Drum Mics - Shopping Around

[Sean]

Looking at these [url="http://www.studiospares.com/mics-drum-mics/studiospares-sd705-drum-mic-kit/invt/449650"]http://www.studiospa...kit/invt/449650[/url]

I'm needing to get decent drum sounds on a budget and have gone for some quite cheap but highly rated Studiospares mics.
Cheap as chips. Anyone got any experience of these? Are they any good?

Edited October 1, 2014 by Sean

[barkin]

Watching this with interest, as I'm thinking along similar lines.

Have you actually got them?

[Sean]

They arrived today, seem well made. Will be Monday before I get them on a kit.

[mike257]

Be interested to hear how you get on. I need some for live use but am operating on a near zero budget - these are about the cheapest set I've come across so if they're useable then they're a steal!

[TorturedSaints]

I have a set like this. http://www.gumtree.com/p/other-percussion-drums/skytronic-drum-mics-7-piece-set/102831288

All quite usable apart from the kick drum mic doesn't really provide a great sound for me, perfectly usable as a midi replacement trigger though. I have replaced the kick mic with a Red5 RVD1 but have yet to try it out in anger. I have heard good reports of the Red5 drum mic set.

Here's a sample of the results (not an isolated drum track sorry, away from recording computer.) https://www.dropbox.com/s/73aqc6pxjt403aj/StormTrappedNoVox.mp3?dl=0 using skytronic drum mic set and a cheap Large Diameter Condenser as a room mic, plus a bit of processing/eq/compression.

[51m0n]

Drum mic kits seem great, but they are a pain in some ways because they dont always work well on other sources

My recommendations for a cheap way to mic drums with mics that are good for the task, and useful on other sources:-

Overheads - Pair of LineAudio CM3s (dont skimp on the OHs, they are the real sound of you kit, and these mics are absolutely amazing) - always equidistant from the snare
Kick drum - Red5Audio kick mic - great for right in the resonant skin hole to capture the punch, I also like a mic in front of the kit up to a couple of feet away to capture the low end, I have built kick tunnels before for good seperation on this mic (a Bruce Swedian trick, and he has forgotten more about recording drums than any of us will ever know). You have to play with the two mics to get the position of the outer one just right
Snare - an SM57, or a HEil PR28 ideally, this is the character of your drummers kit, his signature, a decent mic on here is important, a Sennheiser e835 can be great on snare too
Toms - Prodipe TT1 - yep, 3 in a box for £63 from [url="http://www.woodbrass.com/en/chant-et-voix-dynamique-main-prodipe-tt1-pro-pack-ludovic-lanen-p163262-af833-gbp.html?gclid=CJzMpomt0sECFSYIwwod6E8Aow"]here[/url] these are ridiculously good for the money, quite like the Sennheiser MD421 in sound, a lot of proximity effect so back them off a bit, but they do a great job on rack toms, and at a push the floor tom, but if you want something that will handle the floor tom really well the AT Pro 25 can be found pretty cheap.

Core mic - this is an unusual mic for people not used to drum micing, you basically jam it in under the snare between the kick and snare to capture the sound in there amongst all the gubbins, position is important take some time over this bad boy! I like to use something omni, and with some character, go for an old omni dynamic off ebay, something small can be a help to get it right in there (I have an old beaten up AT804 I use in there). I generally mash the crap out of this track with heavy compression and saturation and just bring it in a bit to keep everything from sounding too clean and sparkly. Of course you can get away with that third prodipe TT1 in here if you only have two toms or a dedicated floor tom mic. This track can be the thing that makes your drums kick arse rather than sound too clean jazz, great on pretty much any drum recording though for some mojo. BTW watch the phase on this mic, usually its out of phase with the rest of the kit, but not always, trust your ears!

Micing drums is all about a great sounding kit in a good room and position, position, position....













If anyone is interested the mic clamps are Stage Ninga Scorpian Mic Clamps (MIC-12-CB):-


Which look very rude indeed, but do do a good job of holding a mic in place all day

Edited October 30, 2014 by 51m0n

[Sean]

Very interesting, Simon. I can't wait to start however I have to wait until Dec 6th now until we're all available all day.

[mike257]

Good info Simon. I've had good results with kick tunnels back in my studio days. Built a mini-isolation enclosure for a 57 on the snare out of a little lampshade stuffed with foam (and dusters, if memory serves me correctly) that did a surprisingly good job of minimising hi-hat spill after a bit of tweaking. I'll look into those Prodipes, have you tried them on other sources (amps etc)? Could use some good all-round utility mics for live use and the price is certainly appealing!

[51m0n]

Yep, I used them on all sorts, guitar cabs, trumpet.

Their one potential issue is that they are prone to bass lift if you get too close, but be aware of that and they're fine. The only other thing I'm not thrilled about is that the bodies are very slippery in mic clips, and the clips that come with them are utter gash.

Other than that they are surprisingly good for the money IMO, but I would doubt they are as hard wearing as Shure mics (I havent had them long enough to know if they are bullet proof)

[RockfordStone]

ive got a set of studiospares drum mics, i've found them to be rugged enough and they sound pretty decent for the cost.
if i had more money id most likely buy an array of different mics for seperate drums, but for a budget kit, i can't complain about the studio spares ones

[Dad3353]

[size=4]I bought a set of Superlux drum mics, the [color=#555555][font=arial, verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]DRK-F5H3 (Sonata...) set, several years ago, and am very satisfied with them. They come up at varying prices from time to time (currently on 'Tbay for £212...), and have received pretty high praise from other users, too. I was especially impressed by the pair of large-diaphragm condenser mics in the set, which we use as overheads, of course, but equally for acoustic instruments, and even for voice. I was pleased enough with the kick mic (FK2...) to buy another, and install it permanently into my bass drum, as I use an un-ported front head. I can therefore capture the sound from inside the drum. There are much better mics on the market, but these have, imo, a performance far above their price. As a 'budget' set I highly recommend them.[/font][/color][/size]

Edited November 10, 2014 by Dad3353

[51m0n]

Here's a little example from that drum tracking session, I've not done much to the tracks at all yet, really I've balanced the levels with some simple top and tailing eq, drums are deliberately prominent, and there are a couple of little edits in there. Everything else is intended to be overdubbed anyway - added some reverb for the trumpet (recorded in the vocal booth to minimise spill its sounds like poop unless you put a decent plate verb on it).

Its just an mp3 up to Soundcloud and I can hear artifacts in the cymbals from their conversion process I'm afraid, but its a reasonable indicator nonetheless.

https://soundcloud.com/mistersuperjuice/produce-the-juice-drums/s-0tpW8