SP B1 kick drum miking?

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turner

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Can you put a studio projects B1 condenser mic inside of a kick drum facing towards the beater or will this technique blow the mic up?
 
It shouldn't blow up but the sound will blow. I've tried by B1 in the kick and it sucks. NOW, put the same mic a bit outside the drum and you got a good sound. If you have a sm57 you could always put that inside, the B1 outside and blend. Of course a mic really made for the kick would be better. For the same price range an AT pro25 will even work. It only gets better the more you have to spend.
 
Thanks for the quick reply zbert. I have been using a sm57 in the kick, but I just recently got the B1 and was wanting to try it. I am glad that the B1 can take a very loud source without blowing up. I will try miking my B1 tonight and see how it performs on my kick drum. Thanks again.
 
Make sure not to have that blast of air that comes off the drum go directly into the mic. You can stretch the capsule that way. And permanently damage your mic.

At least I know this is a problem with ribbon mics. It might not be with the B1, but you'd hate to be wrong and wreck your mic.

The levels aren't a big deal, it's the blast of air that will damage mics.
 
I definatly do not want to damage anything. A kick drum would have alot of air coming out of it for sure. I was very confident about miking the B1 in the kick, but now I am scared after the response from Dethska. I do have a external windscreen/pop filter and the windscreen that came with the B1. Should I use both pop filters or should I forget about miking the inside of the kick with the B1 alltogether?
 
I agree with zbert, I would use right out side the kick, I double mic the kick drum all the time and have great results but then again I dont know your setup and how many chanels you have.
 
IMO the 797 Audio/Studio Projects B1 sucks on kick drum... dude, get a real kick drum mic.
 
The Audio-Technica ATM25 is a quality kick drum mic that also doubles on male dialog. It's probably got a couple other uses I haven't found yet but it does fairly good for those two.

I like the B1 but find it seems to be a good acoustic instrument mic or a good amp mic.

Steve
www.mojopie.com
 
I experimented last night with the B1 in front of the kick with the pop filter. I kept getting a very bad distorted sound when kick was recorded. Do I need a inline pad or something? The mic still distorted somewhat on the drums when placed as a overhead. The mic did work good about 6 feet in front of the kit but produced too much room noise.
 
you experienced what people have been trying to tell you. the B1 will suck on kick drum.

you can try an inline pad if you want, but the sound will *still suck* when you use it as a kick mic. the distortion as an overhead sounds like your gain's still up too loud or you've got something wonky in your positioning.

i reiterate, you need a real kick mic (or at least one of the better dynamics that also doubles nicely as a kick mic--sm7, re20, md441, etc). if budget's a problem, give the ATM-25 or the Pro25 a shot (i don't really like em), or there's a CAD kick mic at musician's fiend for $50, too, that some folks like (never used one). but mostly you'll get what you pay for. i use an RE-38 and i'm thrilled with it.


wade
 
Thank you everyone for your replys. I have decided to purchase a quality mic designed for kick drums. I will look into the mic's that were recommended and hopefully have one by the end of the month. Thanks again.
 
one mic that seems to be a consistent winner is the Sennheiser e602. no idea how it fares outside of the kick drum arena, though, so i can't tell you how versatile it is, but it should at least be good at micing bass cabs, etc.

some of the other mics mentioned are fantastic on a number of various sources (for example, the re20 and sm7 are radio broadcast mics that also excel at vocals, kick and just about anything else you point em at), so you may want to opt for the "bang for the buck" side of things in terms of a mic that does lots of things well. that's what i did with the RE38--there's nothing i haven't mic'd with it that i haven't been thoroughly impressed with the result.

just trying to make sure you know all the options and are summarily confused and overwhelmed. ;-)


wade
 
i have an mxl v67g that i may want to experiment with on the kick...last time i had the drum head off with a 57 like an inch away from the beater and it was awesome...this time the resonant head is still on i put a 57 through the hole and may want to put the 67 back few feet with a pop filter guarding it...is a v67g more sensitive than a sp b1??? will i fuck up the mic, kuz i still gotta do vocals!! thanks guys
 
turner,

I had 3 kick mics to demo on my double headed birch 22x18 DW/Pacific kick.....the shure beta 52 ($189.00), the AKG D112 ($199.00) and the Audix D6 ($199.00).

the beta 52 took me a lot of time to find its "sweet spot" inside my kick. (I had the most positioning problems with this mic) best position was upper left angleing towards the edge (above bottom of floor tom through the beater head).... overall the mic had a "honky" type mid range tone which I never could get used to. its "click" sound up close was more "flabby" sounding and "boomy"

the D112 sounded pretty cool. (though its sweet spot was dead center 3 inches off beater, slightly off center) I got a great click sound with a tougher bottom end and not as much mid range and its freq sat lower in the overall mix than the Beta 52.

The Audix D6 was the winner and the one I purchased. when I threw it in the kick, it sounded great at every position (no fussing) I really like the scooped mids as it enhanced the sub freguencies the most. the "click" was present but not as bright as the D112... the Audix was the "toughest" out of the three...now I'm not really into that Metalica slap sound and though I thought the D6 was heading in that direction at first, in the overall mix it sat the lowest, perfectly enhancing the bass guitars attack.

the way I classify these mics is the following:
the beta 56 feels like it hits you in the chest area.
the D112 hits you around the stomach
The D6 smacks you right in the balls!

its really worth getting a dedicated kick mic, especially for under $200.00 ... I use my B-1 as a mono room mic or when I'm recording brushes on my snare I get a bigger brush impact over the 57

of course everyones rooms, tuning, and tastes are different, this is just what I've found worked for me. I'm very pleased.

good luck.
 
turner said:
Thank you everyone for your replys. I have decided to purchase a quality mic designed for kick drums. I will look into the mic's that were recommended and hopefully have one by the end of the month. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Cool, if your on a tight budget... I suggest the ATM25... but, my favorite is the MD421. ;)
 
I finally purchased a AKG D112 mic for my kick drum. Thanks for everyone's help.
 
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