micing a drummer - mics to use, cost of mics and cables

[Namaste]

what should i expect to pay for enough mics and cables to mic a drummer with a normal sized trap set well? and i guess i will need pres to have enough inputs. what pres would you recommend and at what cost?

thanks a lot on advice as i upgrade the studio. . .

namaste

[TAPKAE]

I am getting some damned hip sounds out of a Digimax 96, a Sennheiser 421 in the kick and a pair of NT5s overhead. I use other stuff (NT1 and 57s, two each) too, but could mix it out and still have a fine tone. Cost of the 421 and NT5s? Less than $550 for the three. Cables? Maybe another $60. The Digimax would sort of be the wildcard. Thats almost $1200.

Don't let anyone tell you you can't get a good tone out of 3 mics.

[where02190]

Preamps figure if you go lightpipe (Octapre, my choice, or digimax, etc) you'll spend about $1400 with cabling if you want to monitor analog.

Mics can run anywhere from $700(a beta 52 or D112, a couple oktavia condensors and a few 57's) to tens of thousands.

cables, about $20 each.
Stands, if you use low budget ones, $250.

So figure $2400 with some buffer. don't forget you need a snake to get them mics from the drum room to your control room, and headphones for the drummer to monitor with.

Hope this is helpful.

[Namaste]

very. thanks.

[Chris Coleman]

Originally posted by TAPKAE:
Don't let anyone tell you you can't get a good tone out of 3 mics.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Most pros will tell you that's all you need.

[cuttooth]

Most pros will tell you that's all you need.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Sez who? Sure, lotsa guys use 3 (or two), but who does "most pros" refer to?

[sdemott]

I have not used the NT5s yet, so I can't comment on that. I hope to pick up a pair in September.

For overheads I use 2 AT4050s ($600 each). A Senny 421 ($300) on the kick and a 57 ($80) on the snare. I can usually get everything I need from that set-up. Sometimes I might use a condenser on the snare (km184 ($550)) for a brighter "snap" & maybe mic the toms, but only when the drummer can't seem to balance himself.

As far as pres go. I use a mackie 1402 ($500) for drums.

[robertallen1977]

There are thousands of combos. There are no RIGHT and WRONG...only what sounds the best for a particular song.

I've heard drums that sound like they were mic'd with 2 rooms (Radiohead's High and Dry)

I've seen great drum sounds that were on all SM57's.

If you're on a budget I'd say go for the SM57 Mic package and if you want a better sound invest in Mic modeler by Antares. I LOVE their plugins. The new TUBE is nice too.

Here's what I use for drums, and quite honestly I've had best results. The only thing is I don't have a great room for them. I think the sound of the room is the key. i have to "emulate" the room with a verb. I don't like using verb effects on drums, just EQ and compression. Less is more IMO. I could be wrong.

OverHeads - Shure SM81's
Kick - AKG D112
Snare - Audix D1 (Top and Bottom)
Toms - Audix D2
Floor Tom - Audix D4

I like Audix Mic's much more. I usually don't use much mix on the Snare mic's...I let the OverHeads define the sound for me. I just use the other mic's that are actually clamped to the kit for dynamics.

These are just my opinions. my techniques may not be the RIGHT or PROFESSIONAL way to do things. But they work for me.

The only thing i KNOW I'm completely right about is that the AKG D112 is the perfect kick mic. Ha ha.

Robert Allen
SonicWorx - Detroit, MI

[robertallen1977]

DOH I forgot to answer the question.

AKG D112 - $300.00
Audix D's - $100.00 ea.
Shure SM81 - $300.00 ea.
Cables - 160.00
PreSonus Digimax LT or any other multiple mic pre - 800.00 but I heard they went down in price.
Optical Cable to connect to the 001/002 - 30.00 or less

These are just round figures. I think they are lower..esp the D112.

[Chaasm71]

I was going through this trial around 3 weeks ago (using my new Digi001 to record my band). Because I needed to record drums somehow, here's what I bought and used:

NT5 pair for drum overheads (cost: $630CAD)
AT4050 for HiHat (cost: can't remember...sdemott says $600USD)
AKD D112 for kick (cost: I think they are around $250CAD)
SM57 on snare top (cost: $130CAD)
SM58 on snare bottom (cost: ?)

I was really happy with the sound of everything except the snare top, and that may just be that the snare drum itself had a kind of hollow, ringing sound. Maybe it was tuned a little tight? However, the underside got a nice crack to it from the snare. And the overheads seemed to do alright on their own.

I bought an Octopre for additional pre's. I'm quite pleased with the Octopre. Note, there are handy phase reverese switches on channels 1 and 2 which are useful for checking for phase cancelation between your overhead mics.

Hope my limited experience is helpful.

Charlie.