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ATM: Drum mic kits
Posted by davebigpicture on 28 January 2012 - 5:54pm.
Free advice wanted again! Can any of The Massive recommend a reasonably priced drum mic kit for live sound? They would be used by covers baands at after dinner parties. There seem to be plenty around but little in the way of information. For example, I found a very cheap Audio Technica set (under £100). AT are normally pretty good for speech mics etc but these seem too good to be true and much cheaper than their speech mics. Ideally, I would need a minimum of Kick, 4 x snare/tom tom and maybe a couple of overheads. Any suggestions?
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Audio Technica
AT make excellent mics and I use 2 AT 4033s for overheads which sound great. They are unlikely to be crap. I borrowed a Shure set which was good but nearer 200 quid. Have you looked at Thomann? Their own brand are pretty good and excellent value, for example
http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_dc1200.htm
Thomann are good about returns too if they aren't right.
It must be a big venue tho to mic up the drum kit. Isn't a 57 in the bass drum and maybe the snare enough? Maybe with an overhead? The Thomann RM700 ribbon mic is brilliant - you could stick one of them over the kit, a mic in the kick and one on the snare and that will probably do. The more mics the more the hassle remember!
Thanks Twang
They are corporate dos, at least a couple of hundred people after a conference and although I'm a video guy the sound engineer is a grown up, ex theatre chap. We use a 32 channel digital desk and he's very capable so I want to get him something reasonable without breaking the bank.
Well
For your budget you're not going to get very good mics. My Audix D6 bass drum mic cost £150 and is great...so a set including bass drum mic is going to be built to a price. AT is a good brand tho so you probably can't go far wrong.
We have used Audix with good results
I'm trying to decide what my budget is really as I expected AT to be much more expensive. The Audix kits seem to be a reasonable compromise. I was also surprised at how many kits are available at under £200, especially when an AT935 lectern mic is over £100.
Audix
Well Audix are good gear. I suppose for drums you're not looking for a hifi super quality capsule as on a condenser mic, it's a basic dynamic built to get hit occasionally. But I agree, you get a lot of mics for your money.
Remember you need cables and stands too, which jack up the bill. I think this was the set I borrowed
http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Shure-PGDMK6-Drum-Microphon... which comes with cables too.
I preferred the Audix to the Shure PG52 tho the PG52 is a good mic. The Audix is voiced to sit better in the mix which suits me - I like as little hassle as possible when recording drums. I use the Glyn Johns mic setup - 4 mics - sounds great. Not sure it would work for live though. I think I'd have one overhead, a snare and a kick and leave it at that. Drummers are too ficking loud anyway!
The Shure kit looks interesting too
I will suggest an Audix kit and the Shure and see what the sound guy reckons. Thanks for your input.
Mic'd up drums at an after dinner party? Strewth.
Must be the "Job's a good 'un" bash at Steve Hester's pad in Oxon.
Not really my area but
Studio Spares is where I get gear sometimes http://www.studiospares.com/ and they've got mic kits from just over £125.
Thanks MAM
I often go past Studio Spares.