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xX5thQuarterXx 1 January 2007

So right now i have a PDP 6 piece LX series kit. It sounds decent right now with a Audix Kick mic and a Shure sm58 overhead. But i need more.

I was thinking about these for now.

Kick- AKG D 112

Snare- Sm57

But what i want to know is do i need to mic all 4 of my toms or could i get away with using a good overhead?

Comments

Scoobie Mon, 01/01/2007 - 11:41

I never have been a fan of the drum mic kits. I'm sure there are some good ones, but I have never used one that I like. Shure has a drum mic kit that looks good, not sure what it's called thought.

Far as what mic's I would use, that depends on if it was a live or studio recording. Good sounding room or just an OK sounding room. You didn't say what kind of a recording you are going to be doing. That would be a big factor in what mic's I would use.

In a live setting I always mic the whole kit.
In the Studio I "have" used just three mic's(2 overheads and a kick) and was very pleased with the recording..................YMMV

So I guess I'm saying you can get by with just some good overhead mic's.

Shure SM81's are good overhead mic's.

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

xX5thQuarterXx Mon, 01/01/2007 - 12:06

Srry i forgot to mention all of that.

The room is just a decent house hold room, Its pretty long and has no sound proofing. (it used to be an old master bedroom before i moved in)

Im recording into a Firpod with Cubecase LE. So it IS a studio recording, i wont be doing any live recording.

I am playing rock music. No jazz or anything like that so i want a pretty punchy sound. I really like the new Nickelback cd. I know i wont get close to that but thats just an idea of what im looking for.

Hey Bevisjem, i tried to google the Audix DP7 and nothing came up. Not even at the guitarcenter site either.

Scoobie, any mic sets you would recommend? Ill look into the SM81's, i really like shure mics.

xX5thQuarterXx Tue, 01/02/2007 - 09:28

Well right now i have a Audix Fusion 7 Pack. Out of 7 mic's im only using one becasue they just simply my my nice kit sound bad. So Audix is not very high on my want to buy list.

Even if the Audix Dp5a is as good as you say they are. Wouldnt i be better off with a a AKG D 112, mabye an Sm57 on snare and a good overhead or two?

If you like i could probablly do some recordings.

Scoobie Tue, 01/02/2007 - 15:06

I would think that the D112 would be better than the kick drum mic in the fusion pack, JMHO. I like the EV RE20 or the Seenheiser MD421 on kick, either one will work fine.

You never have said what your budget is...........
It can get very expensive real quick!

I usally use in the studio.........
SM81-----Overheads
RE20-----Kick
57--------Snare
421------Tom's

Thats usally my starting point. I might try somthing eles "IF" thats not working.

Get youself the SM81's for OH's, you want be disappointed.
With a 57 on snare and the D112 on kick you should be able to get a real good drum recording.

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

Jeremy Tue, 01/02/2007 - 15:55

You buy Audix's cheap mics, and you are disappointed. Dont judge the brand by your decision to go cheap. You could just as easily gotten the same dogs going with audio technica, or shure. The DP5a kit comes with an I5, which slays an sm57 for nearly every application I have ever used, and not to mention the D6 which is a VERY GOOD kick drum mic. 500 bucks with this is a cant go wrong move, it is a very safe bet. you would just need some good overheads SM81's , oktava mk012, rode nt5'5s, I even use the akg c1000s' and get good results.

Davedog Sun, 01/07/2007 - 15:05

The Audix 'Fusion' series is the budget setup. They have a somewhat limited dynamic range and really arent any better than all the rest of the 'budget' mic packs. These should NOT be confused with the Audix 'D' series drum mics. These things sound as good as ANY other mics one might choose to mic a drum kit with. They are, however, subject to the same restrictions that all other mics are....that is capturing a good sound to begin with. If the source is having tonal problems, then nothing you can do will save it. Nothing. Unless you want to do replacement surgery....in which case save your money on the drum kit and get some cardboard boxes to beat out a tempo on.

You have a good sounding kit? Then you cannot go wrong with most of the suggestions put forth. However, if your budget is 500 to 600 then you owe it to yourself to investigate the Audix D series package as well as the Sennheiser kit or the Shure. I'm not talking the entry level kits . You apparently have one of those already.

Another thing to consider is exactly what you've been talking about and which has been suggested by others. That is getting specific mics to do specific jobs. This is probably the best combination and also will have the most versatility in recording other noises from other sources. It will, however, cost you more.

As for the specific mics..............

Kik drums...rock....AKG D112... Audio Technica ATM25, ATM250DE....Shure Beta 52.....Sennheiser e902,MD421,MD409....Audix D4,D6....Electrovoice RE20 ....Yamaha SubKick

Snare...Shure SM57...Audix i5,D2,D4....Neumann KM184...

Overs...Shure SM81....AKG C414, C451....Neumann U87....Audio Technica AT4051,4041,3031...Studio Projects C4....Royer R122,SF12...Audix ADX-51,SCX-1

Toms are very subjective.What works for one might not work for others. Shure SM57's will work a large percentage of the time and Sennheiser MD421's will always reproduce what they're being aimed at. Audix 'D' series are somwhere between these two and are easier to place.

For rock work, my opinion is you want the impact of the toms with close micing and the size of the kit to be determined by room mics.

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