I switched from the Oktava MK012's to the rode NT-5's. The difference was actually huge contrary to what people had told me. I will say that the cymbals sounded a little more bitey with the NT-5's and the toms sound punchy as hell in the OH's!!!!

Just tried out a pair of KEL HM-1's as drum overheads and the verdict: awesome! I used them on an outdoor gig with a minimal mic setup (sm-57 on snare, akgd112 on bass and the 2 kels pointing horizontally towards each other about 6' off the ground (with the 'cardiod' symbol on the mics facing downwards of course) spaced about 4' apart (nose to nose).

Even with the difficult acoustics of playing outdoors they sounded great.. and the sound engineer liked them a lot - and is thinking of getting some. My 4 toms recorded beutifully through the PA mix recording and the cymbals were perfect - not too bright..

That's great to know Rimshot since I have 3 Kel's waiting for this kind of outdoor adventure :)

What pre's were you running them thru? The main desk? What desk?

Sorry but I'm not the sound engineer - just the drummer. I can describe the black box that contained a pile of inputs and cables and then there was this mysterious mixing board with all kinds of sliders, knobs and flashing lights... :lol:

I suspect that all these boards only have two knobs that actually do anything ('Left" and "Right") and the rest is just to make it look impressive :roll:

All I can say for sure is that we had a very experienced pro doing the sound, with top of the line equipment.. he normally would have used his own mics but he'd heard about KEl Audio and was curious to try them out..

Playing outdoors can be tough to get a good mix. The only thing for certain is - you are only as good as your sound man!

I used my Røde NT5's as overheads for a long time, but now with the HM1, that's history I must say. The HM1 is by far the best overhead mic I've ever heard - easily beating C414, SM81, NT5, KM184, KM84, C535, MK012, C480/CK1/CK91, DPA4011, DPA4006 and so on and so on...

(and no - I am in no way associated with KEL)

hey fede....

how many records have you engineered??

I have 3 Kel HM 1's and I love them.

I've used them on drums and vocals so far.

If you want an accurate reproduction - this mic will give it.

As drum O/H I had too much cymbals, so I put them down next to the toms - 90 deg off axis to the cymbals - beautiful full sound.

cheers

omaru

iznogood : the guy says he's used nt5 for a long time... which to me, and I could be wronge, probably means the other mics listed (along with the "and so on and so on") weren't properly or directly compared to. It's hard NOT to keep in mind the cost of these things, so perhaps what Fede meant was really "the best bang-for-the-buck".

Fede, I'd be VERY interested in recording comparisons if any were actually made. I'd not be surprised if the HM1 are indeed the next standard such as sm57 is.