Drum Mics

oldmetalhead

Junior Member
What is considered a good set of microphones to use for drums? Years ago I used Shure SM57's and Sennheiser 421's. Also does anyone know what Dave Lombardo uses? He has these neat looking clip ons.
 
I think it depends on what type of sound you're going for. Any examples of what songs/drummers/etc you like?

As for 57s and 421s, you're right - they're staples for a reason. (y)
 
For snare, try Beyerdynamic M201 or a Telefunken M80-SH.

Toms: Audio-Technica ATM230

Overheads: Sennheiser e914
 
Bass Drum: Audio-Technica ATM25, Telefunken M-82, Heil PR-48, Sennheiser e 901
Snare: Audio-Technica ATM63HE, Telefunken M80-SH (brighter) or Telefunken M81-SH (flatter response)
Toms: Audio-Technica ATM25, Audio-Technica ATM230, Telefunken M81-SH
Overheads: Audio-Technica AE3000, Aston Origin
Hi-Hat: Audio-Technica AE5100, Audio-Technica ATM450
 
What is considered a good set of microphones to use for drums? Years ago I used Shure SM57's and Sennheiser 421's. Also does anyone know what Dave Lombardo uses? He has these neat looking clip ons.

For demos . -- EAD10
For fidelity demos and expositions, two high-SPL LDCs
For live - Almost any budget mic kit
For studio, 2 LDCs overhead, a ribbon room, and dynamics on the instruments.
 
SM57s and MD421s are still GREAT for close miking drums. If you have them, keep them. For overheads, a good small-diaphragm condenser will do. Mid-priced SM81s, NT5s, WA84s, AT4041s, C451s, will get the job done, and high-end stuff like KM-184s, DPA4041s, and TF-5s will sound great.
 
my personal choices are all from a company called lewitt microphones.

i would go for the DTP 340 or 640 rex for bass drum, DT340tt for toms, MTP440 for snare, and a some pencil condensors for overeheads (either the LCT 040 matched pair OR the LCT 140 air condensors :) or if you can afford it, get the beat pro 7 drum mic kit, theyre deffo worth it :)
 
What is everyone's opinion of the Sennheiser e 602 II microphone for bass drums? It specs out really well especially for the price.
 
Shure 57 or Audix i5 on snare
57s work great on all toms, too
sE Electronics SE8 sdc overheads
sE Electronics V Kick are great!
 
What is everyone's opinion of the Sennheiser e 602 II microphone for bass drums? It specs out really well especially for the price.


I bought an e602 for mic'ing my BD's. The benefit of the 602/902 is that they are less directional than many of the other BD mics on the market, which makes mic'ing unported heads easier.

The down side.... It broke. I've broken mics before. Kicked them, dropped them, rained on, sheared the casted hinge right off of a Beta52.... But my e602 broke completely of it's own volition. Working one day, not working the next, setup and untouched in a basement studio. No continuity through the coil.

So while I recommend the higher end 902, I cannot in good faith recommend the budget 602 despite it sounding absolutely fine.
 
Is it relevant to mention the role the preamps have on the sound?

Are pre-amps a bottleneck all mics have to go through?

Or is that not really relevant?
 
What you plug into makes all the difference.
So how important are the mics if the pre-amp is just OK, on a scale of 1 to 10, in a live situation?

Studio excepted.

I mean drums aren't exactly the same as a breathy vocal

Kinda depends on the mic application, live or studio, yes? no?
 
I use the analogy that mics are like lenses to a camera. Mics collect the waves and get it to the processor. The better they do that, the better signal to process (like getting light to the processor in a camera). So if the processor is great, and the mics are great, that’s a win-win. If the mics are great but the processor is so-so, at least it’s getting good signal to attempt to process. If the processor is great and the mics are so-so, then the processor works with what it gets. And this is all subjective, the operator decides if he likes it or not.

But I took the lowly Shure SM57 and ran it into a $10k Manly mic preamp and it was incredible. I also took a AKG C12 tube mic($10k) and plugged it into a $70 Behringer USB interface and got to hear “artifacts” from the Behringer.
 
So how important are the mics if the pre-amp is just OK, on a scale of 1 to 10, in a live situation?

Studio excepted.

I mean drums aren't exactly the same as a breathy vocal

Kinda depends on the mic application, live or studio, yes? no?

Bo covers pre-amps pretty well, but I will add the following....

There are great pre's, there are good pre's, there are consumer grade pre's, and there are horrible pre's.

We need not discuss great pre's because they are outside the budget of most mortals.
We need not discuss good pre's because there's little to say about them.

Consumer grade Pre's that come on many modern digital mixers (including my R16) are not tonally spectacular, but they at least have the courtesy to be unoffensive and quiet. This makes them perfectly usable in the vast majority of scenarios. When I record on the R16, I can chain into a digital preamp emulator in Logic and get so close to the real thing that you wouldn't be able to tell which is which in an A/B comparison unless you knew exactly what to listen for.

Horrible pre's, like some of the Behringer and "Musicians Gear" white box products, are problematic and should be avoided. The artifacts they generate can drive engineers nuts. Next time you are at a GC, bring a decent set of headphones and do an A/B comparison of an Behringer X32 and a Presonus Studiolive AI.
 
Bo covers pre-amps pretty well, but I will add the following....

There are great pre's, there are good pre's, there are consumer grade pre's, and there are horrible pre's.

We need not discuss great pre's because they are outside the budget of most mortals.
We need not discuss good pre's because there's little to say about them.

Consumer grade Pre's that come on many modern digital mixers (including my R16) are not tonally spectacular, but they at least have the courtesy to be unoffensive and quiet. This makes them perfectly usable in the vast majority of scenarios. When I record on the R16, I can chain into a digital preamp emulator in Logic and get so close to the real thing that you wouldn't be able to tell which is which in an A/B comparison unless you knew exactly what to listen for.

Horrible pre's, like some of the Behringer and "Musicians Gear" white box products, are problematic and should be avoided. The artifacts they generate can drive engineers nuts. Next time you are at a GC, bring a decent set of headphones and do an A/B comparison of an Behringer X32 and a Presonus Studiolive AI.
For the record, I’m using the Yamaha TF console. At least they’re quiet and workhorse-like ?
 
I don't want to distract from the conversation at hand but does anyone have any insight into the quality of the preamps found in the TASCAM US-1641?
 
I don't want to distract from the conversation at hand but does anyone have any insight into the quality of the preamps found in the TASCAM US-1641?

No, but I will make some educated guesses....

1: There is probably lackluster driver support, as there has historically been with Tascam products.
2: The preamps are probably fine (consumer grade) until you plug a 7b into it only to find that you could use another 6db of headroom for vocals. You'll either need an outboard pre for that or have the vocalist eat the mic.
 
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