condenser mics

wild_eyed

im looking to mic up a drum kit in my new home studio thingy using some condenser mics, can anyone post some good mics that i should price, also im on a budget.

and also one condenser vocal mic.

rob1891

Studioprojects C3 is a great condenser and a great value condenser too. My brother uses one for vocals and as a cymbals mic.

His drum setup is a bit limited cause of money but it looks like this at the moment:

- AKG 550 for the kick (which doubles as a bass amp mic)
- SM57 for the snare, but positioned slightly away from it in a vain attempt to get some toms in there too. (it doubles as a guitar amp mic)
- C3 is positioned to get a mix of the cymbals and hi-hat


He thinks with a little tweaking he can get a good setup with what he has, at his next iteration of drum recording, he will probably move the 57 in closer to the snare and use the C3 to get cymbals, toms & hi-hat all in one go .... not likely!!

I think, with two c1000s doing the cymbals overhead, C3 on hi-hat duty, 1 57 for snare, 1 for toms, 1 for floor tom, and with a 511 or AKG D112 on the kick, he'd have as good a setup as he could ever expect.

You could lose a 57 and c1000, and rearrange things slightly.

With that list of gear you have good overlap too, the c3 is great on vocals, I'm guessing the c1000s would do for an acoustic guitar, the 57s can go live and the kickdrum mic could record a bass amp and perhaps sound a little bit better than a 57 doing the same job. Try to avoid recording everyone at once in your studio cause then all that overlap of equipment goes down the drain a long with more cash.

(forgive me, you probably know all this)
The problem with a drum kit is the different ranges of all the bits. You have to close-mic the snare, otherwise the hi-hat & cymbals leek into the 57, and the 57 can not handle their harsh sound. You need good condensers on cymbals/hi-hat to cope with that high frequency. You need something that can take the high pressure and low end of the kickdrum. When you buy just one really good mic and stick it in the middle, you have no control over the levels of each part of the kit and it is just too difficult to position.

None of this is cheap, do not buy in Ireland. Look at www.thomann.de for any akg products (they're german ... duh!) and www.music123.com for the same and also studioprojects gear. Don't forget a good preamp for your vocal and some kind of preamps for everything else.


Rob

P.s. there are obviously other ways of doing things, and lots of other mics to consider, but here are prices for the models I mentioned.

C3 - $350
D550 - e125
SM57 - e99
D112 - e205
C1000S - e209 (or $280 for two on music123!!)

Smiler

Good advise man

If your looking for a cheaper condenser with a good sound try the Behringer B1. A lot of people hate Behringer but I have one of these mics at home and I can honestly say that it sounds deadly.
It's only €130 from Thomann and with the money you save you can buy a pre amp

Morello

Hi,

We used these:

1 x AKG 3000B Condenser Mic (around € 300)
1 x AKG D112 Bass Drum Mic (around € 200)
4 x Shure SM57(€ 100)
2 x Shure Beta 57A (€160)
2 x Shure SM58 (€ 100)
1 x Shure Beta 58A (€160)
2 x Beyerdynamic Opus 53 Condenser Mic (€ 80)

More about the gear we used in the "recording equipment" chapter of www.morellorocks.com/resource

We were very happy with everything

About recording drums, mic positioning, etc. go here:

www.morellorocks.com/album

Alex