Sm57 on the kick?

J

JazzMasterWil

New member
Has anybody used a 57 to mic a kick? I'm working with very limited mics and I was considering trying this. I don't get to record every day, so it might be the weekend before I get the chance to try it out..... I was just wondering if anybody had some advice about doing this.

My main concern is "wind". I'm not sure how to put it technically, but I'm basically worried that the bass drum is going to push a lot of air and the air could possibly damage the mic. Am I just being paranoid or could this actually happen? I know it's not a really expensive mic, but I'm on a tight budget and I really don't want to damage it.

And what about the sound pressure level? I don't know if the kick would be loud enough to damage the mic, but is it a possibility?

Just to shed a little light on how I've been recording the drums..... I'm been using the 3 mic technique (the triangle overhead deal). The two overheads are crappy little cad mics and the kick mic is also a crappy cad. . . . . . . I want to experiment with putting the sm57 on the snare (making it 4 mics total) and putting the 57 in the bass drum (and only using 3 mics).

Any help would be greatly appericated. Thanks again guys. :D
 
Of course you can use a 57 on the kick.

As always, I'll go ahead and say it- The Red Hot Chili Peppers record "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" (i.e. "Suck my Kiss") was recorded with a 57 on the kick. The key is, you need to tune the kick up a little higher, and muffle it a little more.

You can also wire a speaker up to a mic cable, and use it like a microphone.

You just wire thespeaker right to the mic cable and plug it straight into a mic input (Note: Do not use an amplifier in between!) And that will give you some extra low end.


Tim
 
Thanks tim. I'll definately try to give it a go this weekend.

What about the "wind" thing. Would the 57 only be safe outside of the kick, or would it be safe inside as well.

I've heard of using speakeres as mics, and mics as speakers. (My brother did that one time with his disk man just for a laugh. It was one of thoose 4 dollar radio shack mics)......... But would that seriously sound good? I have a TON of old speakers laying around (I'm a flea market junky).
 
Hey tim

Tell us some more anot the speaker thing (other thread?). You just wire a speaker to a microphone cable, that's it? What kind of speaker would be best to use? I know Queens of the stone age use this technique both in and out of the studio, but I never knew why.
 
Try them and find out.
You just wire it up to a mic cable, and plug it in.

I use 8" Carvin PA speakers for it.
 
You're not going to hurt an SM57, even if you put it right up against the beater. Heck, you could use it as the beater without hurting it.

If using a condenser or, especially, a ribbon, you might consider using a pop filter depending on where you place the mic.
 
The Yamaha Subkick is a commercial version of the speaker as a mic concept. Remember that the signal may be hot and require a pad or attenuator ahead of it. Alot of people build their own using a 6 or 8" speaker.
 
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