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Drum Mic Set


Marshy

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Hey there.

I work in a venue in which we are looking to purchase a set of drum mics over the next few weeks.

We do a wide range of different styles of performances ranging for 'Rock n Roll', Folk, Jazz as well as musical theatre and panto at Christmas so the mics need to be able to hand the flexibility.

Reading up on bits, it looks like the Audix kick mic is a strong contender but what are the rest of the mics like in the DP-7 (or maybe DP-5) set are like? Anybody have any experience with them? They seem to be around the same price as the sennheiser set but I did like the look of having the range of 4 different mics (could come in handy for other shows that don’t have a standard 5 piece kit)

 

Cheers in advance

James

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I've worked with the Audix mics tom/snare mics before. They sound good. Not necessarily better than the sennheiser / sm57 combo which is more common. The mics themselves seem very well constructed, however I'm very wary of the mounts - the small goosenecks didn't really cut it for me, and the mics tended to fall out the clips and the goosenecks move a lot when the drummer was playing.

 

I'd be more inclined to go with e604s for the toms and an sm57 for the snare if you're looking for a drum mic set to do it all. The tom mics are also useful for saxes, bongos, djembes, trumpets and much much more if you unscrew the clip and screw them onto the stand. And a '57 is a '57.

 

M

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Ive had a search but could only find info on the Audix D6.

We already have a large selection of 57's in stock so just buying a D6 and 3 or 4 e604's could be an option.

Sorry to ask another question but could anyone recommend a half decent condenser to audition? Would love to get SE300/CK91 but dont think we can afford a few of those....

Cheers for the reply's

James

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You don't give an idea of budget, so at a basic level -

 

AKG D112 Bass Drum

Shure PG56 Snare and Toms

SE1A Condensers for Hi Hats and Cymbals.

 

That's my idea for a basic starting point.

 

There's a lot of people who would place the Audix D6 as their top choice, so compare!

 

Shure Beta's need to be considered, but only if the budget is available.

 

The rest are purely subjective, we all have our preferences, and no two people will agree.

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If you want an all in one kit, the Audix version is my current favourite. I have to admit, it IS convenient, especially coming with the mounting hardware too.

 

It sounds darn good.

 

If you go with the D5 kit, I'd agree with Lightsource that a pair of SE1A mics is a very good choice for overheads--and they're useful for lots of other stuff as well. I haven't compared the pricing, but it might well be worth going the D5 kit/SE1A route.

 

As Lightsource says, it's all very subjective though. I personally don't care for the D112 on a kick drum at all--but it all depends on the sound you're looking for.

 

Bob

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Ah yea sorry forgot to mention the budget... The Audix DP5 kit is around £630 so wouldnt really want to spent more than that on the drum mics.

As for a pair condensers, wouldnt really want to spend more than £250-£300 if that is at all possible, the SE1A comes in around £250 a pair so that would be great. Ideally we are after a pair of AKG C391s (which our main supplier of kit has recomeded and I trust). These come in at £450 but could be worth the extra money?

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I've got several of both in my mic kit. The AKG391 (390 + CK1 capsule) is a very versatile mic and sounds great on things like brass, woodwind, violin etc. It's also very nice on drum overheads--but if that's your main use then the SE1A is virtually as good. This is not to say the SE1A is any any way bad for the other uses--just a smidge not as warm and open.

 

FYI, your supplier sounds a bit high on the SE1A price as well--I'm used to them being just over £100 each. (That's for two basic mics--the matched stereo pair is more but, unless you NEED a matched stereo pair--which you don't for overheads--it's probably not worth the extra and the fancy box.)

 

Bob

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The 604 and 904 are nice on racks and snare. The D4 is better on floor. The Audix ADX20 and M12** are good on racks and snare as well.

 

The D4 works well on kick if you have a good rig and good channel EQ, otherwise the D6 is better (except maybe on jazz and oldies). I've recently changed to the Heil PR40.

 

The Pro37 and NT5 are good values for hat and overhead (or snare).

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is a little better, but the last ones I bought came in at £55 inc Vat each.

 

 

Yeah, I recall when they were listed at £69 each with discounts available.

 

I have to suspect that this is mainly to do with the way the value of the pound has fallen against many other currencies--and the Chinese economy is pretty strong compared to the British one. I know to my cost that, three years ago, the British pound bought about $2.50 Australian; earlier this year it hit a low of about $1.60. That's enough of a difference to account for the price difference on Chinese mics.

 

Bob

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Manged to get a nice price on the DP5 kit so atm we are thinking of going with that....

Its a choice now between 2 C391's or 3 SE1A's... Hmmm

Has anybody used both the SE1A and the NT5? They are round about the same price, can anyone comment on how they perform againt eachother?

Cheers for the replys

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