Lets talk Kick Drum mics
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:16 pm
What you like, and how you like it?
pictures are cool
Mostly I'm curious how you like to get your NON-metal / heavy rock kicks
(It's an open discussion though of course so by all means, discuss what you wish!)
Here's what I really like at the moment:
Beyer M88 inside - gives me a super tight midrange 'knock' if you will. I really enjoy the tone I get out of it, and I think it's pretty obvious when you hit the sweet spot with this mic (usually 1-2" inside the hole, usually pointing straight ahead, maybe a touch towards the beater). But the stray 'excited!' kicks tends to get really pokey and loose that nice roundness they have when the drummer is being mindful, so I find I have to keep a real close ear out for these and either bring the volume down a bit individually or replace the odd one if it sounded really choked - is that a common thing for inside kick (similarly snare?) - I never really learned how to 'engineer' properly, but this sounds good to me. I can usually get away without compressing this way which I really enjoy, because then I can pay much more attention to shaping my transient the way I want (usually with a pultec style EQ and transient designer, and probably some nice long attack compression and getting my release to groove).
Other inside kick mics I have here are RE-20, 421, 441, D112, D12, SM7 and plenty more of the usual suspects, but I just don't enjoy any as much as I enjoy the M88. Perhaps the new Telefunken M82 will give it a run for it's money!
I'm open to other inside kick suggestions / approaches which is probably my main motivation for this thread
Outside kick I like to have a lot of fun with though!
For rocky stuff it's inevitably the U47 FET, man does that thing just deliver (although I always feel a little dirty afterwards..!) - but the 47fet really does it's thing almost dead center and 6-12" back. Bock 195 comes very very close but it's just never as thick as the fet gets which is where the real magic of the fet is. Bock goes super subby low though.. but It's rare that I'd really want a kick all the way down there - I love a kick that sits, kicks a bit in the chest, pops out where it should and isn't easily mistaken for stick clicks (as I said, I'm not a rock guy!)
But for non-rock, gee it can really be anything!
Usually position is as if I were mic'ing a tom, but resonant head of course
* If it's a kick with no hole then it almost always ends up being the AKG D12, what a cool mic
* If it's got a hole, then it's a Gefell UM70 (also my favourite bass cab mic)
I've also played recently with the Gefell CMV-563 with an M7 capsule, but it's maybe a little too warm and slow (?) for this purpose, but if the tone's right (it's pretty particular so it's gotta be great for something) and it's the behaviour that's a little off, then transient designer is a true champ
That's kind of where I'm at
I'll try and dig up some pictures and audio samples
Oh, and vintage LA2A on kick ! and a pultec EQ
pretty hard to go wrong, but if it needs to come up a touch in the spot that it sits then LA3A does the trick!
that's enough for now
pictures are cool
Mostly I'm curious how you like to get your NON-metal / heavy rock kicks
(It's an open discussion though of course so by all means, discuss what you wish!)
Here's what I really like at the moment:
Beyer M88 inside - gives me a super tight midrange 'knock' if you will. I really enjoy the tone I get out of it, and I think it's pretty obvious when you hit the sweet spot with this mic (usually 1-2" inside the hole, usually pointing straight ahead, maybe a touch towards the beater). But the stray 'excited!' kicks tends to get really pokey and loose that nice roundness they have when the drummer is being mindful, so I find I have to keep a real close ear out for these and either bring the volume down a bit individually or replace the odd one if it sounded really choked - is that a common thing for inside kick (similarly snare?) - I never really learned how to 'engineer' properly, but this sounds good to me. I can usually get away without compressing this way which I really enjoy, because then I can pay much more attention to shaping my transient the way I want (usually with a pultec style EQ and transient designer, and probably some nice long attack compression and getting my release to groove).
Other inside kick mics I have here are RE-20, 421, 441, D112, D12, SM7 and plenty more of the usual suspects, but I just don't enjoy any as much as I enjoy the M88. Perhaps the new Telefunken M82 will give it a run for it's money!
I'm open to other inside kick suggestions / approaches which is probably my main motivation for this thread
Outside kick I like to have a lot of fun with though!
For rocky stuff it's inevitably the U47 FET, man does that thing just deliver (although I always feel a little dirty afterwards..!) - but the 47fet really does it's thing almost dead center and 6-12" back. Bock 195 comes very very close but it's just never as thick as the fet gets which is where the real magic of the fet is. Bock goes super subby low though.. but It's rare that I'd really want a kick all the way down there - I love a kick that sits, kicks a bit in the chest, pops out where it should and isn't easily mistaken for stick clicks (as I said, I'm not a rock guy!)
But for non-rock, gee it can really be anything!
Usually position is as if I were mic'ing a tom, but resonant head of course
* If it's a kick with no hole then it almost always ends up being the AKG D12, what a cool mic
* If it's got a hole, then it's a Gefell UM70 (also my favourite bass cab mic)
I've also played recently with the Gefell CMV-563 with an M7 capsule, but it's maybe a little too warm and slow (?) for this purpose, but if the tone's right (it's pretty particular so it's gotta be great for something) and it's the behaviour that's a little off, then transient designer is a true champ
That's kind of where I'm at
I'll try and dig up some pictures and audio samples
Oh, and vintage LA2A on kick ! and a pultec EQ
pretty hard to go wrong, but if it needs to come up a touch in the spot that it sits then LA3A does the trick!
that's enough for now