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Drum Mic help


Boagarella

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Hi I'm new to drum mic-ing and would love some help.

 

I've seen samson Q mics reasonably priced and would like to know want people think of them. (my main question)

 

Also I might be able to get a Shure sm57 from a friend for my snare (for a price I have to argue about).

 

I'm hoping to get a mic package to make it cheaper for me... Therefore want suggestions of good (enough for live work regularly which'll sound good) mic sets which won't break the bank.

 

Thank you for any/all help

 

Boagarella

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Originally posted by Boagarella

Hi I'm new to drum mic-ing and would love some help.


I've seen samson Q mics reasonably priced and would like to know want people think of them. (my main question)


Also I might be able to get a Shure sm57 from a friend for my snare (for a price I have to argue about).


I'm hoping to get a mic package to make it cheaper for me... Therefore want suggestions of good (enough for live work regularly which'll sound good) mic sets which won't break the bank.


Thank you for any/all help


Boagarella

 

 

I just joined a new band and these guys play out A LOT. Myself, I'm looking at the Shure PG package for my new sound requirements. It only comes with 3 snare/tom mics, but if you get that 57, you'll be able to independently mic a 5 piece. If not, you could always use one mic for two toms. The other nice thing is that it has two PG81's for doing overheads on the cymbals. If money wasn't an object, I'd get the SM57/Beta 52 package that they offer. But that only has 3 57's and the 52. You'd still have to by PG81's for the overheads (SM81's are like 350 bucks each!).

 

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=031017062256065202033251522089/g=home/search/detail/base_id/60359

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You don't need overheads live, unless you are playing places that hold at least 1,000 people. Cymbals cut through a PA system big time....even a 12" splash can cut through the sound of the PA-which is pretty amazing.

 

 

What I would suggest is that you get ATM Pro-25's for the drums.

They are $80 each at Musician's Friend.

These mic's are Hypercardioid, and what that means is that you can get away without having to use noise gates on the toms, because they only really pick up straight out the end of the drum.

 

They also work good on the snare, and the kick drum (which is what they are really designed for).

 

For overheads & Hi-hats, I would suggest using MXL (Marshall) 603's....I have them and they are killer....actually, these are killer on Toms and snare as well.....they have a nice crisp sound when your roll out the midrange about 6 db's (centered around 600 hz to 750 hz.)

 

For Kick, I'm using D112's mounted inside each kick, but I have also used the Pro-25's, which give a more focused sound - and I have also used a Pro-25 on the mallet spots, with a D112 out in front of each kickdrum.

 

 

Stay away from the Samson mic's - they are pretty much junk.

 

SM57's are good all around as well, but given the choice, I personally would buy the Pro-25's....and look around online, because sometimes you can get the Pro-25's in what is called "Bulk Pac" sales, where you don't get the microphone carrying case with it-but you get the mic for as low as $50 new!

That's what I did.

 

8th Street Music in New York had a sale on them online for $50 each...man I wish I had bought a dozen more of the things, because they sound great on just about everything. I've used them for guitar amps, and I had to literally almost fight my lead singer to get one of mine back, because he loved the thing for vocals...there was virtually no feedback because of it's pickup pattern...and he loved the tone of the mic as well.

 

 

 

Tim

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I own the beta52/sm57 package. I owned a few 57's before I bought the kit and I had been pleased with their performance. However, shortly after I got the kit, I started having problems with the grills on the old 57's resonating with whatever they where attached to (cymbal stands, drums, etc) and it made aweful noise in the PA. It wasn't long before all of them seemed to be giving me grief. I probably have 5 or 6 57's and only 3 of them give me good results right now.

 

I found a fix on a shure forum involving some duco cement and a toothpick that I haven't tried yet. In the meantime, I gave up on 57's and moved on to something that I am loving...the Sennheiser e604. What a nice mic. It is compact and weighs about the same as a mic clip. And you can beat the crap out of them. The seem to perform just as well as the 57's.

 

The 57 may be an industry standard, buck it sucks in my book. They are probably fine on a mic stand, just don't attach them to anything that vibrates, like a drum.

 

The Beta 52, however, is great. It is my first and only bass drum mic, so I cannot comment on how it compares to other bass mics. There was a pretty sweet deal on ebay for awhile that got you 3 e604's and sennheiser's bass drum mic (e602). I don't recall the price. I think it was around $300.

 

That's my $.02...Good luck.

 

KM

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Originally posted by kmmurdog


The 57 may be an industry standard, buck it sucks in my book. They are probably fine on a mic stand, just don't attach them to anything that vibrates, like a drum.


KM

 

 

Man, I agree completely.

 

I have ONE SM-57, and I use it to drive nails into drumrisers..

They make GREAT hammers! :D:D

 

 

 

Tim

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As for the Samson Mics, there is a review of them in this months Modern Drummer magazine (has Morgan Rose from Sevendust on the cover).

 

Also, one of the clubs my band plays at regularly uses them so I will offer my opinion: As for sound quality they have been good at this place for me. But I will add that they have a good sound guy and I know how to make my drums sound good. In less qualified hands results will vary. (which is true of any set of mics) The only complaint I had with the Samson mics was the positioning of them. With the mounts they have you don't have too many options of where to position the mic on the drum.

 

As for the SM57, if you can get it cheap enough there's no reason not to get it. In my opinion they sound good on just about any snare. And they also work great for vocals and guitars also and you never know what you may need to mic in the future.

 

If you are looking at pre-packs, I would suggest Audio-Technica. I have a set of 4 mics from them that is pretty reasonably priced. 2 mics for snare/toms, 2 for floor toms/kick. If you could find a set of these and get the SM57 you should be set.

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Conttrary to somewhat popular belief......... I still to this day rely on my 2 SM57's one mics my floor tom the other mics my mounted 12" tom.......and probably THE most important mic(i feel anyway) is your kick mic......... there are lots available but when i purchased my AKG D-112 kick it opened up my entire set I get a nice thunderous tight "pop" from this kick mic and the band loves it too!. my SM's do a ggreat job in picking up the resonance when placed pointing down directly to the drum head....(also keep in mind the better the drumhead the better tighter sound you'll reproduce).I'd suggest stay within your budget .Go with the SM57's you'll be happy i think.

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