tom-tom mics / hi-hat / ride mics??? - whats out there?

A

alecmcmahon

New member
im looking for nice full sounds .... first i'll need tom tom mics, then maybe high ha then ride.


my currrent drum mic set up consits of


Overheads : mxl 603's
Kick Drum : Shure Beta52a
snare drum : shure sm57

i also have a Studio projects B1, and another sm57.

what would you guys recomend for tom toms / highhat/ ride...

im on a tight budget , so the cheaper the better.... please dont reccomend me this 1000 dollar nuemann, or a 600 dollar akg for a high hat or something...

thanks in advanced.
 
Sennheiser e602's for the toms (they are cheaper than 421's) Octava md012's for hat and ride.
 
Rather than the 602 for toms I would recommend the sennheiser e604.

Then, for the moment the B1 and SM57 could pass for the hat and ride, getting something like the Oktava or another pair of 603s later on.
 
Innovations said:
Rather than the 602 for toms I would recommend the sennheiser e604.

Then, for the moment the B1 and SM57 could pass for the hat and ride, getting something like the Oktava or another pair of 603s later on.
Click to expand...


they prob could.... but IMO i think Toms would have to stand out more..


or hmmmm since i already have 2 603's, i could probably just buy another B1 , and use them as over heads? ( are they good overhead mics?? )


so it would go

overheads- 2 Studio Project B1's
snare - sm57
highhat -mxl 603
ride - mxl 603
kick-beta52a
tom 1- ????
tom 2- ????
tom 3-????


yeh, for toms also... i really dont think i can afford 200 buck a pop with these tom mics... they add up fast... i've heard of people using a 57 on toms... but i dont want to be completly lame with it.... what would be better then grabbing 2 more 57s and throwing them on toms.... ( cheaaaaaappppp , but then again, im still open to evreything -- )

* being in college blows ! :mad: , stupid money *
 
AKG C2000B rocks on toms. Not a $600 AKG, a $200 AKG. Also, pairs work well as overheads, and it's not a bad vocal mic. It's a cheap studio workhorse with multiple uses.-Richie
 
all to be considered....


dont really have the money for 200 per mic... ($200 dollar per mic x 4 toms =800 dollars )

we're not doing anything spectacular in recordings, just some demos, and recording some other bands...

an example of the kinda stuff we're doing is here, if it would help to determine what sort of mic would be good.... just good ol rock and roll you know -


at the bare cheapest i was looking at the akg d220 ( http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/278571/ ) .... but i dont want to go to crappy you know....

::shug::
 
get a used 421 (130$) and use it on toms, my advice.......i would call the 421 a studio standart on toms.

cheers
 
Innovations said:
Rather than the 602 for toms I would recommend the sennheiser e604.

Then, for the moment the B1 and SM57 could pass for the hat and ride, getting something like the Oktava or another pair of 603s later on.
Click to expand...

ooopps! I meant e604, my bad. You can get a 3 pak of these for around $200.
 
Farview said:
ooopps! I meant e604, my bad. You can get a 3 pak of these for around $200.
Click to expand...


thats looks like a reasonable option...300 new, im sure i can find some used on ebay or something...


how does my idea of throwing my 603's on highhat and ride, and buying another B1 and using the two b1's as overheads??? ooooooooooorrrrrrrrr are the 603's better overheads?
 
If you're on a tight budget don't spend anything. You only need four mics for a drum kit. Kick, snare, overheads. I've recorded loads of bands that way including most of the tracks on my band's album, which has been praised by other engineers and DJ's for its production. If you do it right with a good drum kit and a good drummer it'll sound fine.

If the 603s sound similar to the Oktava MK-012 then they'll be good as overheads.

Having listened to the song you posted such a mic arrangement could work well if you're happy with a natural drum sound. Obviously if you want to heavily gate the toms, pan them weirdly, squash the cymbals to hell and basically isolate every sound the kit makes, then yes, close mic everything, spend hours mixing, editing, gating and compressing and then realise that the sound you're getting from the two mics you put up for ambience is much better.

If you can't get a four mic technique to sound good then you're doing something wrong.

Pete.
 
I think the sennheiser 604 route is a great way to start:) Also, I have used the Shure PG mic pcak on many occasions. For around $200 you get 3 tom mics and a kick mic. personally I hate the kick mic that comes with it, but the tom mics are actually pretty darned good. The PG52 (kick mic) that comes with it actually sounds good on bass cabs and on floor toms though.

Before anyone comments on me using better mics before I promote the PG52's, understand that I also have senn604's, EV408's, shure b56's, shure b98's, and senn 421's, shure b52's, b91's, senn 602's, AKG D112's, and an EV PL20 so I really have compared them to most of the current "drum mic" offerings
 
For good sounds cheap, the Audix Fusion Drum Pack isn't a bad way to go. I think you can buy sets with or without the SDCondensors (F15). You'd probably save some bucks since you already have the 603s for your OH mics. That leaves you three tom mics and a bass drum mic you can throw on your floor tom
 
I have used the Shure mic kick just recent, but I also had the one with the overheads included. The tom mics actually do sound half way decent but the kick is kind of bad, I swaped it with a B52. The overheads are o.k. They need to be brightened up a little with eq.
 
I agree with Peter. If you have a pair of overheads why would you need to mic the hihat & ride? I have the exact same mics for drums. I use the 603's as overheads, 57 for snare & 52 for kick. I also use a mic under the snare sometimes. If you want to mic the toms, get a few more b1's-they're good on toms. With some compression, though, you should be able to get all the toms & cymbals represented well with just the overhead pair.
 
alecmcmahon said:
they prob could.... but IMO i think Toms would have to stand out more..
*
Click to expand...
:confused: Why would the toms not stand out with e604 mics on them?

And I do sort of wonder about the real need for hat and ride mics as opposed to just the overhead.

There seems to be two approaches to micing drum sets:

Try to treat each individual element as an instrument. Taken to the illogical extreme you will be posting here in six months as to what is the best cowbell mic.

Treat the drum set as one large instrument, like a piano or pipe organ, and think of positioning mics so that it picks up the whole set appropriately.
 
Innovations said:
:confused: Why would the toms not stand out with e604 mics on them?

And I do sort of wonder about the real need for hat and ride mics as opposed to just the overhead.

There seems to be two approaches to micing drum sets:

Try to treat each individual element as an instrument. Taken to the illogical extreme you will be posting here in six months as to what is the best cowbell mic.

Treat the drum set as one large instrument, like a piano or pipe organ, and think of positioning mics so that it picks up the whole set appropriately.
Click to expand...


no no . i meant that i think i would need tom mics first, BEFORE highat mic
 
Alexi said:
get at least one sennheiser 421, sounds good in bassdrum too...
Click to expand...

i second that... cant go wrong with a 421 on the toms. a friend of mines band just got done recording their first "big studio" CD and they used 421s on the toms... the drums sound great!! of course, they were at the hands of great engineer/producer... but still... cant go wrong there
 
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