Drum mics

73jbass

73jbass

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Apr 17, 2004
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#1
Looks like I will be going back to doing sound again pretty soon. I have 2 kick drum mics,but nothing for snare or toms. About a year ago I saw a band where the drums had a kick and snare drum mics,and a single overhead ,and it really sounded good. I figured it would be a good alternative to having to buy 4 mics,and it would save a bit of time during soundcheck. Anybody used this setup before?
 
#3
We do minimal mic’ing in small to medium rooms where the sound of the set can carry the room. In these situations we mic the kick straight to the subwoofer, and mic the snare with an SM57 just to add some reverb to it in the mains. But we would never consider this at a megawatt outdoor gig. When Front of House is pumping 3-10 kilowatts, no one is going to hear the cymbals. For this? Five mic’s on the kit, and 2 overhead condensers for the cymbals.
 
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#4
I like the Sennheiser e604’s on snare and Toms. 3 packs are available for around $325 I often use a 57 on the hat. Much less pronounced than a condenser, more natural sounding to me. I put overheads up if requested. I 1lmost never use them though. Cymbals bleed through vocal mics iplike nobody’s business.

Speaking of vocal mics- spend up there. I run a mix of Audix OM-5 and 6’s and they sound way better than the old standby. I do keep 3 58’s in my kit for rider support.
 
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#5
73jbass said:
Looks like I will be going back to doing sound again pretty soon. I have 2 kick drum mics,but nothing for snare or toms. About a year ago I saw a band where the drums had a kick and snare drum mics,and a single overhead ,and it really sounded good. I figured it would be a good alternative to having to buy 4 mics,and it would save a bit of time during soundcheck. Anybody used this setup before?
Click to expand...

The Audix I5 gets a lot of praise as an alternative to the 57 on snare.

A lot of times you don't need cymbal mics indoors unless it's a big room. Even then it can be pointless unless you have the right vocal mics. In my experience SM58s sometimes pickup cymbal wash almost as good as the vocalist that is 2-3 inches away. This can cause nasty phasing if you put up an overhead.

Depending upon how the drummer's kit is put together you might pick up the toms from the side instead of overhead to minimize cymbals in the mic if that is desired. If toms are close together, one mic between them will often do a nice job. This could be a way to close mic the two, but not put a mic on each one...so less mics.
 
#6
I’ve used an I5 on snare. Works OK. It’s kinda of a 57 on steroids. More beef and a little brighter. A very rock and roll sound. I like the e604’s though as they clip on. Low profile so easy to get them placed. Fewer stands around the kit...

I need to grab some 90 degree XLR F’s and make some dedicated drum mic cables...
 
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#7
I like to use a Sm-57 on a clamp for the Hat - pointed upwards when I ONLY want hat, and across towards snare when I want that too......a kick for most inside small/med rooms, and one or two low overheads depending on what I trying to achieve for toms and some cymbal - most of the time.

I sold some things and was having trouble collecting the last $50 from the guy, who gave me this - in virtually new condition. I was surprised that they sound very decent.
https://www.guitarcenter.com/CAD/PRO-7-Drum-Microphone-Kit-7-Piece.gc

The condensers actually do a very decent job also, I let a friend use them for festival setup and was laughing that they were that crisp in the back of the field - of course his meyers speakers may have had something to do with that....... :)

Trust me - not my first recommendation - but........
not as bad as I might have thought initially
 
#8
You can do it with 3 mics for many gigs from club to festival. Yes, I have.
Kick (Audix D6, AKG D112, Shure Beta52)
Snare (Audix i5, SM57) - can sit between hat and snare to pick up both.
OH (ADX51, F12, C1000S or others) - can sit on floor tom side and point toward toms and ride/crash.
Sounds amazing good for the average kit.
 
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#9
s0c9 said:
You can do it with 3 mics for many gigs from club to festival. Yes, I have.
Kick (Audix D6, AKG D112, Shure Beta52)
Snare (Audix i5, SM57) - can sit between hat and snare to pick up both.
OH (ADX51, F12, C1000S or others) - can sit on floor tom side and point toward toms and ride/crash.
Sounds amazing good for the average kit.
Click to expand...

Recorderman takes a bit of time to setup, but I prefer the way it sounds. Hint: Don't hard pan the overheads in the mains.

Five Techniques for Stereo Miking Drums | Shure Blog
 
#10
Frankjohnson said:
I like to use a Sm-57 on a clamp for the Hat - pointed upwards when I ONLY want hat, and across towards snare when I want that too......a kick for most inside small/med rooms, and one or two low overheads depending on what I trying to achieve for toms and some cymbal - most of the time.

