Thread: Drum mics?
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Old 01-15-2008, 10:05 PM
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Default Re: Drum mics?

Kick - Audix D-6
Snare Top - Shure SM57
Snare Bottom - Audix F10
Stereo Overheads - pair of Shure KSM32's or pair of Audix F15's
Toms - Audix F10
Floor Tom - Audix F14

I started with the Audix Fusion pack (the F series mics) and they sounded fine. What I really learned however was not which mics I was using but rather mic placement and drum tuning. I spent a LOT of time just moving mics around and playing with each drums tuning then recording to see how the sound changed.

The room you are recording in also has a great impact, especially for the stereo overheads or if you are going to use room mics.

Then I spent an equal amount of time researching and playing with compression and EQ plug-ins. shelving lows off the overheads, shelving highs off the kick, fattening the kick, tweaking the snare, etc. What I learned here is that less is more. I don't really plug-in the hell out of my drums but this exercise really taught me a lot about drum sounds and frequencies.

I would suggest you take the mics you have and start experimenting with mic placement. Get the best sound you can and then start playing around with EQ. Just get crazy and do a lot of "what if I..." stuff. You will learn a lot about drum sounds, what sounds good at what frequency and what sounds bad.

Then borrow a good kick mic and a Shure SM57 for the snare, swap em with your mics and listen for the differences.
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