Drum mic's

Konne

Member
Hi!

Im going to buy some more mic's for my drums and I thought maybe you guys have some suggestions!

What I need is 2 tom mics (for tom-tom and floor-tom)
and 2 overhead mic's

I was thinking to pay maybe 200-250€ for the tom mic's (both)
and 200-300€ for the overheads (both)

(I already got some sm57 for the snare and a Beta52a for basdrum)

Do you have any suggestions?!
 
The overheads will hear your toms just fine. If it's live, I'd get a nice pair of overheads and forego the individual tom mics. They would be almost redundant with good overheads. If this is for recording, then individual tom mics are a good choice. (Although a great sound can still be had with a great pair of overheads and no individuals) Kick and snare always need their own mics, live or recording.

For recording, I use individual mics on each tom (Sennheiser 604's) and a matched pair of Rode NT5's as overheads (in addition to kick and snare mics)

If you must use individual tom mics, there's many good choices. I use the Sennheisers for 3 reasons: The rim clip is part of the design, and they're nice and small, so they stay out of the way. Plus they're made in Germany. I have a great deal of respect for German engineering. I get a wonderful sound from them and I don't have to set up numerous mic stands.

But live? You really don't need individual tom mics, my opinion only. Plus it's a lot of extra work for very little, if any, return.
In fact live, I just use 1 overhead, a kick and snare. PA sound is mono anyway, and less mics = less issues. Simple. Just like me lol.
 
Larry is of course, right on the money here. But if you must have individual mics, why not get two more SM57's for the toms? Those mics are good for everything, and you could use them for other things if you don't use them on your drums - that's how I look at it.

For overheads, I'm a big fan of the AKG SE 300B.

In fact, here's a recording I made with just the one AKG as my overhead, and a Shure SM58 stuck in the bass drum the other day...
 

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  • BoEder2micsolo.mp3
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Bo I really like your drum playing. Great sound with minimal mics, but your playing is so easy to listen to....
 
Bo I really like your drum playing. Great sound with minimal mics, but your playing is so easy to listen to....

Thanks Larry, I appreciate the kind words. Again, no real plan on what to play, I was just trying to find out what it sounded like, hence the slow start so I could actually hear individual drums! Perhaps one day I'll structure something out....but after 20+ years....nah...

If I start getting paid for solos, maybe. Right now I only get paid to play with the band! Dammit ;)
 
I picked up some Audix D Series mics a while back on Ebay real cheap.
I use D2's on my 12" and 14" toms and a D4 on my 16"..

For overheads I got a match pair of Behringer C-2's. Not the best in the world, but for live overheads they work nice and the pair of them came together in a case with clips for under $50
 
I cannot say enough good things about Audio-Technica ATM 25. I have four of them. They are condensers and require phantom power, but they clip on to the rims and are very small and are great for toms. The sound quality out of them is unbelievable and they also make excellent clip-on mics for hand drums, saxophones, clarinets and other high-SPL applications. They're reasonably affordable too. They reject sounds beyond 18 inches or so and aren't good for overheads, but that makes them good for close miking like toms, snare, hats, etc.
 
Audix D2 and D4 mikes are great for toms. They're so popular that they're readily available used for not that much money.

I have some Audio-Technica 4021 condensers for overheads that sound great.

Really you don't need any over the top high end expensive microphones, the "greatness" of really fancy mikes may just get lost in the lack of greatness of the audio interface. If you play well it can sound good even with basic microphones (like SM-57, Beta-52's and such).
 
For your budget, I'd go for Electrovoice PL35's for the toms, & PL37's for the overheads. Depending on the application, I'd go with Larry's advice & just use overheads. If you must go for close mics, the PL35's blow SM57's into the long grass. Not only are they very natural (transparent), they're very compact, have an angled body (so no bulky xlr cymbal room issues), come complete with quality hoop mounts & best of all, they're hypercardoid. That means they reject almost all spill or unwanted sounds, plus they're great from a feedback pov. Then the PL37's. Great overheads that don't require phantom power! (no batteries or phantom power facility on your desk) Tough & clean. Just perfect for live work, but easily detailed enough for all but the very highest end recording situations. Both are stunning value and probably the best kept secret in drum mics. I cannot praise these highly enough.
 
