Onstage, my drum mics are either mounted to the drums (the toms use the Shure 98 with mini gooseneck, sorta visible in photo) or are attached to my rack. Because of positioning, some of those mic mounts are small booms (so they can reach under the snare or over the hihat, for example) but a couple are extremely compact and clean:
There are two of those underheads. The
what?? Here's the deal. We've always run video in our show, even back to the first tour in 1983. In those days I was in the center of the stage, and the overheads usually ended up in front of the lower part of the screen, creating distracting shadows and generally looking unprofessional.
After about 10 years of this, one of our cleverer-than-me sound guys suggested we change the overheads to underheads, cleaning up the view above my cymbals. Soon after, I started using a rack, and the transition from mic stands to mounted 'arms' was inevitable. The result was carrying less mic stands - the drums arguably need the most - and an ultra-clean look, at least
below the rack:
Of course that also means a ton of stuff gets mounted to the rack - 3 toms, 5 cymbals, a Kat, and 5 mics - a small fortune in rack clamps alone! But without the rack, try to imagine the amount of mic
and cymbals stands necessary, all competing for floor space around my fairly small kit. The few times I've used backline kits, it's been a hardware nightmare, and it makes me - and the crew - really appreciate the more compact, efficient setup.
Bermuda
