If you are talking about the shure PG drum package which sells for about that price, then I would recomend you consider other options. The PG series is shure's budget brand and I personally would spend my money for drums differently. If you bought new, you could purchase a professional kick drum mic (akg d112, audix d6, and shure beta 52 are three of the most popular but there are other legit and cheapre choices as well) for at or around $200. You could stop there and use it, your sm57 for snare, and your condensor for an overhead and with careful placement get a better sound in my opinion than with the pg drum pack. You can find small diaphram condensers for $100's a piece (i think a matching pair of kel hm1's go for about $215? and marshall sells cheap decent sounding condensers for about $100) and with a pair of sd condensers and a good kick drum mic (you already have the most popular choice for micing the snare) you would be set up for the most common method of micing drums: pair of stereo overheads, snare and kick miced. You could spend your money on a matched pair of overhead like rhode nt5 ($300-400, which I own and like)and use your sm58(or atm25 for $99) on kick and 57 on snare and eventually replace the 58 with a better kick mic. There are many options and which one is right for you depends on many things, but 2 of them are; how do you want to mike the drums? with 1, 3, 4, 6 or more mics? And are you going to be recording other instruments with the drums. I say this because if your are recording guitar(s), bass, and/or other you are going to need to get (or use from you existing collection) a mic(s) for use with those other instruments.

You say you want to get some good mics for recording drums at $300-400. I don't think the pg drum package fits this criteria.

Depending on how many instruments you are recording a once, how good your "pretty nice condenser" is and whether or not your want a stereo recording of the drums I would say you are at least a good kick drum mic away from having a good drum micing package. My advise is to buy quality and slowly add to it. If you go cheap at least buy something that you can eventually use later on even after you up grade it (i.e overheads. cheap sd condensers can be good "filler" mics). And remember you can get more bang for you buck buying used.

Been there
Wayne

Also. If you buy those same mics out of the package you save money!! Has anyone noticed it?

Bas.

Shure does have a package with a beta 52, and 3 57's with drum clips that looks good and for a good price:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/270263/

I agree I would stay away from the pg package though- If you need a budget package audix fusion is a better deal IMO

I would stay away from the pg package though- If you need a budget package audix fusion is a better deal IMO

I second that. The Audix Fusion 6 pack is the only budget drum pack I would consider. The pack is useable, but once you put the tom mics up against a 57, you'll be disappointed. I'd save up for some mics you won't have to replace (like the shure pack maintiger mentioned).

Wes

Boltino wrote:

I would stay away from the pg package though- If you need a budget package audix fusion is a better deal IMO

I second that. The Audix Fusion 6 pack is the only budget drum pack I would consider. The pack is useable, but once you put the tom mics up against a 57, you'll be disappointed. I'd save up for some mics you won't have to replace (like the shure pack maintiger mentioned).

Wes

I agree- I've used the tom mics in the fusion and while ok you'd do better with 57's

Cool. Thank you everyone for the ideas. I think that I am going to stay away from the complete Shure set. I think that I may try to go ahead and get the Shure pack with the Beta 52 and the 57's. That way I'll bea able to mic all the individual drums (4 of them), the high hat, and use the condenser overhead. Do you all think that I need two overheads to get a solid all around drum sound? Thank you again for all the help. I can't wait to get this stuff so I can start recording.

First of all, don't let your lack of quality mics keep you from recording. The lust for the "if only I had" will doom you to inactivity.

I agree that the PG kit might not give you the sound your looking for, but a well tuned kit and a steady player will make most mics perform well. And if its backing good songwriting thats 95% of the way.

Personally, I would piece together a drum mic collection with what works, instead of buying a package. Start with a nice condenser(or pair), depending on your stereo needs. Oktava 012's are 69.99 each at guitar center right now. I'm far from a rep. Shure SM57's are ok for snare, and an AKG 112 is a good multi-pupose bass mic.

Thats four mics to complete a kit for about $380. Or you could buy th PG kit for $250 and get a way lesser sound.

Do you all think that I need two overheads to get a solid all around drum sound?

Yes, I would go with two overheads (a matched pair of condensers preferably). I usually try to get most of the kit sound from the overheads and use the other mics if I need to add anything. I've had good luck with AT4040s, Shure SM81's, but for a more budget solution, I've heard really good things about the Studio Projects C4s. Good Luck.

Wes

The studio project c4's are a good value- If you get those for OH for $299, plus a 57 for snare for $89 and a AKG D112 for kick for $150-200 you'll have the begginning of a kick ass drum mic collection- later on you can add some tom mics if you so wish. Someone said the GC has oktavas 012 for $69 ea- those are also very good for Oh's- the problem is that you have to spend some time in GC and pick out a pair that resemble each other as the QC leaves something to be desired and they often sound different from each other. If you get a couple good ones though, they are great.

Ok, I just looked at my overhead condenser and it's a Rode NT-1. Do you all think that I should try to snag another so I have a matching pair? Thanks again.

The nt1 has a reputation as being a good budget mic. However, for the same price as a new nt1 you should be able to get a decent pair of small diaphram condensers for overheads. I'd do that and use the nt1 to mic the hi hat or as a room mic. But if you try the nt1 as an overhead and like the sound go for it. I'm not sure how easy it will be to find one that matches the one you have, however.

I'm not sure which one I'll go with as of yet. I truely appreciate all the help and advice from everyone. Thanks again.

Beatballs wrote: I agree that the PG kit might not give you the sound your looking for, but a well tuned kit and a steady player will make most mics perform well.

while i am a believer in piecing together a good, quality set of mics, i also agree with this statement 100%. at the time i was putting together my recording setup about 6 months ago, i simply could not afford to spend the extra money putting together a good set of mics. so i went ahead and purchased the shure pg6 set. since then, i've been more than satisfied with the set, receiving lots of positive feedback from average listeners, musicians, and sound engineers, alike. i use the pg6 set on a 4-piece kit, along with a samson c03 (another cheapie) for a room mic. i have a pretty decent room to record in, with a higher than average ceiling and lots of open space. i've been a drummer for more than 10 years now and can be very picky about how i want things to sound. but the sounds i've been able to attain with these mics leave me with no problems waiting until i can afford a better mic setup. i also use the pg condenser mics to record acoustic guitars, which come out crisp and smooth. here are a bunch of songs that i've used the pg6 set on:

http://madam-im-adam.com/flash-mp3/mp3player.html

all in all, if you're on a really, REALLY tight budget, then i would recommend these mics. otherwise, piece together your own decent set of mics.

with the earth works 3 piece mic drum kit , i decided to add an additional mic to the snare im gonna try with it on the bottom soon . see how much that help out.

handlestash wrote: Ok, I just looked at my overhead condenser and it's a Rode NT-1. Do you all think that I should try to snag another so I have a matching pair? Thanks again.

you have to watch out for the nt1 as they changed capsules somewheres in their manufacturing run and its impossible to match them if you got 2 of them with different capsules. i have a very sweet sounding one from their first run, circa 1998 or so and i bought another one circa 2001-02 that was greatly inferior to the first one. needless to say I got rid of it. I've used the nt1 with good results for HH- that's usually where I put it when I use it.