what are some good tom and over head mics

[metalmansam]

well im about to buy myself a few mics to start out with but i dnt mind paying for good quality. can u give me a few mics to check out with a little discription. thanks

 

[hotwatertim72]

Hey man, before asking, go ahead and check out he sticky's at the top of the mic forum. There is a whole Mic FAQ on just about every mic you'll need to know about to start recording. Here's a link to it:
Homerecording.com bbs Mic FAQ

 

[dgatwood]

Hey man, before asking, go ahead and check out he sticky's at the top of the mic forum. There is a whole Mic FAQ on just about every mic you'll need to know about to start recording. Here's a link to it:
Homerecording.com bbs Mic FAQ

That FAQ is a little stale. It was taken from a thread that ended in 2003.

1. It misses the entire existence of low cost ribbons (which are exceptional for some things).

2. There should also be some note about the Oktava MK012 (MC012) and the fact that a lot of them are knock-offs that really shouldn't be on that "best mic under $x" list.

3. There are probably a lot of other good mics that have appeared in that time frame, though I can't name any off the top of my head. M-Audio's mics, maybe?

I suspect there are other things that are similarly stale about it that I'm just not thinking of at the moment.

That's the problem with technology. Any static FAQ gets out of date really quickly. We should really have a FAQ wiki or a FAQ-O-Matic or something so that it can be kept up-to-date.

 

[JazzMang]

Sennheiser e604s are really great for toms and the MXL 603s are very clean and open, albeit slightly too bright, depending on the kit you are using.

 

[jkokura]

57's and MD 421's on toms for me.

For overheads I like my Oktava MK012's, and I've used M/LDC's a few times...try the AT4033's as overheads, and you might wanna try a pair of NTK's there too. (something I just learned recently...nickelback use NTK's for all vocals and overheads in studio)

Jacob

 

[Ty]

I'm looking too, and after reading everything I could find
I've narrowed it down to:

Toms: Sennheiser MD 421 or EV ND/468 N/DYM
Stand Toms: Audio Technica ATM25 or AUDIX D4

Over Head: Oktava MK 012

good luck

 

[MessianicDreams]

i'm not sure what you're price limit is, but how about some C414s for overheads? some find them too revealing but personally i like them a lot

 

[metalmansam]

thanks i have seem to be getting okatava to be a peopular over head thanks, i think ill get that for an overhead

 

[ndycus1]

you may also want to look into the Josephson C42 for your overheads. it's one that i especially like.

 

[soundchaser59]

You really should do more research than just asking a question in a forum, if you are willing to spend that kind of $$$$$. No offense to the forum! I ask for opinions a lot myself......but....at least find out what's available in your price point, compare all the specs, find out where they are made, then ask for opinions and reasons.

I almost bought an Oktava myself, until I found an obscure web page that explained why the Russian manufacture was not up to par. At least compare it to the AT's, the AKG's, the Sennheisers, and the Shures. The best home made drum tracks I've ever heard were done with AKG C1000 and/or C3000 for overheads. For the price of one Oktava, you can probably find 2 or 3 good condensers that are made a little closer to home.

 

[Warhead]

CAD M179 will smoke on toms, and tons of other sources (including overheads). For overheads there's almost too much to list, those Oktavas being a good suggestion as well.

War

 

[dgatwood]

I almost bought an Oktava myself, until I found an obscure web page that explained why the Russian manufacture was not up to par

That obscure web page was probably a repost of the guitar center stuff, which was written by the company that contractually obtained the rights to the Oktava name in the U.S. and decided to stop importing them, choosing instead to manufacture inferior knock-off mics in China and sell them under the same name. They want to bad-mouth the Russian mics because other companies are importing the real Oktavas....

I'm not saying there isn't a good deal of variation between the Oktava mics---it wouldn't surprise me. That said, they are generally considered to be good mics.

 

[bigtoe]

try some small diaphragms on toms...451's, 012's, 184's, 603's, whatever...you'll probably need to pad 'em down significantly and roll off a fair amount of lows, but they really rule in this application.

Mike

 

[soundchaser59]

dgatwood: Thanks for the reminder, you are probably right. I do remember seeing a few different pages, and then being confused about whether they were actually being made in China or Russia. But I never pursued it because I thought the Oktava ribbons were out of my price range. I also remember a few people on other forums being absolutely in love with their Oktava ribbons, and the recordings they posted sure did sound good! At the time I went looking, I did not realize good ribbons would be so expensive. But I agree, it's probably the China manufatured ones that should not be top of the list.

 

[ct studio]

tom and OH mics

Hi Metalmansam,

I personally use Shure SM57's on all toms because not only do they sound good but they will keep working after taking a few drumstick whacks!! You also have to think about reliability of the mics you will be buying not what the flavor of the week is... You could also use them to record guitar cabinets, congas, bongos, etc....

For overhead mics I use a pair of AKG C100S's which also sound great and are reliable as they have a reputation of being a "studio workhorse mic" much like the SM57's... They are also build very ruggedly and can be used to mic acoustic guitars and guitar cabinets (in combination with an SM57)...

Hope this helps...

 

[Big Kenny]

Never liked the sound of akg's, especially those. There are many good mics on toms, I am using atm25's lately and they really capture the toms character, not on a smaller tom, there I use my 609 or 545, occasionally I throw a sdc on them too, oktavas or 184's