Drum Microphones

[andyyhitscar]

Does anyone here record live drums for drumset?

If so what would be some good mics to buy, willing to pay whatever....

[Vast_Grid]

It first depends on the sound your going for. There are mic setups (one pointed towards kickdrum and 2 XY positioned overhead mics) that are minimal to capture raw bleeding and room tone (very vintage). And some that mic every sing drum head along with overhead and room mics for the modern drum sound.

well anyways, here are what I would recommend;

1) for vintage sound you'll need 2 AKG C 1000 S Condenser Microphone for overhead positions and 1 Sterling Audio ST55 Large Diaphragm FET Condenser Mic in front of kick drum (of course, within about 1 foot away, no close miking [it's a condenser mic, not dynamic mic {which and take SPL abuse}])
and
2) for modern sound you'll utilize the same overheads as above (not the Sterling Audio ST55 Large Diaphragm FET ) along with Shure DMK57-52 Drum Mic Kit for snare, kick and hat with in additional CAD KBM412 Bass and Kick Drum Microphone for every tome used (I'd recommend using one of these for every 2 toms by miking between them).

Now cables, mixer and mic stands are another thing.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Not the best, not the worst..... just personal recommendations.

Former drummer of jazz, technical death metal and variety of latin (cumbia, corridos and banda).

[drake89]

d112 works for bass, U87s can work for overhead or ambient, sm57s can work on snares...It really depends on what you want for your sound. But it would be good to have a large diaphragm mic for kick...ahh hell its pretty pointless to try and explain what you should be reading about. It expensive mics are useless in your hands if you don't know where to put them, or if they're running thru cheap pre-amps etc. might as well pay for studio time if you don't want to learn on your own. It would be a lot easier to learn techniques there too...

[Hircine]

vast grids post is really accurate. C1000s for life.

[Sharmaji]

yyyyyyyyeah the c1000 is the single worst microphone i've ever heard. including the $5 plastic one i bought on canal st.

great drummer, great drums (that are in TUNE), good sounding room 1st.

beta 52 on kick, sm57s on all other drums, condensers or ribbons for overheads, LDC for room.

the drums, drummer, room, and phase relationships between the mics are more important than the mics themselves. I've mixed rock drums that were mic'd w/ sm57s on everything but sounded amazing, as the mics all worked together.

for the love of god, please,don't use c1000s on drums.

really.

[alphacat]

Some day...

Sennheiser R&D: Laser Drum Mics

[Artie_Fufkin]

It sounds to me like a lot of people's favorite mics are the ones that allow them to get the sound they want with minimal eq'ing and fiddling with the sound.

[Sharmaji]

willing to pay whatever....

in that case i'd start with Royer 121's as overheads and move forward based on what you're getting/not getting from there.

[Mad_EP]

including the $5 plastic one i bought on canal st..

I miss Canal Street.

(also - I really wanna hear that mic. I love the sounds you can get from random silly mics)

[AxeD]

Yes Sharmaji! B52 is an awesome kick mic. Usually have access to u87's as overheads. 57 for the average top snare.

[Hircine]

yyyyyyyyeah the c1000 is the single worst microphone i've ever heard. including the $5 plastic one i bought on canal st.

Only ditch it if you get to mic every tom drum individually, it's a great overhead when you have a sm57 on the snare and a beta52 near the batter, it pick ups everything else really nicely (especially [don't know how to spell this word ] the toms). Plus, it's cheap and well built.

[outbound]

If this is for a home recording I would focus more on your close mics than overheads (unless you have a beautiful acoustic space that you have invested in? ya never know ) This will allow you more flexibility with processing and adding your own reverb etc after without capturing too much of the room.

Don't do too much of the studio recording atm but I'm a massive fan of the Sennheiser stuff for when I'm mixing bands live. (E604 is great and easy to setup with it being a clip on)

For snare either another E604 or SM57 (if you're using 2 mics then deffo an SM57 underneath)

For kick either D112 or 602

For overheads there's a lot of condensers that will fill this role quite well, if this is in a room that isn't properly treated try to get the mic as close to the cymbals as possible.