$100 drum mic kits

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Digital...m-Microphone-Kit-with-Case-270459-i1911144.gc
vs
http://www.guitarcenter.com/CAD-Pro-4-Drum-Microphone-Pack-271262-i1126880.gc

i'm on a budget, and i want to get recording. 100 is all i can spend on mics, cause i have to figure out how to get a mixer and figure out a way to get it into my computer

for all you tech guys out there, which would you choose if you were in my shoes?

thanks

Learning to record is like learning to play an instrument. Most of us didn't start out with an 8 piece double bass kit with 25 cymbals and a gong behind them, we mostly start out with a practice pad and a pair of sticks, and then migrate to a small kit (hats, snare, kick, maybe a tom or 2) and then up from there. Recording is the same way. Start small, learn the basics before trying to get fancy, especially if you are learning on your own.

I consider myself to be a pretty good live engineer but I still struggle with recording myself and my band at home. Perhaps it is having to wear both hats (engineer and artist) at the same time...

Actually, I wouldn't choose either set of mics at this point because invariably you will probably want to replace these mics almost immediately. I would focus on quality over quantity of mics at this point, as well as learning how to mix, how to record to a computer, how to record your drums, how to tune your drums for your room and for recording, how to position an overhead or room mic to accurately capture the sound of your drums. Doing all that will help you learn how to record first, and then you can learn how to close-mic your kick, snare, etc... and get a more "studio" sound. Remember, a lot of classic records were recorded with gear and techniques that in this day an age would be considered stone-aged primitive (like having the drums at one end of a basement, vocalists in the middle, and the rest of the band at the other end and throwing up a single figure 8 mic and recording direct to 2-track), but the engineers and producers knew how to record first and foremost, and how to get the best sound out of their musicians and their gear. A great performance is a great performance even if it isn't recorded all that well, but a masterful recording of crap is still crap, even if was recorded with 45 mics in a cathedral.

To start out, you should probably start with a decent condenser like this one or this one. Start with it as an overhead, move it 10 feet in front of your kit, play with moving it around the room until you find the "sweet spot" where your kit sounds the best. Then you should invest in a dedicated kick drum mic (shoot for around $200, that's money well spent) and learn to record with the kick added in. At that point, you can add in a snare mic, another overhead, tom mics, etc.. and you will already have a great background.



Good luck!!
 
I wouldn't choose either of those mic kits. I would start with a single condenser mic, even if it were one of those crappy MXL ones they sell for cheap--it would certainly capture a better, more realistic drum sound than those poor excuses for drum mic sets. Close-miking is also called "accent miking" for a reason: you need to get a good drum sound from the overheads, and THEN you can add additional mics to the individual drums to accent particular components of your drum kit, starting with the bass drum, then snare, then whatever else. But, yeah, get a condenser FIRST, then worry about getting a "bass drum mic" and a "snare drum mic", etc...
 

thanks for the background info. i guess it is apparent that i don't know what i am doing. what kind of gear do you suggest from the mic to whatever in between to my computer?

thanks
 
I wouldn't choose either of those mic kits. I would start with a single condenser mic, even if it were one of those crappy MXL ones they sell for cheap--it would certainly capture a better, more realistic drum sound than those poor excuses for drum mic sets. Close-miking is also called "accent miking" for a reason: you need to get a good drum sound from the overheads, and THEN you can add additional mics to the individual drums to accent particular components of your drum kit, starting with the bass drum, then snare, then whatever else. But, yeah, get a condenser FIRST, then worry about getting a "bass drum mic" and a "snare drum mic", etc...

thanks.....how do u suggest i get started???

thanks
 
$100 is way too less to get anywhere IMO.

You could check out
http://www.oktavamod.com/

...and drop Michael Joly an e-mail inquiring what he suggests on a budget. He's a microphone guru and offers modifications to mid and lower class microphones which after his modding can compete with microphones x times more expensive. I have 2 microphones modded by Michael, they sound awesome.

He should have some experience with drum recording. IIRC he did good recordings with 1 omni and 2 additional overheads.

