SM57's sound great on everything...

they should work fine. you may need to eq the lows up a tad.

57's sound OK on everything...not great. I have used them on toms with ok results. EQ is usually a pretty big factor in my resulting sound though. My rule of thumb is if you want to put a 57 on something, but want it to sound good, use a 421 instead, but in a pinch the five-sevens will work just fine for you.

Neil

IMO they sound too thin/cold (even plasticky) on toms. They would NOT be my frist choice for toms UNLESS I was looking for that type of sound.

I don't care to much for the 57 on tom's either. In a live setting I use the Seenheiser e604's, or e904's(<~~have to borrow these from a friend)
Both will work..........e904's are better. In the mix the Overheads usally have enough tom's in them.

When tracking drums I will use my 421's!

Peace...............Scoobie

We just ordered some e904's.
Been using 57's and deffinately haven't been unhappy with them, but I know I can get better.
Can't afford 421's at the moment, so I think the 904's will be a good compromise.
Plus I use an e901 in the kick, an e905 on the snare top and e914's on snare bottom and hats. So it kinda rounds out the set LOL.

shoot..... l m hearing so many good things about this ..421's

what about on amp's can they handle amplifiers as good as an sm 5 7 ?
because im actually thinking of trading in my 2 57's for a pair of four twenty ones for my dynamics.. tell me please. is this a reasonably Sound ... idea??

I love 421's on guitar cabs, bass cabs, toms, Snare drum, vocals...sometimes, saxaphone... On the guitar cab, it works great WITH a 57 or something a little pinched sounding mixed together. I wouldn't trade. Just save up and have both.

Neil

Deffinately keep the 57s. There are always uses for them. Even though there are usually better options, they will always give you a more than usable result.

Definitely keep the 57's when you get the 421's. There are instances where the 421 MIGHT sound better, but the 57 will be a better choice because it will break your heart to see a 421 get the crap smacked out of it by an errant drumstick. They don't seem to take to that kind of brutality like a 57 can. But they do sound fat on toms as long as you're dealing with a pro drummer with good stick control....and who won't lie to you and SAY that mic isn't in the way, and then bashes it like he's in the World Series, and then leaves the studio with a sneer on his face because he's just stolen your girlfriend, drunk all your beer, broken that vintage Camco kick pedal beyond repair, and wrecked your Miata taking off with said girlfriend....NO, the Moon doesn't have issues...

Now I look stupid for saying 57's are great.

Of course 421's sound amazing, but there is a bit of a price difference.

Personally, I'm a Sennheiser freak.

But... stick an RE-20 up next to it and the race is on.

Djrr3k:
ALL of those mics you listed are great dynamics. I am an RE-20, fan, too. You do not look stupid because of supporting the 57. Maybe because your fly is open and there's toilet paper stuck to your Nikes, but not because of what you said about the 57...

yayyy.. now on to the re-20's ! they have entered the race!!! woohoooo...

...

yea im definatly getting an re20 before i get a 421 . how could i have forgotten them.

or maybe ill buy two 421's first. THEN the re20 for grimey vocals and extra oomph on my open back 1x12 fender amp? ( i dont like just recording a 1/2 stack by itself.)

well i think the answer lies within the bottom of this merlot bottle. :0 )

oh yes the RE-20...I have one of those too...It rocks on vocals...more so than the 421 which sounds kinda boomy and less detailed as the RE-20, but for toms the 421 rocks it. Bass cabs... re20. You need all these mics.

Neil

I love 421's on all of the drums! Snare, Tom's and kick. Heck, I even have used them as overheads. Too bad I don't have enough of them. But, if I did..... OK, maybe not underneath the snare but that's all! Well... Maybe? RE20 not aggressive enough for me on drums, sometimes on kick. I almost puked when I saw an engineer once put a U47 FET inside a bass drum close to the batter! Of course it wasn't his.

Where's my diaphragm???
Ms. Remy Ann David

I loves me a TLM-170 in the kick. a fet 47 I'd be a bit scared.

Thanks for all of the replies. 'Twas very informational.

djrr3k, that's just as cruel.

Poor little microphone
Ms. Remy Ann David

A U47 fet on kick is the shizitts...Just not INSIDE the drum.....!!! Its always been used as an enhancement kind thingy.. I like the Studio Projects B3 used in the same way...Down-low out in front of the kick with a mic inside that does all those spl's and gets that special clik of the impact. ATM25 sounds great for this as do several others.

Whatever you do....TUNE THAT THING RIGHT...k?

Never feel stupid for using mics in new or interesting ways. If they work for you, that is totally fine. You can always recommend 57s, because you can be certain they wont do it poorly. Me personally, I don’t own any 421s, and if I were to buy any, because of their typical uses, I’d probably need three, and they’d not really earn their keep, as their primary jobs are done well enough by other mics. 
 

One thing I do know is that out of all the instruments I record, drums are the poorest in terms of sound. Of course some drummers really know their kits and agonise over the extra brightness from the Peruvian Rosewood quarter sawn solid shells over the laminated Venezuelan Poplar used by Pearl in the sunny month of June in 1963, but the majority of kits I hear are abused, rattle, boing, honk and boom. Agonising is all about the quantity of gaffer tape it needs to prevent the snare falling off! 
 

It never occurred to me to try ribbons as overheads until I saw Alan Parsons do it, in my head overheads were condensers for the top end. I started experimenting and now have Beyer M201 as my overhead mic of choice because I like the sound it captures. I’m using cheap clip on dynamics for Tom’s at the moment live, and they only have one job, capture a bong, and they do it fine. I can have a deep bong, a bright and cutting bong, or anything else. They don’t need stands and don’t get in the way as much as 57s. Sound wise, I don’t think a tom is a nice sound needing special treatment from wonderful mics unless maybe totally undimmed for effect. I’m sure drummers would angrily disagree, but swapping and tweaking on an acoustic guitar makes sense, but one mic on one drum that goes bong? 
 

EDIT bums. Just realised I replied to a long dead topic. I’m sure I tapped recent comments. Sorry.

We will need to get used to the new forum layout ! ;) 

As for using SM57 on toms.. it would work great on higher toms.. but will be missing some low frequencies on floor toms. SM57 have a good focus on mids, that's why they work so good on electric guitar cab and snare drums. 

At the same price of the 57 but giving wider frequency capture and working great on guitar cabs, the Sennheiser e609 would be a great alternative.. But I'm not sure the OP is still looking for an answer.. ;)