D6 vs F14 vs SM57

[ferguson66]

I was on another thread (which I can't find now) discussing using a Shure SM57 mic on a kick drum. It prompted me to do a side by side comparison recording with three different mic's.

The three mic's are the Audix D6, Audix F14 (less expensive Fusion series kick mic) and the trusty Shure SM57. This is the order you will hear it on the tracks.

A little info... I used a mic stand to suspend the mics through the front hole of the front head. I set the mics hanging about in the middle of the drum. I have a pillow in the drum and I was using a felt beater. There is no compression, EQ or anything else, these are the raw recordings bounced to .WAV from Pro Tools and converted to MP3 in Adobe Soundbooth. I played a beat on the hi-hat and snare so we could hear the difference in bleedthrough as well.

MP3 #1 has the mics pointed directly at the beater impact point. MP3 #2 has the mics sitting facing about 60 degrees away from the beater impact point.

Interesting factoids.... The F14 and SM57 were "hotter' mics. Meaning I had to turn the trim down a few notches on the F14 and SM57 because they would clip on the last hard kick. Not sure that really means anything but I just found it interesting. I also looked at the audio on a spectrum analyzer and noticed significant differences. But I guess it is really all about how it sounds.

[magno]

I really like the sound of the D6.
The 57 makes the drum sound like a cardboard box.
A mix of the D6 and the D13 might be awesome.
Thanks, I''m looking for a suitable kick drum mic this helps put things in to perspective.

[thesilentdrummer]

I agree. I love the 57, but it just doesn't work for me on this application.