Setting out to mic drum kit

C

Cakey2

New member
I don't know how much help I'll get with this, but any aid wold be greatly appreciated.

I'm going to be recording two bands in june and I need to buy a set of mics to multitrack a drum kit ona very tight budget (because I'm poor).

Now, this means that my choices are being dictated more by my pocket than by my ears, which is sad, but at this stage necessary.

I reckon I've got about £450 (should say pounds) (about £675 (should say dollars)) to play with, give or take. I already have an AKG C3000, a shure BG1.1 and a couple of crappy radio shack style mics. These I intend to use on hats and three toms respectively.

My current choices are SM57lc for snare (fairly confident of this one), AT pro 25 for kick and a pair of AT 31a s for overheads. Now, I'm sure that these are not ideal mics, but I'd be very happy to listen if you can suggest mics which are better (in personal experience) for a similar price.

Specifically, is it worth pushing my budget to get an AKG D112 and not the pro 25? Or perhaps my money would be better spent replacing the two plastic radio-shack styale mics with BG1.1s, or something similar?

It's hard to let the money talk so much, but whaddya do?

Thanks for reading,

matt

ps remember mics are normally somewhat cheaper in the US!-)



[This message has been edited by Cakey2 (edited 05-12-2000).]
 
ive got two c3000's that i use for overheads a d112 for bass and a sm57 for snare. you might want to pick up another c3000 and two sm57's (one for bass and one for snare). ive had fairly good results with a 57 on bass and this should be right on budget for you. later on you could pick up a bass drum mic and then you could use the sm57 on the toms or whatever. you really dont need to mic each of the toms. ive got 4 atm29's that i'll occasionally mic each tom with but usually i prefer to just use the overheads.
 
If the drums are tuned well, I agree with just using the overheads to mic them (throw the Radio Crap mics away if you can). Investing in a solid kick drum mic will make a great difference. A 57 will work, but when you're mixing and you can't get the kick sound you want, it will be the 57 haunting you (although I don't know what sound you're looking for).

Sennheiser has a new Kick mic(E602 Evolution)for $199US, that's a little cheaper than the D112.

If you're looking for a deal, and you will have a continued need for drum mics, look into some of the package deals offered by the catalogs.
 
The Pro 25 should be a good choice. I'd go with that, a 57 for snare and... I've been using a single NT-1 for overhead- and I really like the results. Maybe you should be the Guinei (sp?) Pig here and check out the NT-3 a pair would run you a little over $300. RE would say go with Octava but... yada yada yada... (wish I had a pair)

I'm all for minimum micing techniques and four mics would satisfy me, but it all depends on what youre going for.

he
 
Hmmmmm....

Now, this question isn't a problem for me, but just out of interest (i apologise to Cakey2 because this question isn't directly to do with his topic).

Say i was micing up a drum kit with 4 mics, 1 bass (d112/re20/pro25...), 1 snare (sm57/beta57...) and 2 overheads. What would be better, large diaphragm or small diaphragm condensors?

I personly would use large diaphragm condensors.

What are your feelings on this matter?
I was just woundering about what people prefured for drum overheads, i've always used large diaphragm condensors in this situation, but i have never really tried anything else.

Thanx for your time :)
omnipotent :D
P.S. This question is only valid in the 4 mic situation, as said above. If i was micing every drum i would use small diaphragm condensors. :)

[This message has been edited by omnipotent (edited 05-13-2000).]

[This message has been edited by omnipotent (edited 05-13-2000).]
 
I tend to agree with RE here. Large Diaphram condensors tend to be a little more robust sounding, and definatly capture more of the overall sound.

I never just use 4 mics, and still use a pair of 4033's for overheads and am pleased with the results. On other things, I use a RE-27 n/d for kick, SM 57 for snare top and bottom, and on the toms. I use a Tascam PE 125 for hi hat (it offers that nice soft hissy hi hat sound to digital tape... :D) and when I mic a ride, I use a C-1000S (which this is the only really good use I have found for it... :()

whether I use the hi hat mic at mix is dependent upon how loud the drummer plays the hi hat. A lot of inexperienced drummers do not have very good balance between their hi hat, kick, and snare, so the hi hat mic will sometimes need to be dropped in the mix because it is prevelent in the overheads.

For fun, you can try a close and far away mic on the kick too. This can have some great results if you have the ability to do some track delay with the two tracks.

For certain drummers, and certain styles, killer drum isolation can be achieved using triggers on the drum heads to are fed to the Key Input on a noise gate.

Using tube mic preamps with an Input and Output control will help you really get consistent levels to tape with drums because you can get the input up enough to provide a little bit of clipping on the tube, but control the output so you don't go over digital 0.

I have found too that using a clean Limiter on the overheads can really help beef up the sound on them too. I use a Behringer Composer after a TL Audio Classic Tube mic pre with AT 4033's for overheads and can't complain. I achieve great consistent levels this way, and if done carefully, the Limiter produces no distortion from the effects of the limiting.

Good luck.

Ed

[This message has been edited by sonusman (edited 05-13-2000).]
 
I hardly ever use just 4 mics either, I normaly mic; toms, snare*2, high hat?, bass, and overheads. I don't know why but the question was just anoying me.

Cheers,
omnipotent
 
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