Drum Mic Recommendations

[Machinated]

OK, I will be tracking drums next week at another studio. Hopefully I'll be tracking a Sonor Designer Series, with a DW snare. Got a few mics at my disposal, and I have a rough idea of what I will use, but I figure it makes sense to get the opinions of others. Obviously I will try out different mic's etc but it will be good to know peoples past experience with these mics. Anyway, these are the mic's available:

Audix D6
Audix D4
Audix D2 (x2)
Audix D1

Blue Baby Bottle

2 x SE3 (stereo pair)

Neumann TLM 103

3 x SM57's

1 x Rode NT1-A

All mic's will be going straight into a 16 channel Mackie Onyx mixer, but I could probably take my MOTU 896HD interface down to if need be. Sadly, I don't have any access to any triggers, but as long as I can isolate the drums well enough, I should be fine (otherwise plenty of editing to be done!). As far as cans go, I have access to 2 pairs of Beyer 770's, and a pair of Sony MDR-7605's. My guess would be the Beyers would be more suitable for the drummer. I should be some of those Extreme Isolation headphones at some point.

What I'm thinking at the moment is:

Kick Drum - D6
Snare Top - D1 or 57 (?)
Snare Bottom - NT1-A
Toms - D2's and D4 (could use 57's)
OH - SE3's
Hats - Blue Baby Bottle
Ambience - Neumann TLM103

Many Thanks Guys!

 

[Pman]

Kick Drum - D6
Snare Top - D1 or 57 (?)
Snare Bottom - NT1-A
Toms - D2's and D4 (could use 57's)
OH - SE3's
Hats - Blue Baby Bottle
Ambience - Neumann TLM103

that sounds like a pretty solid set up man
i personally wouldnt change any of it

 

[Machinated]

Cheers man, have you had any experience with any of the mics? Is there anything to look out for or remember with them? Also how are the Onyx pre's? My old school had them, but we also had an Avalon 737SP there, so that got more of the action. Can't wait to try these mic's out - should be great.

 

[Pman]

the only experience ive had is the 57
im very poor so i have a very minamilistic set up for my drums
just 2 Oktava MK012 Small Condensers as overheads
a 57 for the snare batter
and two cheap dynamic mics for the 2 kick drums which i sample
and to actually tell the drums apart when mixing
ill duplicate the overheads track
compress one to hell and leave the other uncompressed at a lower volume, and add EQ, other plugins etc
even though i have a generally large kit (8 piece, with plenty cymbals) it usually works out for me, so im content with this small mic setup

 

[MX582]

im curious to hear what a nt 1 sounds like under a snare..i havent tried that yet..i usually just throw an sm 57 under there..it sounds okay but not great

 

[Aaron Smith]

D6 on the kick drum = SWEET. Stick with the D6 for sure. I just got one recently and I've only used it once (on a kick drum), and I'm sure it helped that the drummer's kick drum sounded super tight and clean, but the D6 sounded incredible.

 

[Machinated]

Whats people's preferences as far as the snare and toms go? Should I go with 57's, or the Audix's. For the record the band is kind of similar to Chimaira.

 

[cobhc]

haven't the md421's been mentioned as far as toms as well? since they're already scooped sounding mics, which is how people generally eq toms anyway.

 

[Machinated]

Yeah, Id like to be able to use 421's, but I don't have access to them. Basically I'm not sure whether to use the Audix mics on the snare and toms, or some 57's. Im leaning towards the Audix mic's. Ill try and get some samples done when I'm there.