Need Ride or HiHat Mic, which one?

[Monty_python]

Hey fellas, I'm putting together my first mic collection for drums. The only thing i need is a mic for a hi hat or ride. Which mic do you recommend for this specifically? I have $250 and will buy used on ebay, I preffer to spend less if possible.

Thanks for your time!
-Monty

[fenderrocker]

I'm not sure if the ride really needs its own dynamic mic. I personally find that overheads work fine.

For the HH, you could obviously put an sm57 or and Audix i-5 on there. I would read around a little and maybe look at some blogs, critical reviews, sample recordings, etc.

[albee1952]

I'll have to disagree as I would not use a dynamic on cymbals unless it was all I had left(but I know folks do this all the time). Depending on the kit and the player, there are times when I need a hihat mic, and times when I need a ride mic. My first choice on your budget is the AT3031(you might even get a pair if you get lucky as they are around $169 on the street). This mic is the best hat mic I have heard short of a Nuemann KM or one of the new(and way more expensive) Sennheiser mics. I might not use them as general overheads, but they are killer on hat and ride cymbals. I base this on my former gig at a casino where I had a mic closet with over 200 mics to choose from(including 414's 460's 451's and SM-81's). The AT was a big surprise.

[Monty_python]

I agree i won't need a ride mic for every situation. I still want one badly and have used ride mics from other engineers production while mixing and it's come in very helpful. As fr the hihat mic, i don't think i'd live without using one ever, I haven't had any clients that aren't hard rock yet though.

Thanks, will check out the 3031! Any other suggestions are very welcome!

-Monty

[AlexLakis]

SM81 is a good bet, and it has lots of other great uses as well. SM57 works just dandy for hard rock, but most of the time I end up not using one at all or deleting it after the fact.

For what it's worth, I've only found I needed to mic the ride a few times in my life, and the best sound I ever got was out of a Neumann KMS105 of all things (this was for soft jazz.)

[Third Eye Studios]

I also use an AT 3031 on hi hat, and an AKG451 on ride if needed.

[albee1952]

The Nuemann 105 is a mic mic for sure(but its not cheap!!). The word for the AT3031 is "silky".

[Kris75]

A great Hat mic is the SM7B. It captures the hats without as much hi frequency as the oh's, allowing you to "place" them in the stereo field with greater ease and less "smearing" than a 451 or sm81.

I don't usually need a hat mic to adjust the volume, it's usually blasting through the overheads. That is why I like the SM7B. It allows me to place the hats in the stereo field when the drummer is bashing the hats way to hard.

It is also great for vocals!

[EGS]

I choose (after years of experimenting) to put up ONE mono cymbal mic. No phase distortion!!! This ONLY works if the cymbals are balanced amongst themselves, i.e. no cymbal is 10X louder than others!!! You do not need a hi-hat or ride mic at all. Use a Neumann U87, Neumann TLM103, or even a Shure SM81. Position the mic above the knee of the drummer's kik foot (where he/she hears everything), pointing straight down. Listen for yourself. My 2 cents.

[albee1952]

that's a cool idea from EGS and yet another use for the SM7 from Kris75(what a great mic).