Shure Beta 52

[bnelly428]

Hey all we've been using a beta for a few shows now, but I've been a little "meh" on the sound we've been getting. The last show we had it dialed in pretty good. Any of you using one that could shed some light on the best placement or certain frequency bumps it could use?

[witesol]

the mic itself and placement might be a bit down the list in terms of importance in getting a good kick sound. the player, the drum, the tuning, the EQ, the system tuning and the system itself are all ahead of which mic placed where..IMO

[Rezrover]

I use a Dayton In-Line XLR Attenuator Pad 10dB along with the pad on the MixWiz to keep the mic's gain under control.

[bnelly428]

 

the mic itself and placement might be a bit down the list in terms of importance in getting a good kick sound. the player, the drum, the tuning, the EQ, the system tuning and the system itself are all ahead of which mic placed where..IMO

 

 

while i agree, these are not issues at the moment, he doesnt play too hard, but not too soft, the drum tuning is fine.

 

I'm not sure how to read the frequency response curves of a mic and what determines the need for an eq boost or cut in a certain frequency.

 

for gear:

 

Presonus studiolive 16.4.2

2 jbl prx518s

2 jbl eon g2

[jasps]

 

while i agree, these are not issues at the moment, he doesnt play too hard, but not too soft, the drum tuning is fine. I'm not sure how to read the frequency response curves of a mic and what determines the need for an eq boost or cut in a certain frequency... .snip

 

Why don't you let your ears decide from gig to gig? I put a Beta52 inside the hole and pointed in towards the beater.

 

FWIW, how the drummer plays the kick is not just a function of dynamics, but how he uses the pedal. You can be sloppy playing a kick drum.

[KF650SB1000]

What type of kick sound are you trying to get?

Big Bottom like a HipHop artist

Click/Boom like a metal drummer

Pop like a modern rock band

 

BTW, I'm not a fan of the Bete52 on drums. When using it alone (on most kits) it does take a good bit of EQing to get right sound/tone. But once you run the Beta91 (or SM91) and the Beta52 together, its much easier to work with.

[agedhorse]

 

Why don't you let your ears decide from gig to gig? I put a Beta52 inside the hole and pointed in towards the beater. FWIW, how the drummer plays the kick is not just a function of dynamics, but how he uses the pedal. You can be sloppy playing a kick drum.

 

 

It also depends on the room and the location of the subs.

 

The ears are a good start for what needs to be eq'd and where.

[bnelly428]

a cross between modern rock and hiphop.

 

right now i;m boosting about 8-10db at 50hz.

 

the past two shows were 1 outside and 1 where there are medians that have solid wood walls underneath that are directly in front of the stage so we loss most of the bass anyway.

 

This friday is a normal room, so we should have better acoustics, but i've been having to boost that much for the last 6 weeks or so.

[stevie j]

a cross between modern rock and hiphop. right now i;m boosting about 8-10db at 50hz. the past two shows were 1 outside and 1 where there are medians that have solid wood walls underneath that are directly in front of the stage so we loss most of the bass anyway. This friday is a normal room, so we should have better acoustics, but i've been having to boost that much for the last 6 weeks or so.

 

What PA are you using? I have never needed to boost bass on a kick drum, esp with a beta 52, +8-10dB of 50Hz is just ridiculous.

 

You may have killed your subs 6 weeks ago possibly at the outside gig

[bnelly428]

What PA are you using? I have never needed to boost bass on a kick drum, esp with a beta 52, +8-10dB of 50Hz is just ridiculous. You may have killed your subs 6 weeks ago possibly at the outside gig

 

Presonus studiolive 16.4.2

2 jbl prx518s

2 jbl eon g2

 

 

The subs work fine, a DI'd bass comes through with no problem whatsoever

 

Also the outside gig was this past friday, but this issue has been going on for a bit longer.

[bnelly428]

i guess it's entirely possible there is something on that one channel that i programmed that is interferring with the sound? I'll have to look at it tonight, I know there is phase on every channel, but thats one of the first things I check.

[RoadRanger]

right now i;m boosting about 8-10db at 50hz.

The kick's fundamental is up around 80-100hz - boosting below that just eats subs. Cutting somewhere around 300-500hz usually brings out the fundamental enough that you don't have to boost it.

[Coaster]

 

The kick's fundamental is up around 80-100hz - boosting below that just eats subs. Cutting somewhere around 300-500hz usually brings out the fundamental enough that you don't have to boost it.

 

 

not always. a lot of them i come across are not tuned for 80hz, but far lower. seems to be a trend to have the floppy kick. may or may not have to do with "missing fundamental"

[bnelly428]

RR and Coaster, I'll have to play around with the EQ more and see what's going on. It's tough to do 20min before a show. Thanks for both your inputs.

[Rezrover]

I usually dial the kick in around 70hz on the ol' MixWiz.

[Coaster]

i have had the odd kick come through that for some ungodly reason need a severe boost at below 50hz, so i know what he's talking about. its not good practice and you should have a limiter involved.

 

but i can count the times i have had to do this on one hand. usually its more typical to have a small bump at 60 to 90.

 

specific to the B52, it may need a broad dip around 150-250 or even higher.

[RoadRanger]

not always. a lot of them i come across are not tuned for 80hz, but far lower. seems to be a trend to have the floppy kick. may or may not have to do with "missing fundamental"

Those sound like $#!^ to me but I guess that's what triggers are for .

[bnelly428]

would a combination of cutting at 150-250 on the channel strip then a boost at 70-90 on a graphic (main outs) be sufficient? or what that start to add all types of mud at the bottom of every channel? ( i do have hpf on almost all other channels)

[Craig Vecchione]

Do all your EQ on the channel or an inserted EQ on the channel. There's almost no chance that a global EQ change will sound good.

[bnelly428]

 

Do all your EQ on the channel or an inserted EQ on the channel. There's almost no chance that a global EQ change will sound good.

 

 

sounds good. wasnt sure.

[RoadRanger]

would a combination of cutting at 150-250 on the channel strip then a boost at 70-90 on a graphic (main outs) be sufficient? or what that start to add all types of mud at the bottom of every channel? ( i do have hpf on almost all other channels)

The rest of the guys here will probably me but when I'm running out of subs and need more kick I engage the HPF and turn the "low" on that channel up about 6db - this forms a nice boost at ~80 hz that gets you quite a bit more ""chest thump" for your limited watts.

[Coaster]

did bnelly say what mixer he is using? i say if you have the typical LS, HS, 2 sweeps and cant get usable results it then go after the drum.

[bnelly428]

presonus studio live 16.4.2

[mshifflett]

This is a bit off topic, but how does the Beta 52 compare to something like an Audix D6?

[bnelly428]

our previous drummer used the d6, personally i liked a d2 on kick better than the d6, however the drum wasnt tuned the best so... :shrug: