Drum mics and mixer ?

I-P

I-P

Silver Member
I need to venture into the world of mic'ing my kit.

Any recommendations for a 'price sensitive' set of drum mics?
(5 piece kit so 123 for toms, 1 snare, 1 kick, 2 overheads) 7 mic set.

Need a mixer? to connect all the XLR cables into. What do you recommend?

Also I do vocals, so an extra input into mixer needed, I think). 8 inputs in total?
I'd like to control my own box, but I guess not a deal breaker if "house" sound person is doing it.

Thank you for any recommendations and feedback.
I'm a little lost on this.

Thank you. 👍🙂

P.S. At the moment I have a belt clip personal monitor with IEM connected via XLR cable to mixing desk provider by sound person.
 
Do you want it for playing / practicing by yourself or gigging?
Als recording?
And how much do you want to spend?

I haven't tried it but the AKG Drum Set Session I seems to get good reviews.
There are a lot of other options from Shure, Sennheiser, Beyer-Dynamic, etc.

Which mixer / interface depends on what you want to do.
 
If this is for playing with your band live, I'm assuming they have a big enough console to handle the extra drum mics? Because technically, you can't mix your sound for the house if you're busy behind the drums (you can't hear what it sounds like in the house anyway). I would push for this development before I introduced my own mixer to plug into their mixer. Your band needs to gets its own bigger board if it doesn't already have one. You should just be getting microphones to plug into that mixer, and someone else mixes you into the band sound.

That said, really discover what it is you need. I sub in alot of bands and usually if they can accommodate one bass drum mic and my vocal mic, that's all they really need/want. Your vocal mic picks up the rest of the kit, and the bass drum mic gives them the "oomph" they're used to hearing from recordings. So you can start basic with two mics like this. Usually, when it gets to the point where everything needs to be mic'd up, you're at a venue that will have its' own gear and crew to do that for you.
 
Sorry I should have stated.

For Live playing.

(Occasional rehearsal too)

Thanks for the assist
 
Than
Bo Eder said:
If this is for playing with your band live, I'm assuming they have a big enough console to handle the extra drum mics? Because technically, you can't mix your sound for the house if you're busy behind the drums (you can't hear what it sounds like in the house anyway). I would push for this development before I introduced my own mixer to plug into their mixer. Your band needs to gets its own bigger board if it doesn't already have one. You should just be getting microphones to plug into that mixer, and someone else mixes you into the band sound.

That said, really discover what it is you need. I sub in alot of bands and usually if they can accommodate one bass drum mic and my vocal mic, that's all they really need/want. Your vocal mic picks up the rest of the kit, and the bass drum mic gives them the "oomph" they're used to hearing from recordings. So you can start basic with two mics like this. Usually, when it gets to the point where everything needs to be mic'd up, you're at a venue that will have its' own gear and crew to do that for yot
Click to expand...

I-P said:
Sorry I should have stated.

For Live playing.

(Occasional rehearsal too)

Thanks for the assist
Click to expand...
Bo Eder said:
If this is for playing with your band live, I'm assuming they have a big enough console to handle the extra drum mics? Because technically, you can't mix your sound for the house if you're busy behind the drums (you can't hear what it sounds like in the house anyway). I would push for this development before I introduced my own mixer to plug into their mixer. Your band needs to gets its own bigger board if it doesn't already have one. You should just be getting microphones to plug into that mixer, and someone else mixes you into the band sound.

That said, really discover what it is you need. I sub in alot of bands and usually if they can accommodate one bass drum mic and my vocal mic, that's all they really need/want. Your vocal mic picks up the rest of the kit, and the bass drum mic gives them the "oomph" they're used to hearing from recordings. So you can start basic with two mics like this. Usually, when it gets to the point where everything needs to be mic'd up, you're at a venue that will have its' own gear and crew to do that for you.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the reply.

What you wrote has helped and got me thinking. Thanks.

The 1 mic in kick and vocal mic is not enough for me.

I prefer to hear my entire kit through IEMs. My hearing is very sensitive, so I tend to wear IEMs and ear muffs over them. I can hear next to nothing when like this. This is where all the mics that I want on my kit come into play.
 
I use the Shure PGADRUMKIT7 mic pack. It's basic but gets the job done. I'd like to move up to the Audix DP7 or Sennheiser e600 pack someday. My mics go into my band's Behringer XR18 Digital Stagebox mixer, which also has 6 aux outs for our IEMs.
 
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I-P said:
Than




Thank you for the reply.

What you wrote has helped and got me thinking. Thanks.

The 1 mic in kick and vocal mic is not enough for me.

I prefer to hear my entire kit through IEMs. My hearing is very sensitive, so I tend to wear IEMs and ear muffs over them. I can hear next to nothing when like this. This is where all the mics that I want on my kit come into play.
Click to expand...
Gotcha. In my Devo tribute band everything gets mic’d up because we’re all wearing IEMs, so I get that. That’s the only way we can hear what everyone is doing. But let me ask you, is the rest of your band mic’d up and going through the mixer as well? To keep everybody hearing what’s going on, then you guys just have a big enough console for everyone, no? Then you can control IEM mixes as well.
 
I am with Bo. The effort goes up exponentially with the number of mics. After trying all kinds of configurations, I have found that one overhead, one kick, and a snare mic that may or may not be used, provides the best results (for me) with a minimum of work and time. And I also wear custom molded IEMs for all gigs.
 
We were using 7 or 8 mics on our kit. But for some reason, the drums sounded poor in our live mix and recordings. It turned out that we had phase issues which sounded very poor. We changed out setup to one kick mic, one snare mic and an overhead X-Y pattern for everything else. The drums record like they sound live now.

