Drum mic recommendations

I was about to buy a drum mic kit to record drums but then thought it may be better to get the mics I want (or are quality) and piece everything together.

So does anyone have any good suggestions for mics to start looking into? I dont need the top of the line, but am willing to spend some dough if the investment is worth it.

As of right now I am recording myself and friends for fun, but hope to one day have a studio. So I do plan on keeping these mics around for the long haul.

Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks guys.

I have used a combo of SM57 (snare and toms), Beta 52 (kick), and AKG Perception 170 (3, 2 OH and 1 Hat), and have been very happy with the results.

For the snare, the 57 is actually a Granelli modified 57. It has a 90 degree bend, and is awesome for tucking right in under the hat to almost eliminate bleed.

Thanks for the suggestions. Im going to look into them, seems like a good set-up.

I've been looking at these drum mic packages that sweetwater is offering...
Just dont know how to tell if one package is better than the other.

I'd forget mic sets, IMAO they are better suited for the road. In studio situations, just ebay home a lot of 57:s and start from there, they are robust microhones so no need to get new ones.

I currently use akg d112 and a diy sub for kick, sm57 top snare and an audiotechnica mb2k bottom, sm57 for toms and behringer c2 for overheads. Although this is working somewhat I'm currently upgrading with a beta52, sennheiser 421 and new overheads. Still not sure witch ones I'll be getting, I have 2 black widows from mxl coming by mail but I think they won't be good enough so they'll probably end up as room mics. I've read that the audiotechnica at2020 are supposed to be greate value as booth overheads as well as female voice so those might be next on my list.

Sammy1283 wrote:Thanks for the suggestions. Im going to look into them, seems like a good set-up.

I've been looking at these drum mic packages that sweetwater is offering...
Just dont know how to tell if one package is better than the other.

EV RE320 is a great kick mic if you have the $300 to spend. I've been using crappy mics (CAD) on toms lately and am pretty happy with the results. For overheads I use Kel-Audio mics - pretty great prices (http://www.kelaudio.com/products/). Looks like the HM-1X I use is not listed anymore

I got a student discount from their site via email when I was in college.

I did buy the Audix DP-7 kit first but rarely use it anymore. I might hook them up beside the CAD mics next week to see what I'm missing...

Also, a drummer I used to play with had a Shure drum mic kit and the recording sounded awesome. Just FYI.

And remember - a good portion of how good your drums will sound is not related to mic quality as much as placement and phase alignment. If you don't know what that means, look it up first...

Best drum mic ever is a good drum tuner.

In all seriousness, a well tuned drum will make more of a difference than any mic.

on a drumkey! And one day old drumheads! With a great stickholder also, whatever mic will do

I've been a drummer for 15 years and everytime a drummer steps into my studio I'm the guy with the drumkey tweaking. Time spent here is a win in the end. One of my latest projects was a band coming in that had tuned the drums very well, even then it took 4 hours to tweak away nasty overtones and boxiness from his kit.

A recording I did about 10years ago I used the cheapest t-bone drummic set I could find, I think it was around 120€ new! But I always kept my drums tuned well and I remember I used alot of blankets to isolate kick and snare from the rest of the kit, I litterly stuffed them in wherever they would fit. And I still to this day listen to that recording impressed by the drumsound. The whole recording was crap and in mono

but the individual drums sounded great. With that said, knowledge of drumtuning might be something to look into even as an engineer.

Not a drummer by trade, so i need some "enhancement" when it comes to tuning the drums. I could probably do it fairly well, but it would most likely take me FOREVER.

Check out the "Tone Boosters" drum tuner. Works on frequency instead of tension. Hands down the fastest, and best sounding drum tuning i've experienced.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 17/12/2013 03:29:11

Super and hypercardioid mics have the off axis rejection that a kit really requires... I like the Audix D6, Sennheiser E602, Beyer Dynamic888 and AE2500 are all great depending on the application (kick)...

A well tuned drum set will make most mics look good however...

"You can't polish a turd...!"

I'm going to second what gadget69 said: "A well tuned drum set will make most mics look good however..."

A well maintained kit with good sounding heads (and a good player) is worth more than thousands of dollars worth of mics any day.

I'll get radical here, too, and say that I think people fuss way too much over drum mic selection, and spend much more than necessary on them. (Kick drum mic selection being among the most hotly debated and passionately defended -- "You simply must use xxx, it is the only thing!") There are definitely a lot of "standard" recommendations out there that are very good: SM57s for snare, AKG 421s for toms, SM81s for overheads, etc. There are a great many outstanding mainstream and "boutique" choices, too. People think I'm nuts, but I'm really happy using a Shure PG 4-piece dynamic kit on the drums, and an MXL V67QStereo for overheads. That combo only cost me $500 total, and I'm happy enough with that setup that I've never really even considered going out and spending more. If I was made of money, I'd consider it, I guess. YMMV.

The room you record in has a huge effect on the sound, too, as does mic placement/technique. Some truly outstanding results can sometimes be gotten with more minimalist techniques (where you get away from trying to single-mic every piece of the kit, and use only 1-4 mics for the whole kit).

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 17/12/2013 17:57:45

I did a benefit concert last month with 9 bands in 9 hours, recording the whole day to mix a benefit CD. The only drums I used close mics on were kick and snare. Or as my professor said it, "kick, snare, and overhead pair."

Every band was very happy with their sound. You'd be surprised what you can do with minimal mics and the proper placement. I'm talking using a tape measure to align phase here

. Also, regarding phase alignment -- my new sectret weapon is no longer the tape measure, but Sound Radix's Audio Align -- the plugin works very well at clearing up time alignment problems within a kit or elsewhere.

Audix offers some great microphone packages that include all the drum mics you would need in a single handy case.

Click here and scroll down a bit:
http://www.audixusa.com/docs_12/range_intros/Packs_and_Sets.shtml