Miking a kick without a hole?

grazzi

Junior Member
(First off, very sorry if this is in the wrong section! If there's a better section for questions like this, please point me in the right direction. :] )

I'm doing sound for a band in an auditorium (ick!) and I'm miking everything up. Just for reference, here's the gear:

- Gretsch Renown kit (20" kick)
- Shure DMK57-52 miking kit
- 2 Shure 849s for overheads

So, I'm miking the kick with a B52A, however the kick has no hole in the resonant head. How should I go about miking it in this case?

Thanks for any help in advance :] And if you have any other drum miking tips, please share!

Justin
 
Simple. You put the mic near the head where the hole would be about two inches from the head.
 
How will the kick sound without a hole and mic'ed 2" in front of the bass reso head? I assume it will be a bit boomier and have less attack?

I'd rather not cut a hole in my new bass reso head, but I'm afraid that may not be a good live tone for modern hard rock.
 
Potentially a little 'rounder' but the attack won't be massively underemphasised.

To be honest, when you're gigging the attack does matter but every instrument has attack. If you want to make your kick heard you're best off tuning for some low-end sustain as well as attack. That means a medium-loose batter with a tighter resonant head. Best of both worlds there in my view.
 
I used my mic in front of my Saturn bass drums for over a year. It is very boomy, with less attack. I recently installed a Kelly SHU and put the mic inside the bass drum. This game the drum better attack, but less boom. The overheads are now more responsible for the boom. I did not want to put a big hole in the front of my bass drum, so the SHU helped me prevent this. All I have is a small hole at the bottom of the reso head for the mic cable to pass through.

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I've tried to mic my kick with the front head on without a mic hole, and it recorded with a lot of resonating overtones coming off the front head. Will micing it where you stated eliminate the overtones coming off the front head?
 
I do it just like this. Depending on the microphone, I'll position it to be able to "see" the entire head but not too much of the outer hoop area. The outer hoop area will exibit the most odd harmonics if the bass drum head is not perfectly in tune with itself. I also keep it slightly pointed down to attenuate some of the toms and cymbals.

With any pre-EQ'd microphone such as a B52, I would keep it at least 3 inches from the head. Don't be afraid to experiment if you have the time.

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Dennis
 
A few nice things about the SHU that I forgot to mention is that it doesn't pick up vibrational noise from it's surroundings like the stage, doesn't get kicked or stepped on by the guitar player, doesn't need any extra stage area to sit on, looks much cleaner, doesn't interfere with your bass drum graphics, and it is one less thing to set up and tear down at the end of the night.
 
May sound crazy, but I started putting the mic on the batter side a few years back and really like the sound. Picks up nicely........just make sure you pedal doesn't squeak too much!
 
For light reinforcement on a full reso head I use a D112 about 6" from the reso head about 1/3 across the drum, centred for height. Everything flat except about +4db @2K to give it a touch of attack bias. For bigger gigs I use two mic's. The D112 on the batter head, & a Yamaha Subkick on the reso head. As long as you can handle any minor phase issues, this gives me total control of the bass drum bias between boom & attack. I don't like micing the bass drum from the inside as it fails to capture the resolved sound.
 
For light reinforcement on a full reso head I use a D112 about 6" from the reso head about 1/3 across the drum, centred for height. Everything flat except about +4db @2K to give it a touch of attack bias. For bigger gigs I use two mic's. The D112 on the batter head, & a Yamaha Subkick on the reso head. As long as you can handle any minor phase issues, this gives me total control of the bass drum bias between boom & attack. I don't like micing the bass drum from the inside as it fails to capture the resolved sound.
The over heads pick up the resolved sound don't they. This is what Neil Peart's tech does with his kit.
 
The over heads pick up the resolved sound don't they. This is what Neil Peart's tech does with his kit.
To a degree, yes, but not from the reso head, & that's where most of your sustain comes from. Of course, arena sound is a whole different world. There's so much power & projection available in the sub section that it's more about source control that reproduction. Line array helps to even out the hotspots, but still, it's a long way away from my world.
 
Well I ain't stikin one of those little bass drums on the front of my bass drum for all the money I have given to China! :) Sorry, that is a sarcastic smiley.
 
The main reason I cut a hole in my bass head was to get the mike inside the drum so that it picked up less stage sound. When I mic'd it with no hole, it picked up too much of the bass and guitars. I had horrible feedback problems in the low end. How do you put your mic several inches from the drum and not pick up everything else on stage?
 
The main reason I cut a hole in my bass head was to get the mike inside the drum so that it picked up less stage sound. When I mic'd it with no hole, it picked up too much of the bass and guitars. I had horrible feedback problems in the low end. How do you put your mic several inches from the drum and not pick up everything else on stage?

sounds like you are using the wrong mic

you need something more directional
 
Well I ain't stikin one of those little bass drums on the front of my bass drum for all the money I have given to China! :) Sorry, that is a sarcastic smiley.
Strange, I'm more concerned about the sound of my kit on stage than I am about the aesthetic. I've had no end of complaints from the chicks dancing & gyrating about how the sight of the subkick totally ruined their enjoyment of the music pulse! :) sorry, that's a sarcastic smiley.
 
You sure it is the bass sound they are happy about, or is it you baby! insert smiley with bad teeth like Austin Powers.

Just remember, you can have both. I know many like to think you can only have it one way or the other, but you can have a combination of aesthetics, and sound. :)
 
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