Drum Mics: Middle of the road?

sjstumbo

Junior Member
I'm shopping around for mic kits. I play at church in a medium sized room--we're trying to control volume. The Audix DP7 kit caught my eye. Any feedback on this or anyother 7 mic setups that I should take a look at? Should I consider purchasing mics individually? My budget is $500-$800. Thanks for the feedback.
 
That mic kit looks good, although I have NO idea how those overheads sound. I would have recommended the same, though:

I-5 for snare
D2 for toms
D4 for rack toms
D6 for kick drum

...and perhaps a single AKG C1000 for an overhead, but if you're going to drop close to $300 for an overhead, then I'd highly recommend a Rode NT1000 instead.
 
If you're looking for something ridiculously simple, a Rode NT4 would be a great mid-level stereo microphone. Fixed XY positions so not as flexible as two overheads, but they are fantastically simple and reasonably inexpensive.

Other than that, the Audix set looks fairly decent, although I prefer individual mic purchases.
 
That mic kit looks good, although I have NO idea how those overheads sound. I would have recommended the same, though:

I-5 for snare
D2 for toms
D4 for rack toms
D6 for kick drum

I just got these myself.

The snare and toms are pretty straight forward. I'm still experimenting with mic placement on the bass drum, trying to find the proper sound.
 
I just got these myself.

The snare and toms are pretty straight forward. I'm still experimenting with mic placement on the bass drum, trying to find the proper sound.

The nice thing about the D6 is that you can get a punchy sound out of it without much EQing, because it's already heavily pre-EQed (well, not *really*...it's only a slight difference from the AKG D112). Also, with my AKG D112, I have to be meticulous to get it in "just the right" position to get the sound I want. With the D6, I can just set it up "in the ballpark", and it will sound great. It's a magic mic, if THAT is the sound you're looking for.
 
Thanks for the feedback. The overheads are certainly not a priority. Any recommendations for acquiring used mics (eg., reliable websites)?
 
Thanks for the feedback. The overheads are certainly not a priority. Any recommendations for acquiring used mics (eg., reliable websites)?

Overheads are more important than the tom mics. You'll NEED a kick drum mic to pick up the presence of the kick drum, and you'll NEED an overhead or two to pick up the rest of the kit and cymbals. Especially if the drum kit is in one of those Clearsonic cages like lots of churches have, you'll NEED overhead miking, and you'll probably WANT tom mics. I've played medium-sized rooms (seat about 300) without miking or a drum cage. It works fine IF the drummer learns to control the balance of the kit through their playing, and can play effectively with whatever dynamics are appropriate for the room.

craigslist.org = you can buy locally, and actually TRY something before you buy it. Depending on your local market, it can be cheaper or more expensive than eBay.
 
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Overheads are by far and away the most important microphones. If you're playing in a live situation, it might well be worth buying one really good overhead (AKG C414 for instance) than two lesser microphones. Live feeds are often just pumped out in mono anyway.

Kick drum is then the next most important, but are also usually considerably cheaper because dynamic microphones are generally cheaper to produce.
 
We are definitely using a cage, but it is "custom" and the room size is maxed at 150-maybe 200 people. We are considering topping the cage for maximum sound containment and running everything through the sound board. I can control the volume dynamics for the room fairly well and this point and the blend on the drum side of the room is good (not too loud), but on the opposite side the drums are lost behind the rest of the mix. Would it be advisable to top the cage or will the fill of miking the kit compensate for the lack of volume on stage left without overpowering stage right?

Sorry if this is beyond the scope of this thread! I really do appreciate all the help.
 
Oh... And as far as purchasing used is conscerned--I have been checking Craigslist daily for over 6 months (in Bend, where I live) and not a single microphone has shown up. I might have to check Portland, Caddywumpus...you could check things out for me, right? ;)
 
The nice thing about the D6 is that you can get a punchy sound out of it without much EQing, because it's already heavily pre-EQed (well, not *really*...it's only a slight difference from the AKG D112). Also, with my AKG D112, I have to be meticulous to get it in "just the right" position to get the sound I want. With the D6, I can just set it up "in the ballpark", and it will sound great. It's a magic mic, if THAT is the sound you're looking for.

That's what I've heard.

But for whatever reason, it took me a while to get a decent sound. After lots of fiddling, I have it close, but not 100% there yet. But I'm going to assume it's user error on my part.
 
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