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Hey guys, I'm about to enter the studio to record drums for my record. The thing is that the studio doesn't have the kickdrum mics that I'm looking for, and I couldn't find anyone to rent me a Shure Beta52. But some guy offered me a mic of the brand I guess it's K&K. the model is B07. .is it a good option?.

Thanks in advance :D

Comments

anonymous Wed, 02/09/2005 - 22:02

Well, my drumer told me that he knows for a long time that that you can´t go wrong with the Beta52.....I live in Costa Rica and the guys who rent mics don´t have a wide stock of mic to chose, the stores are selling it but I don´t have the money to buy it just yet, and I enter the studio in a week.

Leaving the Shure on the side, someone offered me the AKG B112 or D112, can´t remember, any comments on that one?

thanks

KurtFoster Wed, 02/09/2005 - 22:26

That's my favorite ..

The Beta 52 has a passive network in it that eqs the tone to work well on lo freq apps ...

The D112 doesn't have to do that because the diaphragm is already good for the application .. and as such, IMO that's better.. the old "less is more" approach.

Anyhow the D112 should work fine for what you need it for and when you're finished with the drums you can use it for guitar and bass amps as well on some vocals (believe it or not).

anonymous Thu, 02/10/2005 - 08:11

I agree Kurt, the D112 is a great mic, however, the Beta 52 seems to work better live. I guess I get a little spoiled having a U47fet to throw on just about every kick drum I record. But I have never gotten an amazing kick sound using just one mic, so thats my advice to you Frotese. Try a Sennheiser MD421 inside the kick and the D112 outside the hole maybe an inch. Or maybe one of the rental companies has a D12 (the older version) which sounds great too. You'll have to eq the 421 a bit in the mid-low freq's. 5kHz is where you will find the "click" if you are looking for it and its also where you can get rid of it.

side note: Where in Costa Rica are you located?? I recently traveled down the on the east coast and in the cloud forrests. What an amazing place, EVERYONE should visit it at least 3 times! It made me wanna put all of my gear in road cases and get out of this Bush farce... I digress!

anonymous Thu, 02/10/2005 - 08:25

Thanx for the info.....we actually are planning to mic the kick with 3 mics, one for the beater, one for the wood and we plan to use a woofer kickdrum in front of the thing to get the whole spectrum of sounds and mix them at will......any suggestions on that? sorry to ask so much but I´m a real amateur in micing drums :oops:

Odds: I live in San Pedro, which is a city about 10 minutes from San José, kinda the city where all the places to hang out are! 8) :D

anonymous Thu, 02/10/2005 - 14:36

First off, what type of Music are you recording? Second, by Woofer kickdrum, do you mean a Yamaha Sub kick?

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/ModelSeriesDetail/0,6373,CNTID%253D25075%2526CTID%253D217200,00.html

Also, are you doing the engineering, or is there gonna be an engineer there. There are a few things to worry about using multiple mics, but a seasoned engineer will know. I usually don't mic the beater because i find I get more feet shuffling/pedal squeeks etc. If you are micing the beater to get the clicking of the beater head as I mentioned before a 421 inside the kick facing the beater and a slight raise at 5000Hz will give you that without squeeks and other noise. So answer those questions and I will help you more.

p.s- is there a website for the studio you will be working at? I am intrigued to hear what the studio and music scene is like down there.

anonymous Thu, 02/10/2005 - 15:01

Well, the type of music is kind of progresive rock-metal with a sort of electronic influence, so I´ll have this kinda drum and bass rhythms from time to time. I like a kick were you can feel the hit and also a deep sound, my inspiration for this is Mike Mangini´s kick sound on the Mullmuzler 2 cd. The buffer is something I saw in a video with one of my favorite drumers: Billy Ward, in which he puts a smaller kick drum in front of the principal to get a wider and lower sound. We have tried this before with incredible results.
Anyway, there will be an engineer, and by problems you mean fase cancellations?....if is that I think he´ll be aware.....we´ll see :D
Ah, I forgot, and I don´t think we´ll have problems with capturing the sounds of the pedals, cause the drummer has this Pearl Eliminator pedals that don´t use a chain but a ribbon of some sort of plastic.....but I´ll probaly try what you suggested!

Thanx.....ah the studio I´m recording is kinda small so no web page...but let me look for a link to a big studio I know :D

anonymous Thu, 02/10/2005 - 15:59

Ah yes, DW has an extender for their kick drums for the same effect. I have only heard them live, Chicago and Earth Wind And Fire are using them. But i can't imagine paying the price for them when the method you speak of probably works just as well using another kick drum. I will most certainly try it now!!! I would try putting the D112 into the second drum a 421 inside the one being kicked, and a condenser like a AKG C414 like 3 feet infront of the second kick. Then enclose the whole thing in thick packing blankets and make a sort of cannon barrel, or a cave covering all of the kick drums and mics. This will give better seperation from the rest of the drumset.

anonymous Sat, 02/12/2005 - 22:35

OddsAre wrote: Ah yes, DW has an extender for their kick drums for the same effect. I have only heard them live, Chicago and Earth Wind And Fire are using them. But i can't imagine paying the price for them when the method you speak of probably works just as well using another kick drum. I will most certainly try it now!!! I would try putting the D112 into the second drum a 421 inside the one being kicked, and a condenser like a AKG C414 like 3 feet infront of the second kick. Then enclose the whole thing in thick packing blankets and make a sort of cannon barrel, or a cave covering all of the kick drums and mics. This will give better seperation from the rest of the drumset.

So when using the two kicks, are the heads off or on the second kick?

anonymous Sun, 02/13/2005 - 19:29

i just recorded some drums today so i figured i'd throw in my experience. in the past, a good kick sound has been hard for me to come by. after plenty or reading and a LONG break since i last recorded a set, i'm pretty happy with what i tracked today.

the kick had both heads on but there were two holes in the front. i maneuvered an SM57 inside of the drum and up toward where the beater hits the head, maybe 4 inches away. then i put a u87 (in omni) just inside of the other hole until only the capsule portion of the mic was inside. the combition worked nicely for me.