Drum mike kit?

[aonindy]

Hey all,

so the girlfriend has a 12 year old who is quite reasonable on drums.
He has been doing a lot of virtual jamming on "bandhub" and liking it a lot, but complaining a bit about his sound.
Currently he records through his iPad.

The birthday is coming up and I was thinking of getting him a mike-kit, a few boom stands and small mixer.

Can anyone give some advice on anything worth getting? ... naturally dont want to spend a fortune - would be
happy if he can get a slightly better or more controllable sound than from his iPad !

Had been looking around in thomann: https://www.thomann.de/ie/microphone_sets_for_drums.html

cheers.

[barkin]

ISTR the sets from red5audio.com being suggested in the past by folks who seem to know about these things.

[aonindy]

thank you good sir, will check them out.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='aonindy' timestamp='1428414519' post='2741044']...
Can anyone give some advice on anything worth getting?...
[/quote]

Here's my recommendation, from Thomann...

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/superlux_drk_k5c2.htm"]Superlux Drum Mics ...[/url]

... I've had a set (an older model...) for several years; they're very good. I even bought an extra bass drum mic and fitted it permanently inside my bass drum. The price advertised includes a full set of cables, too.
Don't forget that, if whatever you go for includes condenser mics, they'll need to be powered from a phantom supply on the mixer. Be sure that any mixer you get can provide this phantom power. Just sayin'.
Good luck to the little lad.

I'd add, just the same, that excellent results can be had by recording a kit with only one mic. Close micing has its advantages, but also its lot of traps, pitfalls and difficulties. One well-placed room mic can produce good results, too. A lot depends on the room, too..!

[aonindy]

thank you kindly ... rather swish!!! .... given your comments I am wondering about getting a simple set .. ie: something for the kick, then two mikes he can put on boom-stands at different heights etc and play around with.
If I did this then I might squeeze in a small mixer (with phantom if neccessary) as well into the budget

[Dad3353]

[quote name='aonindy' timestamp='1428448733' post='2741469']
thank you kindly ... rather swish!!! .... given your comments I am wondering about getting a simple set .. ie: something for the kick, then two mikes he can put on boom-stands at different heights etc and play around with.
If I did this then I might squeeze in a small mixer (with phantom if neccessary) as well into the budget
[/quote]

For home recording, I very seldom go for close micing. Sometimes (not often...) one mic, more likely a kick, and overhead and a more distant 'general' mic, that's about it. Less is more, and one can always, later, add on anything that's lacking cruelly. To that end, then, I'd suggest a bass drum (kick...) mic, a decent dynamic mic and a large-diaphragm condenser mic. One can do a lot with that. If I had to sacrifice, I'd let the dynamic go, and record with the condenser mic as an overhead. Others may have differing views, of course.

[aonindy]

ok, good info ... home recording = his bedroom - I got him a pair of those Vic Firth ear protection/headphones for Christmas ... so he tends to play along with things..
with what you have suggested I might get away reasonably then with 3 x mic, 2..3 booms and a 4 channel mixer (with phantom!) ... <off hunting>

[Matt P]

another recommendation to go for just a few mics, we use a bass drum mic, a dynamic on the snare and a pair of condensers on the overheads, if you pick carefully they will also double up for other instruments if he decides to branch out (or if you want to do some band recording on the cheap and he'll let borrow them)

Matt

[aonindy]

thanks Matt.

[EBS_freak]

Red5Audio on a budget for sure... great pieces of kit.

Then make the Audix d6 your first upgrade (I realised that this is quite costly... but it's the mic I have found has the best preEQed sound for bass drums!)

Edited April 9, 2015 by EBS_freak

[Matt P]

big thumbs up for the D6, our drummer bought one and it's ace, we have the i5 for the snare as well, another great mic.

Matt

[51m0n]

Red5 Audio kick mic for sure if you want to go with one at all

A pair of decent condensors for OH is where its at. If you can afford them I highly recommend a pair of Line Audio CM3s (get them from NoHype Audio, top chaps!), they are sublime SDCs. If thats beyond budget then the cheap solutions are much of a muchness, but these from Thomann are not bad at all:-

http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_sc140_stereoset.htm

Definitely investigate the recorderman technique though, best possible drum sound from the least possible mics (two, although you can add a kick drum mic too if you want):-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X_kMItRI2s
http://jonstinson.com/the-recorder-man-drum-miking-technique/

Enjoy!

[Dad3353]

Excellent mics, certainly, but let's not forget that the fellow is 12 years old, and there are budget considerations.

[ras52]

The Recording Revolution site has several demos/tutorials on recording drums with one or two mics. http://therecordingrevolution.com/?s=drums

[aonindy]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1428588427' post='2742754']
Excellent mics, certainly, but let's not forget that the fellow is 12 years old, and there are budget considerations.
[/quote]

thats the key, thanks all for very welcome and valuable info!

[beely]

Here is another link to therecordingrevolution.com.

http://therecordingrevolution.com/2011/01/10/the-glyn-johns-drum-recording-method/

I can guarantee this works. Easy to set up too.
If you do want to buy a set of drum mics then I can recommend the Red5Audio ones.

[funkgod]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1428446727' post='2741452']
Here's my recommendation, from Thomann...

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/superlux_drk_k5c2.htm"]Superlux Drum Mics ...[/url]

[/quote]

thats amazing value, my friend uses a superlux for his vocal and another for his sax, both sound very good.

i have been using an audio tech drum kit for live and studio, and have been impressed with it, esp the bass drum mic, which has a more tighter focused sound than the AKG D112 which when compared sounded more boomey due to the extended freq range, but i like the tighter sounding bass drum sound.

and you dont need phantom power or batteries for this kit.

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audio-Technica-MB-DK5-Drum-Microphone-Package-/400852180594?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5d54a6de72#ht_3629wt_1004"]http://www.ebay.co.u...#ht_3629wt_1004[/url]

Edited May 8, 2015 by funkgod

[Bradwell]

Another recommendation for the 'less is more' school of thought.

I would go for a few good quality microphones rather than several cheap ones, they can be used for other instruments, reduces the need for cables and stands.

My preferred set up is kick + snare + stereo overheads into a 4 channel recording interface, but less is workable. I'd say start with a decent mono overhead condenser and work out what extra is needed after experimenting with it for a while.

Have a look at the Samson C03 - multipattern, large diaphragm, -10db input pad, bass roll-off switch. Fantastically versatile and can be picked up reasonably cheap, just be warned that it needs phantom power.

[aonindy]

thanks all.