The Shure SM57 is an extremely wide-spread microphone. What about getting a few of them 2nd hand? There's also an easy mode to them: Just remove or bridge the transformer to open up the frequency response (both up and downwards). Although I've learned that some drummers prefer the non-modded version. The 57 can be used even on the bass drum (with a bit experimenting). It's a favourite microphone for snare (plus bottom if you want) but sounds great on toms also. Not really suited for cymbals/overheads though.

The Sennheiser MD421 are the best tom microphones to many studio guys.
 
I wouldn't choose either of those mic kits. I would start with a single condenser mic, even if it were one of those crappy MXL ones they sell for cheap--it would certainly capture a better, more realistic drum sound than those poor excuses for drum mic sets. Close-miking is also called "accent miking" for a reason: you need to get a good drum sound from the overheads, and THEN you can add additional mics to the individual drums to accent particular components of your drum kit, starting with the bass drum, then snare, then whatever else. But, yeah, get a condenser FIRST, then worry about getting a "bass drum mic" and a "snare drum mic", etc...

Absoultely correct! I would get one large diaphragm condenser mic (I have a Studio Projects B1 - which is about $120 on Amazon). It's a great mic for drums (I place it about 3' off my back shoulder pointed at the center of the kit slightly above head height as I'm sitting). I also close mic with overhead condensors and blend the channels into a single drum bus...sometimes though, I just use the single condensor.

You're going to need some kind of interface. With one mic, go with some thing like this M-Audio Fast Track (http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Fast-...402Q/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1323731227&sr=8-4). It comes with the software, so no worries there...especially since M-Powered version of Pro Tools is pretty common...there will be lots of places online to find tips and tricks.

There you go, $240-250 for two items that will have you up and running quickly and have a pretty decent recording of a drum set. You'll just have to experiment with mic placement and make sure your drums are tuned to their optimum because with one mic recording, there is little room for 'corrections' in post-recording production.
 
condenser vs. dynamic?
1xlr input usb interface?
mixer? for future mics?

thanks
 
Last edited:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Digital...m-Microphone-Kit-with-Case-270459-i1911144.gc
vs
http://www.guitarcenter.com/CAD-Pro-4-Drum-Microphone-Pack-271262-i1126880.gc

i'm on a budget, and i want to get recording. 100 is all i can spend on mics, cause i have to figure out how to get a mixer and figure out a way to get it into my computer

for all you tech guys out there, which would you choose if you were in my shoes?

thanks

What kind of recording do you want to do, and why do you want to do it? There are many reasons to want to record.

Do you want to record yourself and your band for critiquing, in your practice room or live? Then you don't need much, just a couple of mics, or even a handheld digital recorder.

Do you want to make your own digital recordings to sell to people? If you want to get into recording to do it professionally, that is a vast area.

Are you just fascinated with recording gear and not really sure what you want to do? Then think about it, including asking questions like you are doing now in forums.

Do you want the recording to help with publicity, for you personally or for any band you happen to be in? Then I'd suggest you spend a couple of hundred bucks on a decent HD video recorder and connect a basic mixer and a couple of mics, and learn some basic video editing, because YouTube is pretty much essential to band publicity now. In fact, unless you are recording professionally, then the video component should be a part of your recording.
 
What kind of recording do you want to do, and why do you want to do it? There are many reasons to want to record.

Do you want to record yourself and your band for critiquing, in your practice room or live? Then you don't need much, just a couple of mics, or even a handheld digital recorder.

Do you want to make your own digital recordings to sell to people? If you want to get into recording to do it professionally, that is a vast area.

Are you just fascinated with recording gear and not really sure what you want to do? Then think about it, including asking questions like you are doing now in forums.

Do you want the recording to help with publicity, for you personally or for any band you happen to be in? Then I'd suggest you spend a couple of hundred bucks on a decent HD video recorder and connect a basic mixer and a couple of mics, and learn some basic video editing, because YouTube is pretty much essential to band publicity now. In fact, unless you are recording professionally, then the video component should be a part of your recording.

thanks for the advise.....i'm new at this stuff.....
first i want to make drum covers with my acoustic set and put them on youtube, then i want to branch off and make whole covers, because i play more than just drums.....but you got to start somewhere


thanks
 
I get your budget. I think we've all been there. If you had another $100 you'd be stylin on a budget.

