suggestions on what mics to buy for recording drums

  • Thread starter Thread starter obsidian 6
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obsidian 6

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Hello everyone,

This is my first post, and hope to engage in some good discussions with everyone.

O.k. to my 1st topic. I'm in the market to buy some nice mics for recording 7+ drum set: 5 toms, double kick drums, snare, and many cymbals. I mainly record Hard Rock and Heavy metal that has a lot of technical drum work in it. Some bands that I like that have really nice sounding drums are. Children of Bodom, Control Denied, Nevermore, Forbidden, Slayer, Anthrax, etc. you get the idea...heavy tight, loud and very clear.

Here are the mics I have so far:

1- SM57
1- D112
2- Okava Mk-012 ( I think that was the #. I bought them on sale at G.C.)

What I've been looking at:

Shure drum mic kit: 3- sm57's and 1 Beta 52
Sennheiser MD 421 II ( thinking about buying enough for all toms)

Any additions, alternatives, or suggestions anyone can offer would be sincerely appreciated.

Thank you everyone
 
the 57's and the 52 will do your job very well. The 57 gets used very often on drums, and while there are better mics, they're fantastic for the amount you pay - great bang for buck. Get em used.

While I can't say what you should do, but my perfect set up for micing is to have a D112 on the kick, a Beyer M201 on the top of my snare, and an AT pro37r on the bottom. I'll use 57's and an e609s on my higher toms and MD421's on floor toms - though I don't always mic my toms. for a 5 tom set up I'm assuming something like 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18. I'd use the e609 on the 10 57's on the next two MD421's on the 16 and 18. I prefer to use LDC's when I'm not using any tom mics, The NTK or the 4040 the 4033 or the SP B1 would do the job well for you. However, I also use the MK012's as overheads very often. I like them because they aren't so bright and don't make my cymbals sound tinny or harsh. Finally, I also usually use a room mic to catch the total picture. I find that mic brings a lot of balance and fullness to my drum mixes.

Can't say I've recorded Metal drums, but I can say that half of you battle will me the right mics in the right places, but the other half of your battle is the right room and the right drums (tuning and such). Hope I helped at least a little...

Jacob
 
If you're looking for metal and want a lot of bass drum click, the Audix D6 is fantasitic. In fact, I love that mic for all kinds of kick drum styles. Then you'd have a choice of two bass drum mics...and when you use the D6 on the bass drum the D112 is fantastic on the floor tom.
 
for my bass drum i use a 24*18 with a d112 in front and a md421 pointing at the point where the beater hits on the batter side, i use plastic beaters with a fabric pad and it all sounds great with good click but a nice ammount of bottom too.
 
I would get another Octava to make a pair of overheads and I would put the SM57 on the snare. Then for new mica I would get a Sennheiser e602 fot the kick and e604's for as many of the toms as I would want to individually mic, but in all honesty you will be getting a fair deal of the tom sounds through the overheads anyway
 
Do you have any compressors? All mics suggested above but for that metal drum sound you're going to need to crunch the drums.
 
vangore said:
for my bass drum i use a 24*18 with a d112 in front and a md421 pointing at the point where the beater hits on the batter side, i use plastic beaters with a fabric pad and it all sounds great with good click but a nice ammount of bottom too.
Click to expand...

I've used that technique too. Works great.

jacob
 
Anyone try a D6 and a 52 both at the whole? I find that the D6 has an incredible click pick up and sounds great on most bass drums but its lacking some of the low end that the 52 has. This works great for metal drums because both mics have a great amount of click. KEL HM-1 is also a good choice for overheads if you don't want those hyped HIs.

Ben
 
obsidian 6 said:
Here are the mics I have so far:

1- SM57
1- D112
2- Okava Mk-012
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have a great start on the mics. If you put the SM57 on the snare , d112 on the kick, and the Mk-012 for your overheads, all you need is another D112 for the other kick and if you could swing the Sennheiser MD 421 for the toms, I would do it.

To get a good kick sound, place the d112 inside the shell a couple inches from the head and close to the shell. You will have to play with it a bit to find the sweet spot, but that is a good place to start. If you are looking more for the click sound for definition, try using wooden beaters. If you want some crazy clicky sound for the kick, tape a quarter on the head where your beater hits.

The bottom line to getting a great drum sound is having them tuned well.

What is the rest of your recording set up like?
 
Hey there. I would highly recomend you getting some e/v nd468 mics for the toms. They sound very natural and capture the tone nicely of a tom drum. I use them on my tama star classics and man do they sound good. I also agree with the other post. TUNE THEM CORRECTLY! most people record drums that sound like luggage. To dead, no tone, ect. if the drum doesn't sound good to begin with , the best mics in the world won't help. Hope this helped.
 
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