Miking the Drum Kit. CAD mic's?

drummerdude9610

Senior Member
Hey Im looking for a good starting mic kit for recording my drums but i don't want to spend a whole lot of money. Any recommendations? Have any of you used CAD mics and would you recommend them?
 
Hey Im looking for a good starting mic kit for recording my drums but i don't want to spend a whole lot of money. Any recommendations? Have any of you used CAD mics and would you recommend them?

I've used them a couple of times. Even when I didn't know much about what good-quality mics sounded like, I knew that CAD mics didn't sound quite right.

A good "starting" mic kit for drums would be this one:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/shure-dmk57-52-drum-mic-kit/270263000000000

It gets you in the ballpark of a good drum sound until you start getting more specific with what sounds you want to capture from the kit, and which mics will help you get them...
 
So buying cad mics would be a waste of my money? I'm not looking to professionally record my drum I'm just looking to capture a some what good sound if you know what i mean.
 
I'd go for the Kam Instruments mics before I bought either of those kits. I was looking for a starter kit a couple of years ago, and took a chance on them, and never looked back. In fact, I bought two more sets since then for two of the churches I also play for. These mics sound great, and come in a complete set of for 3 toms, one snare, a kick, two condenser overheads, with clips and mounts, and a nice carying case for 1/2 the price of that Shure starter kit, and their low profile sure beats those unsightly SM57s, which can be a real PITA to mount in tight places, not to mention they're quite heavy and have a tendency to fall out of clips (ask me how I know). I can put you in touch with "the man" directly, if you PM me.
 
Every review and demo of these make them sound like the diamond in the rough. Pyle Pro PDKM7. Has bass, 4x tom/snare, 2x condenser, with clips. Tom/snare mics are rough copy of Sennheiser e604, including the clips! Comes with a gangster tough case too.

http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-Pro-PDKM...0IHA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329217098&sr=8-1
Frequency response range is something to be desired in the Pyle Pros. Here are frequency range comparisons to some of the sets we've discussed in this thread. The first lower number indicates the lowest the tone that can be picked up by the mic, which is very important with drums, especially with a kick drum, so I'll start with the kick mics. The second higher number represents the highest frequency that can be "heard" by the mic, which is crucial for hearing things like attack on a drum head, the higher tones of snares and smaller toms, cymbals, and the like.

Since the whole industry seems bent on revering the Shures as THE standard, I'll bite, and list the Shures first as the "standard" to compare to. :)

Kick Mic:

Shure Beta 52 - 20hz-10,000hz
Kam BD2 - 20hz-15000hz
Pyle Pro - 50hz-14000hz
Cad Pro - Can't find anywhere, hmmmmm

Snare/Tom Mic:

Shure SM57 - 40hz-15,000hz
Kam ST2 - 30hz-15000hz
Pyle Pro - 50hz-15000hz
Cad Pro - Can't find anywhere, hmmmmm

Overhead Condenser Mic:

Shure - None in starter kit
Kam i2 - 20hz-20000hz
Pyle Pro - 50hz-18000hz
Cad Pro - Can't find anywhere, hmmmmm

As you can see, the Pyle Pro mics have the narrowest widest frequency response range, and the kick mic looks to be more conducive to being a snare/tom mic. The Kam mics have the widest range, even wider than the Shures!

While frequency repsonse range isn't everything, it sure does play a big part of WHAT you want the mics to pick up. Personally, I want the best chance to hear the low tones of my kick, but at the same time, I want to hear a nice attack, too. The Kam matches the Shure on the low tones and exceeds it on the high-end, but the Pyle Pro doesn't go low enough.

On the snare/tom mics, the Kam pics up lower than the Shure, and again the Pyle Pro is lagging in the low-end.

The wide range in the Kam overheads give you options to capture all ranges, so if you want to use ONLY overheads, the frequency response range is the wide enough to capture everything from low kick tones to high cymbal rings.

Additionally, the Kam overheads come with interchangable capsules. You get directional capsules and omni-directionals. So, you could use one overhead above the kit with the directional capsule, and one overhead to capture the entire room using the omni-directional capsule. In fact, in the church venues, we only use a single overhead, and it's plenty. You can even use the overheads as close-mics. They have a 10db cut switch, and if you want to use them to close mic cymbals, there's even a low-cut switch on them. Windscreens are also included for the overheads.

If you don't want as wide a range as all the Kam mics have, it's way better to have too much than too little in this case, because you can always cut EQ where you want. But, if you don't have enough range, there is absolutely NOTHING you can do about it with EQ. FWIW, my EQ settings are all flat with the Kam mics, but then again I have a Mapex Saturn (which is a whole other thread!).

The Shure kick mic has the highest SPL (sound pressure level) rating at 174db vs.136db on the others, which is supposed to mean it can handle the hardest hitting drummer. During my testing, I have never come close to overpowering the Kam kick mic; it seems like I would have to stomp on my kick pedal so hard that the head would break before I hit the mic's limit.

As far as clips are concerned, the Shures are indeed top-notch, and made of steel, which is what you HAVE to have to support something the likes of the monstrous SM57s on toms and snare. The Pyle Pro clips are hard plastic and WILL break. I know, because the early Kam kits came with the same clips and I broke ALL of mine the first time I used them. I contacted Kam directly and they sent me new ones. They even sent some modified clips for me to try. Broke all those, too, within days. BUT, their customer service is so good, they came up with better ones in short order, which they now ship with. If that's not enough, they ship with an extra mic mount! I think they even have a second mic mount option, which you might want to inquire about.

With that said, mic clip threads are 3/8", but come with 5/8" adapters, so you can use ANY mic mounts you want.

The Kam kit comes with a hard plastic case, with molded foam lining, like the Cad's case, although the Cad case looks to be outstanding in metal, although I am not so sure I would want a sharp-cornered metal case anywhere near by drums. ;-)

The first kit I got from Kam also included 7 quality braided mic cables, which I did not order with the other kits. Nice thing was they made it easy to discern all other mic cables onstage from the drum mic cables. I think Kam now offers individually colored cables to make it even easier for the drummer to tell which cable plugs into which mic. Very smart thinking. Oh, one tip regarding the mics and cabling, should you decide on Kam mics. Regardless of what mic cables you get, remove the little rubber o-ring on your mic cables at the mic end for the snare and tom mics. ;-)

In the $200 range, you get a lot of bang with Kam, and a lot of options! If you have more money than you know what to do with, get some Sennheisers. Just thought I'd throw another name in here on this thread! :)

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Kam Instruments in anyway. It's more like I endorse them, than they endorse me! :)
 
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If you are just starting out I would highly reccommend getting 2 used overhead mics and a kick mic, any of the common ones, Audix D6, Sennheiser e602, Shure Beta 52 etc.

Experiement with a 3 mic set up and add additional tom mics in the future. Remember you have to get a mixer, software, stands , cables and all the other stuff. Costs can add up quickly.

Another option is getting the Zoom Q3HD, New around $300 and many used deals out there. Video quality is decent for youtube videos and the audio is very good, you can always tweak the audio in post after.
 
Ok thanks ill look into KAM. I have a mixer and plan to use garage band so all i really need is the mics. Where would i buy the KAM miss can't seem to find them?
 
I got really good results with audio-technicas kit pack , they now make 2 sets, one kit includes overheads the other doesnt.
 
The EV pl35's are solid tom/snare mics, and they can be had very cheap nowadays. You can find them for around $50 each if you look around.
 
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