Drum Mike Fundamentals

Factual Questions
1

When I needed info on buying the right bass amp, the SDMB came through for me.

Now the drummer in my band is investigating getting a set of drum mikes. Our volume has been limited at the gigs we play by the amount of sound he can make with his unmiked set. Being the cheapskate I am, I suggested he just grab some of the crappy dynamic mikes we have lying around, put them next around his set, plug in and woo hoo! But no, he wants actual drum mikes for decent sound. Crazy, I know.

His problem is finding useful advice. The salesman he talks to, as well as our sound engineer say he’d be nuts to spend less than $2500 on a set of mikes. The online drum forums he’s found are populated by gearheads focused entirely on building a drum set they can brag about, and tell him in absolutist statements that he needs to trash and rebuild his entire drum set from the ground up before he even thinks about mikes. (Apparently he’s frequently told in these places that he needs to have two bass drums. WTF?)

Since we play about one gig a month, and so far haven’t needed anything bigger than my $1k PA system to push the sound we need, all of this seems excessive. At the same time, he wonders if getting a $300 set of mikes would only frustrate him.

Background: He, unlike me, is an accomplished jazz musician with an ear for subtleties. Our music is a blend of funk/jazz/folk. He may want to use these mikes for recording, but isn’t looking for Supreme Recording Quality - we can always rent if we want to do that. He just wants something that will suit his needs, scale big enough to play clubs if we go that high, and won’t frustrate him. Anybody have knowledge on this who can give us a primer?

  • What mikes will he need? One for Bass drum, one for snare, etc etc…
  • Any recommended combinations or products?
  • If you’ve been down this path, what pitfalls did you fall into that we can avoid?
  • any tips, trick, war stories?

Thanks in advance!

2

No matter what you hear, my drummer’s been very successful with:

-a nice, deep bass drum mic (other guys can give you brands, I just want to give you the bare bones here). Spend the most money on this if you’re recording. Any venue that mics drums should have a kick mic on hand.
-A single mic for the snare.
-One mic for the highhat/ride, depending on his style.

In my experience, most larger venues (clubs & bars included) will have a bass mic, bare minimum, and maybe also have the above mics. If you have your own, you can be more exacting, finding the sweet spots on your man’s drums. You can always move an extra to the floor tom (probably priority 4).

As for the crash cymbols, forget it. Unneccessary waste of money, IMO.

I think, in the end, you can get away with only a handful. I’m not that knowledgable about brands, as all my mics were a lucky-situation-hand-me-down and I’ve paid little attention after this.

Good luck!
(and feel free to send me a link; i always crave new music)

3

I might be of assistance to you in that I have been in quite a few bands and have some recording experience.

First of all let me state that sound reproduction, like anything perceived, is highly subjective. You should go out and buy the best mics that you like not what I or anyone else like. But sometimes young musicians do not want to hear this and want a shortcut because they are always in such a rush. Remember that when considering a drum mic, you want to make sure that it can handle HIGH SPLs!

Here it is:

Bass Drum: For live reproduction I would go with the AKG D-112 . I have a Shure Beta (I forget the model) but it has served my drummer well for some years. Shures are very sturdy to say the least (not that the AKG isn’t) but I think that the well rounded sound of the AKG is superior to the Shure in this instance. For studio purposes, I would say that this is a bit tricky. Many studio engineers like all sorts of mics. Some even suggest getting your hands on this “licensed from Crown” Radio Shack PZM boundary mic and over drive it by modifying the circuit with a 9 volt battery. This goes to show that studio sound is 10 times as involved as live sound is but the AKG mic is no slouch there either.

Snare Drum: I like to stick with old tried and true. The Shure SM-57 is the best in this application as far as the best all around application is concerned. You can use it as a vocal mic or guitar cab mic. Every artist who gigs and records should have at least one if not 4 of these. You could record a whole album with these babies and many of the greatest albums in music have been. In the studio, this mic is usually used for the snare as well, some engineers mic both the top and bottom of the drum.

For Toms: Toms, I have found tricky. In clubs (I have played pretty much every famous Hollywood club) I have seen, SM-57s, SM-58s, and various other live reinforcement mic packs. I have been told that the best mic for this job as far as live and studio applications are concerned is to use the Sennheiser MD421-II. This would be a good setup if you could produce large sums of money from your ass. These are very expensive dynamic mics.

Overhead Mics: It is often suggested that the best mics for this application are two small diaphragm condenser microphones setup above the drum miking either side. The Shure SM-81 is often used but the overhead mic is not as important as a snare or bass mic. Cymbals cut through the mix live and as long as the vocalist is miked, there shouldn’t be a problem. However, a good pair of condenser mics is good to have. In a recording situation, an overhead mic is a necessity because cymbal decay is very hard to get out of a track and the other mics can be noise-gated to remove it. This leaves you with no cymbals and the overhead would be useful. Again, if you win the Lotto, you can afford to mic everything with the Neumann U-87 , but alas we all are not.

The pitfalls of this are very easy to understand. Do not think that getting millions of dollars in equipment will get you signed or whatever. This is the biggest pitfall. There is a 10 billion dollar industry that revolves around taking advantage of the dreams of musicians. You need to get the best bang for your buck and understand that production level for a demo means little compared with a unique sound, good musicians, and good song writing.

4

Thanks, **Birdmonster ** and Highwayman! I’ll pass this info on.

I totally agree with you, Highwayman, that this industry is about taking advantage of people’s dreams. That’s part of why I’m such a relentless cheapskate when it comes to gear. I know that I frequently save money by buying the more expensive better quality gear over the cheapest stuff on the rack, but I still pinch the nickels hard enough to make them bleed. Music is a hobby, nothing more. Convincing yourself that you’ll be a millionaire through your music is the same as convincing yourself you’ll be a millionaire through playing craps. Bad thinking. I’m just about having fun, and fortunately, so is my drummer friend. He’s decided he’ll have a lot more fun if he’s louder, though :smiley: (ain’t that always the way?)