Drum Kit W/ 57's

[irecordyou]

What would you people say to recording an entire drum kit with 57's? Would it even work for the cymbals?

[M.Brane]

You'll certainly learn a lot about the importance of placement that way.

[ejwells]

The only real place for a 57 on a drum kit is on the snare.
MAYBE on a small tom.
CERTAINLY not on kick drum, overheads, high hat, or most toms.

[dogon]

It really depends on what sort of sound you are going for....
I think you could pull a cool retro sound with a bunch of 57's.
have fun

[comprodman]

57's will work on snare, hat and Kit toms, though you'll need to work on mic placement to get the best sound, kick and floor toms will need different mics to get the full sound as they are bass heavy and need a mic that can handle those sound frequencies, you can usually get a cheap drum mic set off ebay for under £100 that will cover most of a kit and comes with a Kick drum mic and a pair of condensors for over heads for cymbles as you'll never do this with 57's.

[Blackburn66]

I was the assistant engineer on a pretty big indie project in which we used 57's as the snare mic, over heads and tom mics. We even had a 58 as the kick mic. The band was always unhappy with the sound whenever we put up condensor mics so this is what it came down too. I definitely wouldn't say that this is a sound that all bands would love/prefer but it can be done well if you spend some time with your placement.

[Whiteyguitar]

You could always get Drumagog to use on the drums after using all 57's,I think it works very well, especially when you get that picky little Sh$t that wants to sound like his favorite drum Hero, but I would still use a nice set of Condensers for Over Heads.

[Naagzh]

What would you people say to recording an entire drum kit with 57's? Would it even work for the cymbals?

It will "work", in the sense that you will get signal, but 57s are not very accurate from a distance. The input level will be tricky to control, and cymbals can be harsh up close. Condensers are quite accurate, and that's why they're preferred.

[Ziko]

Certainly with overheads condensers will give you a clarity at the top end that 57s won't.

Having said that, the room, the mic placement etc are all just as important so a skilled engineer could happily get a much better sound from a 57 than a couple of classic $10k Neumann condensers in the hands of a novice.

Buy mics that your abilities allow you to hear the difference between what you're using now. As your technique and ears improve, get better mics that you know fit what you're looking for because you can hear it (if you can afford em!).