JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Microphone and Vocalist Forum Drum mic's

Before this CD I've always done my music with just guitar and vocals, but I've added a band now... and we're trying to make the drums sound good.

My "studio" consists of, a Behringer Eurorack mixer, Cakewalk Sonar, and 5 SHURE SM57's. So you can kind of see that we're working on a budget.

Anyone know of a good economical mic, preferably between 100 and 150 bucks, for drums. Or maybe have some tips on making the 57's a little more effective?

Thanks

Johnny

The standard of the industry kick drum mic is the AKG D112 which sells for around $219 in most places.

Audio Technica makes an ATM25 microphone for around $195 which is their kick/bass drum mic. No experience with this one, but I've had good experience with a/t mics in the past.

Shure has a model PG52 bass/kick mic which can be had for around $125 or less. No experience here, either. I guess this would be the most economical mic available for your purposes.

Shure also has the Beta 52 which is around $200 or less most places. This is a good mic that you won't want to sell anytime soon.

Sennheiser makes a model E602 for Bass/kick for around $200. This has a "snappier" bass/kick sound.

CAD also makes one, but I can't recall the model. It probably sells for under $200, also. No experience with it.

If you can afford either the D112, the Beta 52, or the E602, those would be mics you could be happy with for quite some time. They aren't much more than your budget, but are standards that will give you a good sound. I'd rather see you spend the extra $50-75 rather than want to replace the mic in a year or two...but if your budget really can't handle it, there is the budget Shure above.

I actually had to use a 57 on kick drum years ago when I was doing a demo of my band at the time. It's OK if you don't need a good solid "woomph" from your BD, but placement, the quality of the preamps and, of course, the sound and tuning of the drum are all major factors.

The nice thing about the D112 especially is that it's relatively easy to sell if you really need the cash when you're done with the project. Most studio owners are very familiar with it and you can get more money than some of the others for it on the used market.

Just my $.02.

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Larry
www.audibleresponse.com



[This message has been edited by Lwilliam (edited 08-10-2002).]

Would love to hear any feedback on people using the Shure PG series. I need to add drum mics to my arsenal. I've borrowed the Beta 52 before and loved it, just haven't spent the money on one yet.

Also - Audix is helping out with a festival I'm working on in October. Will let you know then what I think of their drum mic sets - and if I bought one <g>.


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