Mr.Q
 
Hey, don't say Radio Shack mics don't have any use whatsoever... I have a couple we use in practice; so our singer doesn't have to feel guilty if he throws it around/uses it on crash cymbals. Also, the wonderful low-gain keeps it from feeding back at high volumes (since he's singing through a guitar amp until we get our PA). Can you say.... expendibility?
 
radio shack mics suck

except for using at band practice. but even then they suck because your vocalist ruins their voice trying to get heard, not hearing how they actaully sound etc etc. i have a radio shack mic that i inherited from a friend because his old bandmate left it at his house. my $17 fontopia earphones pic up more detailed, larger response range, louder, fuller sounds then that piece of shit. i dont know who you are kidding. radio shack doesnt work. cept the OLD realistic PZMs that i once used at watershed studios in portsmouth england.
 
The only experience I have (in case anyone cares!) with Radio Shack mics is a PZM from back in my 4-tracker days. Bought one out of the box and set it up using the 2 AAA batteries they recommend -- of course, the thing sounded like crap (no highs, muddy bottom). Did some digging around and found that there was a mod - using 18v camera batteries instead to power it -- the highs were MUCH better, bass less muddy - it was more usable.

BUT, after reading this thread, I dug it up out of the old "throw-away" bin and compared it to an SM58, and also a Rode NT2. Well... the SM58 outperformed it, and the NT2, of course, kicked it's ass - no comparison...

Bottom line - back then, for my level of experience, it sounded good at the time. Then as I got into recording at a more serious level, my ears were developing more critical listening skills allowing me to differentiate sound quality to a greater degree... to the point that I can take it as a given that RS mics are gonna sound like garbage...

But the real point of all this though, is that for the $50+ dollars you spend on what essentially is a throw-away piece of gear, you're already at the halfway point to buying an SM57 or SM58 that will never be a throw-away (until it gets damaged!) and will sound infinitely better.

Just my 2 cents....

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
OK, I think this dead horse has one more post in her.

I have been using this RS drum mic for the last few days to replace a broken sm57 on a 12" tom. I think it sounds just as good as the 57, plus the drum clip works well.

Application is for recording CD demos for local bands in my basement/project studio utilizing a Korg D16. I'm sure many of you are thinking that maybe my ears aren't critical (ie "professional") enough. I would probably agree with you. But, hey, it works for me.

BTW, I recorded some vocals yesterday singing through the pickups of a 1960's Harmony Rocket guitar. Lets have fun today.
 
Good point markert... if I wanted a thin, muddy sound for a particular application - I could just dig up that old PZM, pop those AAA's back in and voila! You simply can't discount the fun of experimenting with ANY of the gear you've got!

:D

Bruce
 
markert:
are you writing about this mics??? --->>

http://www.radioshack.com/product.a..._name=CTLG_002_003_005_000&product_id=33-3032

mmmm, if it can make the job for local demo bands, well...
(I have to think about it 4 or 5 times
before write something)

bvaleria: you got a good point here, $50 + $30 its an sm57.

I have 3 samson r11 with a clamp that I invented for toms.
they are $70 for 3 mics. the RS are $50 each, with a nice clamp. (you get for what you paid, right?)

I need 3 mics, so, for 3 sm57 is like $250, and for 3 RS with a nice clamp it $150.

mmmmmmm $100 ! I have to THINK, THINK, THINK, where to spend my money!!!!

I'm going crazy thinking in prices, brands, quality,
and how much my clients can pay.

anyone else has trying them??
whos gonna be the braveheart who will buy one of these to test it???

maybe our moderator in mics, Recording Engineer! :D

are they good for $50 dollars? :confused:
 
Radio Shack...

Alright, we've heard enough from people who feel burned by buying $30 microphones. What did you expect??? Anyway, I want to say two important things.

A) The PZM was made by crown, and although I was not in the know at the time, some engineer friends of mine tell me that the only difference between it and the Crown (for about a hundred bucks more) was a RESISTOR (or something) which, if bypassed, turned it into the Crown.

B) Yes, most of what RS has in Mics is junk, but on the off chance that its not, 30 DAY RETURN POLICY!!! Try the damned thing out before making judgements.


If you can't decide how good a mic sound in a month, you need to grow new ears. (or lighten your schedule a bit)

Peace

Josh
 
addendum:

By the way, from a quality standpoint, the clamp looks kind of junky o the RS mic, it relies on elasticity to keep it in place, rather than a simple(and better) screw mechanism.

P.S. I'd buy and try, but I use a sampler/Dr. Rythm for drums these days. Maybe I'll try one out on trombone. They also recommend it for horns, but I can't figure out how to make it stick.

P.P.S. Sometimes close-miking is not the only drum solution. --but it is if your room is like mine.
 
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