If you're looking for simple, then overhead mics are fine.but you'll get a cleaner and more defined sound by miking the toms regardless of whether the main mix is stereo or mono.

Personally, I like the combination of the live sound setting with a studio style mic setup. I've come across too many lazy sound guys who want to use a 3 or 4 mic set up for the sole reason that it's easier for them. Maybe I'm more demanding because I'm also a sound guy, but there is no substitute for miking each tom individually no matter how good the overheads are.
 
The Electrovoice PL35 is a very nice sounding microphone, but being "supercardioid" there is a pronounced lobe 180 degrees from the front of the element. Care should be given to what the back of the microphone sees in terms of rear attenuation. Such as the back side of the microphone being positioned directly to the bottom of a crash cymbals. This could also directly induce phase cancellations depending on how far the microphone is positioned to the sound source and other microphones picking up the same source. If your placement and positioning is good, everything will be hunky dorry, but for close miking using a number of mics on the kit, I would rather be using cardioid pick up patterns.

BTW, I do use a Sennheiser MD441, which has a supercardiod pick up, for miking the resonant side of my snares for some productions, but at 180 degrees the back side of the microphone is looking at a carpeted floor and is 180 out of phase to the batter mic.

If your systems work well for you, continue to do what you're doing. This is just from my experience with close proximity miking conditions.

Dennis
 
The Electrovoice PL35 is a very nice sounding microphone, but being "supercardioid" there is a pronounced lobe 180 degrees from the front of the element. Care should be given to what the back of the microphone sees in terms of rear attenuation. Such as the back side of the microphone being positioned directly to the bottom of a crash cymbals. This could also directly induce phase cancellations depending on how far the microphone is positioned to the sound source and other microphones picking up the same source. If your placement and positioning is good, everything will be hunky dorry, but for close miking using a number of mics on the kit, I would rather be using cardioid pick up patterns.

BTW, I do use a Sennheiser MD441, which has a supercardiod pick up, for miking the resonant side of my snares for some productions, but at 180 degrees the back side of the microphone is looking at a carpeted floor and is 180 out of phase to the batter mic.

If your systems work well for you, continue to do what you're doing. This is just from my experience with close proximity miking conditions.

Dennis
Very good stuff Dennis. Placement is so important with PL35's, but I can't get past their lovely transparent reproduction in a live setting. They suit me just fine, but I conceed they may not be for everyone.

While you're here, I'd like to pick your deep knowledge on this subject. I'm thinking of using the PL35's to mic the tom reso heads rather than the batter, & relying on the overheads to pick up the attack. What do you think about that? The aim is to capture more of the tom's tone (I always tune my batters & resos to exactly the same pitch) rather than being restricted to the close proximity sound from the batter head. I'm thinking about this only for live stuff.
 
I try to always tune my batter and resonant heads to approximately the same pitch, but if I'm working with someone else that has a different drum sound in mind, I have to go with that. I guess it all depends what the rear end of the PL35 is looking at, and this all depends on the set up of the kit. I have miked the tom's resonant heads in situations where the band, or their manager, wanted a very clean looking kit. Of course this was in a live situation and it worked fairly well, although I had to use Sennheiser 416 short shotguns for the overheads to keep them out of sight. I would say give it a try. If something doesn't sound just right, a little microphone movement here or there can make a big difference. I would also bring the overheads back(towards the drummer) and down a bit to more or less balance the kit so the resonant mics toms tone doesn't overpower the attack, although there should be a few milliseconds difference.

Just listen carefully for any phase interactions, you'll either hear them or see them by sensing that some of the mixer's faders or gain controls need to be set higher than usual. Then it's time to reposition one or more microphones.

Dennis
 
Thanks Dennis. The rear of the PL35's will mostly be looking at the floor, but on 2 toms they'll be looking at the kick drum shell. As it's a highly resonant shell on this kit, that might just offer a phase issue with the kick mic right there. As you say, got to play with it a bit. Good help Dennis, thanks.
 
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