What I would do (and I have done this), is go on eBay finding anyone selling the CAD GXL2400 large diaphragm condenser mic. I found one for $60. With what you have left, find a pencil-type condenser mic, again, I like the CAD budget stuff, it works out ok. If you had an additional $100, find yourself one of those little Behringer 1002FX mixers. You can plug both your mics into that and give them phantom power, and get that signal out into your computer (you might need an audio-to-usb interface at that point, or by-pass the mixer altogether and find a nice cheap two-channel USB interface that you can plug the mics straight in to. Then you're all set. Experiment with mic placement. Usually I put the pencil condenser overhead, and have the large mic about three feet in front of the kit a little above the bass drum facing directly at you.

Of course, I'm assuming you have cabling, and mic stands? And software on the computer?
 
Learning to record is like learning to play an instrument. Most of us didn't start out with an 8 piece double bass kit with 25 cymbals and a gong behind them, we mostly start out with a practice pad and a pair of sticks, and then migrate to a small kit (hats, snare, kick, maybe a tom or 2) and then up from there. Recording is the same way. Start small, learn the basics before trying to get fancy, especially if you are learning on your own.

I consider myself to be a pretty good live engineer but I still struggle with recording myself and my band at home. Perhaps it is having to wear both hats (engineer and artist) at the same time...

Actually, I wouldn't choose either set of mics at this point because invariably you will probably want to replace these mics almost immediately. I would focus on quality over quantity of mics at this point, as well as learning how to mix, how to record to a computer, how to record your drums, how to tune your drums for your room and for recording, how to position an overhead or room mic to accurately capture the sound of your drums. Doing all that will help you learn how to record first, and then you can learn how to close-mic your kick, snare, etc... and get a more "studio" sound. Remember, a lot of classic records were recorded with gear and techniques that in this day an age would be considered stone-aged primitive (like having the drums at one end of a basement, vocalists in the middle, and the rest of the band at the other end and throwing up a single figure 8 mic and recording direct to 2-track), but the engineers and producers knew how to record first and foremost, and how to get the best sound out of their musicians and their gear. A great performance is a great performance even if it isn't recorded all that well, but a masterful recording of crap is still crap, even if was recorded with 45 mics in a cathedral.

To start out, you should probably start with a decent condenser like this one or this one. Start with it as an overhead, move it 10 feet in front of your kit, play with moving it around the room until you find the "sweet spot" where your kit sounds the best. Then you should invest in a dedicated kick drum mic (shoot for around $200, that's money well spent) and learn to record with the kick added in. At that point, you can add in a snare mic, another overhead, tom mics, etc.. and you will already have a great background.



Good luck!!
which of the two mics would u recommend....i have no idea
also, what mixer would u use, and a way to get it into my computer?

my budget is 200

thanks
 
my suggestion is before you buy anything, get a copy of Modern Recording Techniques by David Miles Huber.

this is the defacto standard curriculum for first semester college level recording classes.

Gain some basic knowledge and proceed from there
 
my suggestion is before you buy anything, get a copy of Modern Recording Techniques by David Miles Huber.

this is the defacto standard curriculum for first semester college level recording classes.

Gain some basic knowledge and proceed from there

Seconded. My copy is very well thumbed. It's an excellent book.

It's by Focal Press.
 
my suggestion is before you buy anything, get a copy of Modern Recording Techniques by David Miles Huber.

this is the defacto standard curriculum for first semester college level recording classes.

Gain some basic knowledge and proceed from there

Yes. By the time you drudge your way through that tome, you'll probably have a bit more of a budget, and more of an idea of what you should use for your needs. I'd also check out The Musician's Guide to Home Recording by Peter McIan if I were you. It gives you more of the practical engineering information once you have the basic understanding down...
 
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