No hole in the kick

[ned911]

Just curious what you do when a drummer shows up with no hole in the kick for mic placement. Make them cut a hole or mic the kick in some other fashion, if so how.

[prosigna]

I had a drummer show up at our church without a hole in the kick one night. The only kick mic I had with me was a Shure SM-91. I ended up using the an Audix D-3. The system had no subs, it worked as well as could be expected. You could not here the drums anyway. This band had 3 electric guitarists each with a 100-watt all-tube Marshall halfstack cranked. The sanctuary is about 75 x 100 with all red brick walls.

 

It was not pretty.

[Craig Vecchione]

Just curious what you do when a drummer shows up with no hole in the kick for mic placement. Make them cut a hole or mic the kick in some other fashion, if so how.

 

 

If you value your life, please don't cut a hole in the drummer's kick. Or ask to. You can still mic the resonant head and the beater. If the drum is tuned and sounds good, there shouldn't be a problem. Of course, that's a big "IF".

[LowandLoudx97]

i've never really had a big issue getting great kick sounds with or without a port.... I tend to compress the intial Transient differently if the kick isn't ported. There is no set it and forget it setting that I could say would work, its really specific to the drum, room, tuning, and etc. Using compression I can get more attack and or slap from the kick, then i will eq and gate from there. A Good Mic and proper placement is of course most important though. I actually really like the Beta 52 for kicks without ports.

[BBDrums]

The best thing I feel is to have an internal mic for the slappy punch, and another right next to the resonating side without a hole. If there is a hole in the resonating side it looses some of the ability to resonate. Its like an air leak in a sub, right?

 

Drummers point of view.

[Craig Vecchione]

The best thing I feel is to have an internal mic for the slappy punch, and another right next to the resonating side without a hole. If there is a hole in the resonating side it looses some of the ability to resonate. Its like an air leak in a sub, right? Drummers point of view.

 

The overwhelming majority of subs are vented:D

[Mogwix]

Its like an air leak in a sub, right?

Well 90% of subwoofers are ported

 

 

I'll put a kick mic on the reso head, pointing directly at the head about 4" from the rim. Then I'll put an SM57 pointing at the beater. I use the reso mic for the thump and woof and the 57 for the attack and definition.

 

EDIT: Dang.. craig got it first :l

[ATOMICDOG1]

 

I'll put a kick mic on the reso head, pointing directly at the head about 4" from the rim. Then I'll put an SM57 pointing at the beater. I use the reso mic for the thump and woof and the 57 for the attack and definition. :l

 

 

Yup +1 (assuming that you mean in from the rim about 4") I prefer to mic pretty close, usually about 2" from the head but not quite at a 90 degree angle. The 57 I usually place at a 45 degree angle pointed just off of where the beater hits about 10 inches away from the beater and 3" away from the rim.

 

I'd also add that a ported kick projects better than a closed head, and that there is less chance of low end feed back thru the kick mic because of the resonant head resonating with bass guitar and low keyboard frequencies on a loud stage. Putting the kick mic inside the drum allows better isolation as well meaning that we have to gate the drum less since we are getting less other noise thru it. What drummers often fail to realize is that their drums sound a lot different to them than to people on the other side of the kit.

[Mogwix]

 

Yup +1 (assuming that you mean in from the rim about 4") I prefer to mic pretty close, usually about 2" from the head but not quite at a 90 degree angle. The 57 I usually place at a 45 degree angle pointed just off of where the beater hits about 10 inches away from the beater and 3" away from the rim.

 

Yeah, pretty much exact same, except I've got the 57 about 6 inches away, and on a sharper angle (closer to parallel with the batter head) to stay out of the way of the drummer.

[BBDrums]

What drummers often fail to realize is that their drums sound a lot different to them than to people on the other side of the kit.

 

 

We relize it, but we dont' (or at least I don't) want the drums to sound any different. What I hear behind the kit is what I want the crowd to hear. Thats why I'm hear, to figure out how.

 

 

Oh, and research the tuba 24 theory.

[ncmts]

The problem I have seen, with mic'ing kick drums without a port, is once in awhile the drum will inch forward and make contact with the mic...then all H##l breaks loose. In this situation, the movement of the drum has to be monitored.

[Jim Dooley]

 

Just curious what you do when a drummer shows up with no hole in the kick for mic placement. Make them cut a hole or mic the kick in some other fashion, if so how.

 

 

If you place the mic on the beater head pointing at the beater about 3 inches away you

[witesol]

 

You could not here the drums anyway. This band had 3 electric guitarists each with a 100-watt all-tube Marshall halfstack cranked. The sanctuary is about 75 x 100 with all red brick walls. It was not pretty.

 

 

Whew! If you're mic'ing drums in this size untreated room you've probably got problems anyways. I find it difficult( probably more like impossible) to not say something to the band about their volume in this kind of scenario, regardless of who it is...in a church no less!

 

 

back to topic: the only problem I've encountered with no-hole front head kits is sometimes the drummer doesn't know how to tune the drums and/or there is no ring control often the front head will ring out. I have a little black piece of Fleece material that I'll sometimes roll up and lay at the bottom of the front head in between the mic stand and head for a little damping, if needed. While it's easy in the studio to record a non-hole set, sometimes live is a different animal. Gates can be a big help too. I have found that the Beta 52 works better than a D112, ATM25 is a good choice as well as a regular 'ol SM57

[Phil Clark]

 

The problem I have seen, with mic'ing kick drums without a port, is once in awhile the drum will inch forward and make contact with the mic...then all H##l breaks loose. In this situation, the movement of the drum has to be monitored.

 

 

IMHO, that is something you would have to watch for anyway, even with a hole.

[tony k]

I like to cheat.

 

SM57 into an Alesis DM4=whatever you, the drummer or the crowd wants to hear.

 

Did I mention I like to cheat?

tony

[coyote-1]

BD heads are not usually ported for miking purposes - they are ported for sound & playability purposes. A BD with no front port makes beater rebound control more difficult. But too big a port kills the resonance of the drum.

 

I have no ports and no muffling. I mic my bassdrums from the front, a couple inches in front of the drumhead. They sound like cannons. If a drummer uses a carpet and deploys the BD spikes properly, those bassdrums WILL NOT move. So there should never be a concern about BD creep taking the drum into contact with the mic.

[boomerweps]

 

BD heads are not usually ported for miking purposes - they are ported for sound & playability purposes.

 

 

Actually, IMHO bass drum resonant heads get ported for FASHION. Copying others, using colored HolZ, ect. A decently headed & tuned bass drum doesn't need a port. But they do come in handy for micing ;>)

 

Boomerweps