Any experiences with internal miking?

PorkPieGuy

PorkPieGuy

Platinum Member
I remember when I first started seeing the MAY internal miking system...I really thought this was going to be a "thing." While I'm sure that some use this system, it never really took off like I thought it would.

Anyone have any experiences with the internal miking system?
 
Bo did a series of reports on the May internal bass drum system a coulle of months ago. He wasn't happy with the sound, so he removed it and returned it.

I have a home made version in both my bass drums (one 18", one 20") and I'm very happy, both with the sound and the convenience of always having a mic ready to go in just the right spot. But it won't pick up a warm, resonant jazz tone, more of a short, solid, rock click + thump. You also need some sort of pillow or pad to absorb the basketball 'boing' sound that exists inside empty bass drums.

If you currently mic the drum with a mic inside on a boom or on the pillow, you'll enjoy an internal mic system.
 
I internally miked my set and did not like the results at all, except for the bass drum, which is still there. The toms sounded very hollow to me. Just not my sound.

GeeDeeEmm
 
The May internal mic system was something that i thought i would love and would make miking simple and easy. Turns out it was so much of a pain i ended up ditching them and went back to mics and stands. Haven't looked back since.
The Kelly Shu caught my attention for about five minutes but for me, mic and stand are less of a headache.
 
I mic the inside of the my kick drum as well as the front head. That's pretty standard practice.

There was one session where we took an AT4047 and stuck it inside the kick, but pointed the front of the mic at the inside of the front kick drum head and the results were incredible. It was punchy, but not hollow like a mic pointed at the batter head can be, so I wonder how it would sound if I applied the same idea to tom mics. I tried that same setup with a dynamic mic and the results weren't nearly as nice. Maybe I'll pick up a single internal mount and use one of my condensers pointed at the resonant head and let you guys know how it goes.
 
I've used 4047 to record some killer bass drum tones, but I've never been brave enough to put it inside the drum, or even inside the sound hole, its just a little bit in front.
 
I've had excellent results with the Kelly Shue inside my 16X24 Ludwig bass drum. I also installed an XLR jack in the shell, so it is a plug and play affair. Super easy, good isolation from stage noise, and no singers trip over the mic boom stand. It took some experimentation to find the ideal location, but once set, it was good to go.

I've never experimented with toms miced internally.
 
I swallowed a microphone once. Putting your ear to one's stomach is essentially the same thing.
 
larryace said:
I swallowed a microphone once. Putting your ear to one's stomach is essentially the same thing.
Click to expand...

Thank goodness my bass drum has never had to pass its mic! o_O
 
Last edited:
Seafroggys said:
I've used 4047 to record some killer bass drum tones, but I've never been brave enough to put it inside the drum, or even inside the sound hole, its just a little bit in front.
Click to expand...

Those suckers will withstand up to 159dB, which is about as loud as your ear next to a 12-gauge shotgun. That's 20dB higher handling than an RE20, which I regularly put inside kick drums. They're sensitive, but not fragile. A friend of mine was flabbergasted when I put the 414 right up on his guitar amp and told him to crank it. Sounded great, too!
 
I've heard Thomas Lang's internal mics in some of his videos, he put them inside every non-snare drum – including his 10x7" tom. Sounded... not great. And having such a large object inside small drums like rack toms can't be doing the sound any favors.
 
For the latest Gloryhammer album we used the B-Band Ukko internal mics for the toms, which are like little stick-on transducers that you attach to the shell just beneath the batter head. The plan was to use these to trigger samples we recorded with an MD-421 and then blend the two, but the producer ended up liking the sound so much that we used them exclusively. I think they must have needed a lot of EQ as any mic will sound weird inside a drum, but it was a pretty cool open sort of sound.

Here's quite a good demo I found on youtube, and here's a clip from our album.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top