In my home studio, I record with one mic on the kick and an overhead stereo condenser Audio Technica mic.
 
My personal experience has always been anything more than 4 mics my sound gets worse. Clearly it's because I don't know what I'm doing but it may make more sense to get a good sound with fewer mics first and budget wise I think this makes even more sense. I would spend as much as I could on one good overhead and use a three mic mono setup to start. If you really want get your Weckl on and want to spend the time and effort to mix yourself, take your time and add more mics when you can afford it.
 
I-P said:
Than




Thank you for the reply.

What you wrote has helped and got me thinking. Thanks.

The 1 mic in kick and vocal mic is not enough for me.

I prefer to hear my entire kit through IEMs. My hearing is very sensitive, so I tend to wear IEMs and ear muffs over them. I can hear next to nothing when like this. This is where all the mics that I want on my kit come into play.
Click to expand...

What about hearing the rest of the band?

I play with IEMs and have zero drums in them. I know drums go boom when I hit them. I don't need to hear it. Being able to hear singer(s), guitar/keys (or other melodic instruments), and bass is much more important.

More mics does not always mean better sound. Especially on stage.

A single ambient overhead mic, plus a kick mic, mixed with a feed from FOH will give you a good audio image of your band. No issues with phase. Quick and easy setup at every rehearsal/show.

If you are keen to mic everything - kick, snare, toms, and overheads - set the mic levels in layers. Before unmuting any of the mics remember:
1) a mic may be connected to a specific drum, it still picks up sound (bleed) from other drums/cymbals proximal to it; and
2) cymbals bleed into EVERY mic on the stage/in the room. Not just the drum mics.
 
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Budget often has a way of chiseling down all the numerous options. Not knowing your budget here's my recommendations:

I concur that a simpler mic set up will likely produce a better, consistent sound.

I would recommend choosing the bass drum mic you like and recommend a Kelly SHU internal mount. Once you set it for the sweet spot, all you need to do is plug and play. And it's one less mic stand to lug around and for your bandmates to trip over. Options: Audio-Technica ATM25, Telefunken M82, Audix D6, Shure Beta 52, Sennheiser e901.

Snare mic of your choice: numerous reasonably priced options are available. Options: Shure SM57, Telefunken M80 (Short version), Audix i5, Beyerdynamic M201, Audio-Technica ATM63HE or Audio-Technica ATM25HE.

A single overhead stereo mic would be ideal. I would recommend the Stager SR-2N Ribbon Stereo if you have the budget for it.

Vocal mic of your choice. That's four microphones. Simple set up. More consistent sound. Fewer mic stands and cables. Buying less microphones
and fewer stands should allow you to invest upfront in better microphones.

My 2 cents worth.
 
For rehearsing, I usually just mic up the kick. Anything else, I usually subscribe to the idea that 'less-is-more,' but if you're playing somewhere with an engineer on hand, let them worry about it. (y)
 
Several have mentioned in this thread that they use 3 or even 2 mics in a live situation. Will one overhead really pick up the rack and fl. toms with a good sound? I've never considered this approach, I normally mic each drum along with 2 small condenser overheads if we're in a big enough room or outside. I have a Beta 52 and a 7 pc set of Equation Audio Alpha series mics. I'm real happy with the mics but using only 3 is very intriguing. Will my small condenser mic work or do I need a different type of mic as an overhead in a 3 mic setup? I normally turn the bass roll off on so they aren't picking up the lows and mostly just the cymbals.
 
They're cheap but I've been very pleased with my Pyle PDKM7drum mics. You get 4x tom/snare mics, 1x kick drum and 2x overhead mics for well under $200. They come in a lined hard-shell case too.

You might not want to use them for Adele's next album but for your typical bar gig or rehearsal, they're excellent.
 
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lefty2 said:
Several have mentioned in this thread that they use 3 or even 2 mics in a live situation. Will one overhead really pick up the rack and fl. toms with a good sound? I've never considered this approach, I normally mic each drum along with 2 small condenser overheads if we're in a big enough room or outside. I have a Beta 52 and a 7 pc set of Equation Audio Alpha series mics. I'm real happy with the mics but using only 3 is very intriguing. Will my small condenser mic work or do I need a different type of mic as an overhead in a 3 mic setup? I normally turn the bass roll off on so they aren't picking up the lows and mostly just the cymbals.
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Will one overhead work well enough in a minimal mic set up? Probably not. Try two overheads set up using the Glyn Johns mic technique. Add a kick mic and see how it sounds. If you need more snare, add a snare mic. If you like it, then great. If not, experiment using other techniques.

I've used several cheap models (e.g., CAD, Audix F15) of small diaphragm condenser mics over the years. Cheap ($100 ea) mics will produce sound, but I think you really start hearing significant differences when you get into the $200+ each mics.
 
TomR said:
Will one overhead work well enough in a minimal mic set up? Probably not. Try two overheads set up using the Glyn Johns mic technique. Add a kick mic and see how it sounds. If you need more snare, add a snare mic. If you like it, then great. If not, experiment using other techniques.

I've used several cheap models (e.g., CAD, Audix F15) of small diaphragm condenser mics over the years. Cheap ($100 ea) mics will produce sound, but I think you really start hearing significant differences when you get into the $200+ each mics.
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Thanks for replying. I have cheap condenser mics and a beta 52 for the kick I'm thinking about not using the bass roll off on the condensers and setting up Glyn Johns style and see what happens. I'll mic everything as usual so at sound check they can just turn on the mics if they don't like the sound of the Glyn Johns method. If it works well for us I'll have less mics and cables to deal with. I play with one band quite frequently that doesn't mic anything and its nice to set up a 4 pc and just play, it doesn't sound as good but that's how they roll.
 
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