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kick drum mic placement


MK1

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Dintance depends...

 

My bass is slightly quiet (loud enough to hear) but if the other drums are amped, then my bass wouldn't be heard (obviousely) but i would give it 2-3 inches, that also depends on sensitivity of the mic. Now, slightly off center is correct :)

 

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MK1, my set-up is exactly the way you have stated. I also have a small blanket inside the bass drum on the bottom to help with some reverberation and possible overlaping of the sound to the next beat.

 

The further back you place the mic in the drum the more low end should be present. The closer you are to the drum and beater, the less bass drum you should hear, to a point.

 

I was going to try out having a mic set up on the beater outside the drum and one inside the drum as you have stated.

 

Kicking the mic on an angle helps reduce the direct sound pressure head on to the mic and provides added depth and body that you want to amplify with the mic.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Jazzman :cool:

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thanks jazzman, i will experiment but i have always had this set up what mic do you use i have a D112 with a may internal mic bracket old school but great fat sound for live work

 

DD you said that your kick is quiet??

this should be the biggest sound on the kit especially for metal/rock?

what mic are you using?

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  • 14 years later...

I'm noticing a lot of older discussions on this topic are all about placing the mic inside the kick, but I see a lot of mics outside the kick these days. Maybe tastes have changed? Maybe it's live vs studio? Or maybe it's completely anecdotal evidence.

 

Which do you prefer/use?

 

Mic internally only

Combination internal/external

Mic external only

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Depends on the drum, mic/mic placement and tune of course...but I tend to prefer (what I perceive to be) the more open sound of a mic outside the kick drum.

 

If I have both, I do sometimes like to process one (reverb, usually) and leave the other dry.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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I'm sure studio vs live is a major factor. I've never seen anything BUT inside the kick for live sound reinforcement.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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It"s like asking a blind man to describe an elephant based only on touch. It depends where you stick your hand.

 

The simple answer is that it is gonna sound different any and every place you aim it. What do you want it to sound like? Only you can answer that.

 

The fundamental pitch of a two headed drum is in the dead center and the higher harmonics live out near the edge. Beater head is gonna be thump and resonance head is gonna be tone.

 

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  • 1 month later...

I've been through almost as many kick drum mics (and techniques) as for snare, but am now fully settled on both, for pop/rock contexts (including metal). I haven't had a chance yet to fully vet my choices for jazz sessions as all of those have been Zoom-based vs. pro setups, so far.

 

As Dave Bryce says, of course there's no one-shoe-fits-all solution, but I have found that the best starting point in most contexts is now for me to focus more on the outside kick mic (I used to ONLY use an inside kick mic, and then focused on that as the primary mic for years). It's easier to get it in the right place and to get a balanced sound of every aspect of the drum, and to keep it consistent throughout a performance. But the click sound is harder without an inside kick mic, and even if one doesn't need that as a major component of the sound, or never does drum replacement work, it can help it cut through at lower volumes if it's mixed in at least a little.

 

I have also found that working a bit further from the front of the kick is a bit helpful as well, for most styles. It wasn't until I settled on my current mic choice, that I could get this to work well without issues. And of course I rely heavily on my "magic mic" that is a mono PZM-30D (Crown) above the kit on the ceiling (or behind the kit on the back wall, in certain room sizes/shapes), for the most natural, balanced, and interestingly 3D "image" of the kit.

 

I have gone so old-school at this point! My main kick mic is now a Peluso P-49 tribute mic (a tube condenser) in Figure-8 polar pattern, mounted on a Primacoustic KickStand Microphone Boom Stand Isolator w/ Ultimate Support Ulti-Boom-TB, almost 8" from front of kick, aimed about 4" to the left of the hole, with top of mic about 12" above floor -- this is of course for larger modern kicks (or super-vintage 20's/30's kicks which were even larger).

 

I now use the Beyerdynamic TG-71C inside the kick, about 4-6" from the beater, angled mid-way from beater to rim, and either placed on towels/sheets or mounted on Primacoustic KickPlate Boundary Mic Isolator.

 

The new Beyer mic is a godsend as I had tried Sennheiser boundary mics and ones from Crown and even Shure, and hated them all, so thought I didn't like boundary mics in that application, but Beyer is an awesome company that is constantly doing something a bit different from anyone else, and this new mic design seems to have learned a lot of lessons from why those other mics had too specific of a sound that doesn't work for a lot of styles.

 

For many years, I used the underrated Electro-Voice ND868 mic in both positions. And at the time, I think it WAS the best choice, until affordable Neumann M49 clones became available, plus Beyer's special-purpose mic.

 

With this combination, I now get a well-defined low end without boom or mud, with excellent transient response but no high frequency bumps, nasal or bright sounds, yet the beater's attack comes through even clearer.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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  • 2 months later...

Yeah, I started "adding" an outside kick mic a few years ago, starting with a second copy of my inside-mic, E/V ND868 (a greatly underrated mic that is similar in sound to an RE20), then switching to an old-school tube condenser mic (Peluso tribute model of Neumann U49 as I recall) and almost dropping the internal mic after noticing how that one picked up every aspect of the kick sound fairly accurately and balanced. But then I gave a try to Beyerdynamics' new boundary mic designed for kick drums, and that's the best I've ever used for the beater (and I've used them all!). I don't use the beater sound much anymore though; I'm surprisingly finding that emphasizing the outside mic keeps the energy higher and cuts through the mix better, as long as I sculpt the bass part to make room. I've noticed some people even use a third mic on the drummer's side. And of course some also use a sub-kick (an adapted speaker).

 

The above is mostly a summary of what I wrote in November, augmented with some new-found knowledge and experience that has come from using Superior Drummer's new Decades expansion recorded by Al Schmitt, and taking note of his miking choices, which seem to completely drop the inside mic altogether.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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