Did a little drum miketest today, hope you find it useful

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Hi folks!
I was up at the studio today and tested some drum-microphones for toms and bassdrums and I thought youd might want to hear and comment on it.

The drumkit used is a Yamaha Recording custom and I tested on a 16" tom and a 24*18 BD

The mics used are (for toms): Sennheiser E604, Sennheiser E904, Sennheiser E609, Shure SM57 and AKG 440.
Basstrums are miked with: Shure SM58, Shure Beta52, Sennheiser 602 and AKG 550.

Here's the pic of the tom miking:

And here's the link to the files:
http://www.ablazeonline.com/miketest.rar

Enjoy!

EDIT: Forgot to say that there are no EQ's, everythings recorded straight onto cubase.

EDIT #2: It's not a E606, its a 609 damnit!

 

[AStacy2]

Nice, which do you prefer? I like the 57/52

 

[smy1]

Not to be bitching about free comparison material, but wouldn't the simple fact that the mics are all in *totally* different positions ruin the comparability?

 

[AStacy2]

Not to be bitching about free comparison material, but wouldn't the simple fact that the mics are all in *totally* different positions ruin the comparability?

Yes.

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Yes.

I agree to a certain point, of course the micplacement differs a bit, but the distance from rim to mike is the same for all the mics exept the 902, which is aimed towards the same point as the other mikes, the pic was taken before wiring up the microphones.

However my idea was just to get a rough comparison since I'm trying to figure out what mikes to replace my AKG kit with.

Personally I really liked the 604 or the 609 on toms and the 602 on bassdrum.
The Beta52 sounded pretty cool too but when playing the whole kit it's waaaaaay leakier than the 602.

 

[Ronnie_Rocker]

Personally I really liked the 604 or the 609 on toms and the 602 on bassdrum.
The Beta52 sounded pretty cool too but when playing the whole kit it's waaaaaay leakier than the 602.

same mics that i use in the studio. they sound really good.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

e604 sounds the best to me. e904 being quite good as well. Thanks for the test

 

[~BURNY~]

I had a similar experience with cheap AKG set (440/550).... They sound like shit. They can make a great drumkit sound like a cardbox kit. Stay away from them.
I'm curious about the new sennheiser evolution serie (902,904...) . Has anybody tried them?

 

[Ermz]

Thanks for the test, but I have to second that it isn't much of a comparison, given that the mics are in totally different positions. As we all know, even the slightest change with mics makes a gigantic difference.

Still it was a good thought.