Converting a speaker to a kick mic?

TelePaul · 30-11-2009 01:23PM #1

Has anybody done this? Apparently it's easy enough to do but I'm wondering what sort of quality to expect or what size speaker to use...

30-11-2009 02:15PM

I'm no expert now but I had a look into this before after reading about Jaquire King using a NS10 woofer to record kick drums,(in the SOS article about recording the Kings of Leon http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec08/articles/it_king.htm) they are recommended but apparently any decent 8" woofer will capture low end frequencies quite well.

Its Good for recording bass cabs too.

madtheory · 30-11-2009 02:47PM

The speaker will be omnidirectional so you need to make a tunnel. If you're going to go to that trouble then IMO a good condenser mic will give you more bottom end, you can keep it at a safe distance in the tunnel and get good isolation. Speakers don't actually pick up much bottom end, Yamaha's own subkick only goes down to 50Hz, whereas your average condenser mic can do 20Hz.

Robin Ball · 30-11-2009 11:45PM

Hi Tele,

It's really quite easy, I have done it with a NS-10 Cone, just grab some mic cable and solder both ends to the XLR and speaker connections & voila! Speaker turned microphone. I guess you'll have to experiment with different cones to get the sound you're after.

Robin

tweeky · 01-12-2009 12:04AM

madtheory wrote: »

The speaker will be omnidirectional so you need to make a tunnel. If you're going to go to that trouble then IMO a good condenser mic will give you more bottom end, you can keep it at a safe distance in the tunnel and get good isolation. Speakers don't actually pick up much bottom end, Yamaha's own subkick only goes down to 50Hz, whereas your average condenser mic can do 20Hz.

Less omnidirectional when it's still in the Box. I really hate the subkick thing and think that a great Kick can be created with a couple of great mics and good EQ. But then i'm just a grumpy old man.

studiorat · 01-12-2009 12:55AM

I was doing it for a while, but mostly I found it quite useless. Just way too slow and low.
Nothing wrong with omni-directional mics on the kick btw, it means the spill is on axis so doesn't sound as bad in the whole washing machine.

if6was9 · 01-12-2009 01:29AM

I use a Marshall 2X12 as a sub kick, just plug the speaker input into your pre and your set.

Gets very usable results- I always low pass it with a pretty high Q setting and it does the trick for getting rid of other sources

Ronan Murphy · 03-12-2009 12:53AM

Of course if you want to be lazy.....

http://www.yamaha.com/drums/drumproductdetail.html?CNTID=544671

bedubaya · 03-12-2009 03:29PM

i did this with a 12 inch speaker from an old PA and munted it inside an old 12 inch rack tom, works perfect!

madtheory · 03-12-2009 07:17PM

Never tried omni on a kick, usually the spill is quite low in level, 'specially if you use a tunnel. I very much like omni on snare though, as you say, spill is fun that way! That Beyerdynamic 58 reporters mic is cool.

Converting a speaker to a kick mic?

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