I sold some things and was having trouble collecting the last $50 from the guy, who gave me this - in virtually new condition. I was surprised that they sound very decent.
https://www.guitarcenter.com/CAD/PRO-7-Drum-Microphone-Kit-7-Piece.gc

The condensers actually do a very decent job also, I let a friend use them for festival setup and was laughing that they were that crisp in the back of the field - of course his meyers speakers may have had something to do with that....... :)

Trust me - not my first recommendation - but........
not as bad as I might have thought initially
Click to expand...

If you ever want a discrete hi hat mic with no mic stand...one of my old audio techs cobbled together a Rythm Tech RT7902 percussion mount and Latin Percussion Mic Claw. The RT7902 clamps to the high hat stand. The rod is taken from the LP claw and threaded through the RT7902 mount.

The Latin Percussion 1208 bracket could probably be subbed for the RT7902...buy whichever is cheaper.
 
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#12
Wasnex said:
If you ever want a discrete hi hat mic with no mic stand...one of my old audio techs cobbled together a Rythm Tech RT7902 percussion mount and Latin Percussion Mic Claw. The RT7902 clamps to the high hat stand. The rod is taken from the LP claw and threaded through the RT7902 mount.

The Latin Percussion 1208 bracket could probably be subbed for the RT7902...buy whichever is cheaper.
Click to expand...
Thats a great idea! I have been using one similar to this for a couple of years now and it works seamlessly - whether it is on the hat stand or adjacent cymbal stand - it always seems to be able to put the mic JST where I need it. https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/km-extension-microphone-holder
 
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#13
Three, four, and five mic setups can sound great. John Bonham used four- 2 kicks, and overheads.
You will spend more time EQing the overhead, but it's amazing how you can change the whole mix with some eq on the O/H. Start by taking everything lower than your floor tom out. Your 80HZ filter may be enough. Take everything over 8K. out unless it's a big room and you need those cymbals in it. Then use your two midrange controls to build the mix.
With your upper midrange control, find the fundamental of the snare (the snap will find it's own way in there. With the lower, find the fundamental of the floor tom(s), The rack toms will be somewhere in between, now treat that as a three channel setup, albeit it's one one strip. If you need to boost or cut the rack toms, use both the other frequencies together ie- lowering your 'floor tom' freq. and your 'snare' freq. together will bring up your rack toms. The hihat can be tricky in large rooms, but hihats are LOUD and will probably leak into everything.
 
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#14
I’v also down the 3 mic setup a bunch. In my case it’s where I want a more natural less hyped kit. Blue grass with drums, jazz, etc. I have kept a Senn 441 for the OHD. The top of the kit sounds amazing with that mic. Not the thing I prefer for rock n roll or hip hop...
 
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#15
I have played hundreds of gigs with the following drum mic set up and it works great...

Kick drum mic - I have used them all but I like the Sennheiser E602 right now the best. a Beta 52A is very good too depending on the sound you are looking for. Any of the main players (Audix D6, D112, Beta 52a, E602) are alll tried and true road-worthy mics in the same ballpark cost wise. just comes down to sound you are looking for.

Snare drum - a 57 works great, I have used an I5 as well, use mostly Sennheiser E604s though.

Overhead - I like the C1000s. It's beefy and robust and can take being knocked over and bumped into well. They are cheap enough to replace on the used market too. a single over head, close over the bass drum and rack tom(s) picks up everything and adds an eveness to the overall kit sound. Need a good mic clip however.

I look at it like this.. we are not recording an album here so I don't need $1K mics all over the place. I want my mics to be rugged because the snare mic will get clipped by sticks, the overhead will get knocked over and the kic mic will get kicked. just the way it goes. No one has ever cancelled a gig on me because the snare drum sound through the PA was not right, or I didn't use a MD421 or C414 on my toms...
 
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#16
^ only possible complaint about the sm57 is- A great drummer will never hit a mic. A mediocre drummer might. A '57 will not live thru being hit even once.

Edit- ^ there's not much that a C-1000 doesn't do. From timpanies to flutes.
 
#17
Paulabass said:
^ only possible complaint about the sm57 is- A great drummer will never hit a mic. A mediocre drummer might. A '57 will not live thru being hit even once.

Edit- ^ there's not much that a C-1000 doesn't do. From timpanies to flutes.
Click to expand...

That's weird...I thought SM57s were good for hammering nails without degrading their performance as a microphone?
 
#19
There are a lot of threads on TB about possible mic configurations (2-3-4-more) already. When I bring my mics a SM57 on snare and one or two MXL603 does the trick (together with a Beta 52 or MD421 on kick), but you could probably get perfectly good sound using just three SM57.
 
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