kick drm mic

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stranded horse
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kick drm mic

Post by stranded horse » Sat Jul 02, 2011 7:51 pm

Hello,
there are special kick drum mics, designed to pick p the low frequencies, because mediocre dynamic mics tend to roll off lows a bit.
Does this make sense at all for recording reggae/db drums? I roll off everything below 120 db by -6 db at least anyways, and boost 120 db by 6 db, because I want the kick drum to sit above the bass anyways.
So, do yo think it makes sense to get a good kick drum mic, or not?
now we re using a Shure SM58 for the kick drum.

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Neil C
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Post by Neil C » Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:10 pm

I think you're OK to use the SM58, in fact it may be a good choice for bass drums in dub.
I think if you used something with more bass pick up you'd be eq'ing the lower frequencies out anyway.

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stranded horse
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Post by stranded horse » Sun Jul 03, 2011 6:32 pm

Ok, thanks for the confirmation.


another question: Now we are recording with only 2 mics on the drums (kick/snare) and we are considering an overhead mic. Do yo think this makes sense, or would this track be unusable for dubbing, because of the bleed through from the surrounding sound sources?
i.e. I couldnt drop out the guitar or keys post-recording, because they wold still be audible from the drum overhead.
On the other hand or drum sound would benefit greatly, because right now, its the most demo-sounding element of or mixes.

regards,
Franz

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Neil C
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Post by Neil C » Sun Jul 03, 2011 8:32 pm

Are you using this setup for recording, or playing live? Or both?

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stranded horse
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Post by stranded horse » Sun Jul 03, 2011 10:44 pm

Both. But I would consider plugging the overhead straight into the recorder, and not into the mixing desk that feeds the pa, unless we have a big gig where full drum mic setup is necessary.

My concern is mainly about recording though, because the overhead would make the drums sound much better, but often we just record riddims and dub them later, and then I'd have a good sounding drum kit, but would lose the opportunity to drop out the guitar or keys in the post-recording dubbing process.
I'm just worried I won't be able to filter out the other stuff from the overhead.

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noiseboy
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Bass drum mic.

Post by noiseboy » Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:26 pm

Shure Beta 52 works well.
For live I use combination of Shure SM91 & B52, this is a pretty excellent combination if you have the luxury of 2 channels for the one instrument. It is also fairly standard in high-end professional live sound.
Other mics to recommend:

Sennheiser e902
Beyer M88 (original not the TG)
Audix D6/f6
Shure Beta91
EV RE20

Ultimately a lot depends on the drum, the positioning, the phase or polarity, condition of the mic (never dropped, new ribbon(M88) ) etc.

If you can, use a sweepable HPF to lose the real sub-sonic from the source (sub 30Hz). This will leave you with much more available energy from your sound system bass amps higher up the (more audible) bass spectrum - a real bonus in a live situation as bass drum tends to be the first thing on a reggae show to clip your amps.

Y.M.M.V.

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Neil C
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Post by Neil C » Thu Aug 04, 2011 3:37 pm

Good list Noiseboy.
It's obvious that given a free choice of any mic you would be unlikely to use a SM58 on a bass drum.
The question is can an SM58 produce a decent result on a bass drum? I don't have the personal experience but I'd wager it can.

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noiseboy
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Bass drum mic.

Post by noiseboy » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:06 pm

Actually I never tried an SM58. It's a good all round mic so I see no reason why it couldn't be used. Like I said, a lot depends on the drum, positioning etc. I'll bet lots of people have tried one and got good results. I'll also bet that lots of people have had poor results too, such is the nature of microphones and what they are miking. I have had a source sound terrible before regardless of where I put the mic. and then found one spot, in a not very obvious place, where the source sounds just great.
I guess what I'm trying to say is the only way to see if a specific mic is going to work is to experiment with it. If you have a particular sound in mind and many years experience then you may well arrive at your desired result using a very specific mic or combination of mics, hence my list. Personally I have yet to find anything better than the combination of SM91 inside & Beta 52 at the front skin hole on a bass drum. It is almost guaranteed to deliver but it still depends a lot on the drum, the P.A., the mic pre's, any E.Q., where I'm standing listening, the room acoustic etc.

Shintogurl
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Post by Shintogurl » Sun Jun 02, 2013 8:39 pm

I know this is an old topic but there is the Yamaha Sub Kick. Basically a bass driver turned into a microphone for picking up the really low frequencies. I know a fellow student who made his own out of a small Bass guitar amp, just rewired to act as a mic. I intend to make my own ay some point, just need to get an amp and soldering iron and some speaker cable, and an XLR connector. :-)

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