Tom mics.. what to buy for Focusrite Scarlett DI..

Viral_Tyler

Viral_Tyler

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Oct 12, 2011
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New Mexico, USA
I'm using a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 interface, direct input from microphones, I have nothing else.

I feel like I'm having a hard time with my SM57s on floor tom tone. I used my friends basic CAD mic set on a paid recording and I was even more upset, I asked him to bring his Sennheiser e604s.. I only have SM57's or PG56's for tom mics. I'm just feeling these 3 set's of mics I've used have really crippled the floor tom tone. I suppose the rack toms sounded decent with the SM57s on my kit, but not the floor tom at all.

I really need some advice here for direct input use on tom mics. I wanna buy some new ones, I have a budget of course, I wanna spend at most $400 if possible for 3 mics to use. I was considering the Audix D2 / D3, I use the Audix i5 on my snare and I like it over the SM57 since I have no preamps other than the Scarlett interface's preamps. I also use the Audix D6 because thats what Glenn Frick suggested to use on DI only, I'm "meh" satisfied with it but I have nothing else to choose from..

I have thinking of getting the Sennheiser e604 set as well since it has the clips too. Of course with the Audix D2 / D3 I'd be buying their D-Vice clips.
 
Direct input from microphones? That's a bit of confusing statement. Meaning you're not using external pre-amps right? Direct input is more like using an instrument or line level for recording a guitar directly.

That being said, i have a set of D2's and D4 for my toms and sure as hell loving the shit out of 'em.
Also have an Audio Technica ATM25 in my locker which is very awesome as well, prefer those mics instead of an e604 to be honoust, could be my taste

P.S, this topic should be in the backline sub forum
 
Yea that's what I mean, lol. Sorry. That's correct it's one XLR from the mic to the interface.weet, I have used the audix Tom mics at a venue before and was blown away at how the engineer made it sound.
 
Hi!
There is nothing wrong in that to use this interface, mic preamps on this one should have very neutral sound, without any coloration or so, but again-there is nothing wrong with that. I used Focusrite Octopre mkII before I started to use API and others external preamps and even now I can't say the "old" sound was bad. So don't care too much about your preamps ;)
As for the mics.... I guess with your budget set of Audix D series will be the best choice, I very satisfied with this mics..... a lot of well known sound engineers use it and got excellent results. Of course the right choice of drumheads and tuning gives you more than 50 percents of a sound you looking for.
 
Thank you guys for the responses! I think I will be order these Audix mics here within 3 weeks, I'm pretty excited to try them out!

I'm aiming to have a bigger tom sound so I'm gonna try out the newer Evans 360 heads, and use G2 clear (batter) with G1 clear (reso) on toms.

I also wanna try out the EQ3 clear kick (batter) with no reso head and a feather pillow inside for my kicks, i plan to use an aquarian superkick patch with plastic side beaters (I prefer it over felt when im playing the kit). And use the Power Center snare head with a 300 snare reso side, i have the powerblaster snare wires too.
 
For that price the audix are hard to beat. My personal favorite are the ATM25's but they are not cheap, either are 421's.

Many cheaper dynamic mics will work well on toms. Honestly, the drum, head, tuning, player and room are 85% of the sound. Nail those and most mics will work. For metal, clear remo emperors, pinstripes, or evans G2's will all do the trick. Just use single ply clear ambassador or g1 resos on the reso side.

A HUGE part of getting a good recorded drum sound is the kit and player. Make sure you're hitting that shit HARD. Like REALLY HARD. Go watch some videos of Mario from Gojira play drums. If you're not hitting that hard, then you're failing at life. After you can hit like that, THEN worry about tom mics.
 
Awesome! Brutally honest. I love it. I've only been playing drums myself for 3 or 4 years, but I have a room that my band and I rent, we use it as a studio/jam room. I will post some pictures of it for you to see the room. and how I have it set up, maybe you can give me some suggestions?

I made a thread earlier a year or so ago so I'll just link it and post the pictures there on that thread.

link: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/practice-room/900221-leasing-my-first-studio-room-wooo.html
 
Yea I don't really know what I'm doing with the SM57s as far as positioning, and my toms are not the best sound in my opinion. I have no clue why I rolled with these heads but right now I have evans G2 coated (batter) and genera resonant (reso) on all of my toms.. I can't wait to get new heads because these produce quite a warm sound, not enough low end and not enough sustain in my opinion.

I'm also using a tune-bot to tune my drums cause I seriously don't know what I'm doing on the tuning end of drums.
 
^^^ Head choice and TUNING, combined with proper playing, will get you much farther than just a new mic. A weakly played, badly tuned tom with an old head is going to sound shitty even through an $8,000 vintage Neumann u67.

which are amazing tom mics btw. But I can't bring myself to put one anywhere near a drummer!

It really comes don to experience and experimentation. Keep fussing with tuning. Play the best you can.
 
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