May Internals?

joshvibert

Senior Member
Do the drums sound better mic'd from the inside or outside? It seems really convenient to just plug an xlr into the side of your drum and go. How do they compare against clip-on type. Educate me from top to bottom.

Thanks!
 
Outside!!!!! Part of the sound is the stick actually hitting the head, you can't get that from the inside. Plus it just doesn't sound right :)

Compare what to clipons??

Morten
 
Look at, follow the herd when it comes to questioning internal drum mic'ing, its been around for decades.

Its 'easier' to patch to cable, but in most situations harder to get an agreeable sound. I feel it has something to do with air pressure/flow on the mic's diaphragm(s).
 
When I played concert toms way back when I found that inside mic'ing worked best. Bermuda also agrees with me on this. He uses inside mic'ed concert toms sometimes.
I have never tried inside mic's on my two headed toms.
 
When I played concert toms way back when I found that inside mic'ing worked best. Bermuda also agrees with me on this. He uses inside mic'ed concert toms sometimes.
I have never tried inside mic's on my two headed toms.

As was the norm in the 70's, but I've never seen, nor heard of anyone putting a MAY internal system on single headed tom's.
 
As was the norm in the 70's, but I've never seen, nor heard of anyone putting a MAY internal system on single headed tom's.

AJ Pero and Eric Carr both had Mays on their kits. Pero had concert toms and Carr had double headed toms with the bottom head cut out.. Looking for pics....
 
Here is Pero: You can see the May plugs and adjustment knobs.

AJ Pero 2.jpg

Here is a link for Carr. It s hard to see the cut out heads. I have seen a pic where the cords are coming right out of the bottom thru the cut out heads.. Looking for that one...

LINK

Here is one where the cords are coming out the bottom. I can't tell if they are may mounted mics tho...

LINK 2
 
Do the drums sound better mic'd from the inside or outside? It seems really convenient to just plug an xlr into the side of your drum and go. How do they compare against clip-on type. Educate me from top to bottom.

Thanks!

May mics sound great if you take the time to set them up. They are by far more convenient. I have used mine for over 15 years. You do NOT lose any attack, in fact, you may even have more. After taking my drums to a studio, I ended up pointing my mics at the bottom heads with no loss of attack. There was an article in Modern Drummer years ago, and they came to the same conclusion that the mics sounded better pointed towards the bottom heads.
 
May mics sound great if you take the time to set them up. They are by far more convenient. I have used mine for over 15 years. You do NOT lose any attack, in fact, you may even have more. After taking my drums to a studio, I ended up pointing my mics at the bottom heads with no loss of attack. There was an article in Modern Drummer years ago, and they came to the same conclusion that the mics sounded better pointed towards the bottom heads.

I think it would be good to internally mic toms and snare for the same reasons nearly everyone wants to internally mic their bass drum (cutting a hole in the reso head and sticking in a bass drum mic).

I did my own internal miking job on my bass drum (see thread link below) and I had no cords hanging out. I can just plug in a stereo quarter-inch plug into the drum vent hole socket. That seems like the cleanest way to do it. After some experimentation, I found the best way to point the mic was at the reso bass drum head. Otherwise, I got WAY too much attack.
 
I have been thinking about this as well.
I already have my kick internaly miced with a system I made myself. I have a Beta 52 inside the kick and it sounds fantastic. I have it pointed at my batter head in a drum that is only 14" deep and I don't have a problem with having too much attack at all.

I am wondering abou doing the same with my toms. I love being able to just plug my kick in with the XLR jack I mounted in the air vent. So should I set up the mics in my toms too?
 
I have been thinking about this as well.
I already have my kick internaly miced with a system I made myself. I have a Beta 52 inside the kick and it sounds fantastic. I have it pointed at my batter head in a drum that is only 14" deep and I don't have a problem with having too much attack at all.

I am wondering abou doing the same with my toms. I love being able to just plug my kick in with the XLR jack I mounted in the air vent. So should I set up the mics in my toms too?

Yes, but toms require a bit of experimenting to find the right sound. Don't be afraid to try something odd, such as pointing at the bottom heads. You may find something you really like.....
 
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