Kick drum mic

fess

fess

Senior Member
Does anyone simply lay their kick drum mic on the pillow inside the drum for live performances? I dislike fiddling with the stand.
 
Yes, that's what I do when the band runs our sound. I do it mostly for set up efficiency. Any sound difference between laying it on the pillow and putting it on a stand isn't huge IMO. When we have a sound tech the mic usually goes on a typical desktop style mic stand. Almost always one of the other musicians will accidentally knock the stand. I always worry it's going to tear the drum head port.
 
fess said:
Does anyone simply lay their kick drum mic on the pillow inside the drum for live performances? I dislike fiddling with the stand.
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I used to do that but it sounds a lot better on the outside of the drum through a port
 
I used to. I discovered I like a PS3 front & back with no pillow, so I clamped the mic from the BD hoop or spur with an LP Claw or similar for a little while, then got a Kelly Shu.
 
Yes, but it's made to do that. It's a Sennheiser e901, and I've got a little loop on my bass drum pillow that it slides into to hold it snug.

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I bought one of these but haven’t used it yet.

It just slots under one of the screws for a lug. Then you can just keep your mic attached in the kick and just run a cable to it
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alparrott said:
Yes, but it's made to do that. It's a Sennheiser e901, and I've got a little loop on my bass drum pillow that it slides into to hold it snug.

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This is a great option for the OP. If you want a bit more shock absorption consider the Kelly Shu FLATZ internal bass drum mount for this mic. Otherwise laying it on a pillow will serve you well.
 
I have a section of foam egg crate from a mattress pad and some places that provide sound lay it on that foam.

When my front head had a 9" hole it sounded much better mic'ed than now with a 4". I mic at that port on a shortie desk top stand.
 
I would like to leave my microphone in my bass drum but then I'd have to have a microphone for each bass drum. I use 2 kits regularly and sometimes I bring a 3rd kit out.
 
I like my little round based stand. That way I can run ported or not. It has a little 5" or 6" round base so it doesn't get in the way. Plus I can aim the direction for more or less slap
 
In clubs that don't have stages, where the band sets up on the floor, sometimes the dancers got so close I would worry that they'd bump the mic if it was on a stand, and it actually happened a few times. So I bought a "Kick Port" and drilled a hole the size of the D-112 stem inside and on the bottom, slightly oversized, so it would accommodate a rubber grommet with an inside diameter the size of the D-112 stem. So then, the D-112 was inside the kick port out of harm's way. It actually sounded pretty good. It's a wrestling match to get it in there, but it can be done.
 
Befor I used the beta 52 and the other football mike with the green strip it was an sm-57 on the beach towel.
 
I mount my kick drum mic internally from the tom mount with a little home made rig. Works great!

In the past, I used to simply lay the mic on a pillow. If truth be told, I really didn't notice any difference in sound between the two mounting methods.

Having a mic stand in front of the bass drum is what most drummers do. I don't like this, as it's an invitation for someone to accidentally trip or kick it. No thanks! Internal mounting, however you do it is the way to go.
 
It works in a pinch.. i.e. you forget your mic stand :( Only thing I noticed is that it sounds a bit more 'boomy' lying on the kick floor (blanket, foam, towel what have you). I tend to position the mic head inside the kick centered vertically high but pointing off axis positioned horizontally off to the side about a third... also about the middle from front to back. Seems to get pretty good results with a AKG-D112. Shure Beta 52A - I've tried it centered in the the porthole with okay results.. but it loses a bit of attack and low end. Senheiser e902is great
 
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Bozozoid said:
"the other football mike with the green strip"
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Lol.. never heard it called that. I could never remember which end of the football is the recording end.. so I finally decided that the green strip means 'GO'. Now I don't forget!
 
A J said:
I mount my kick drum mic internally from the tom mount with a little home made rig. Works great!

In the past, I used to simply lay the mic on a pillow. If truth be told, I really didn't notice any difference in sound between the two mounting methods.

Having a mic stand in front of the bass drum is what most drummers do. I don't like this, as it's an invitation for someone to accidentally trip or kick it. No thanks! Internal mounting, however you do it is the way to go.
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As long as the mike doesn't get so close to the head that the diaphragm bottoms out and makes distortion, you can go for the best sound.
 
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