whats the point of buying drum mics?

[SEAN8293]

mics make the drums sound a million times better, but whats the point of buying them if you only need them for playing live and recording and the micss are supplied at the place

[atomcorr2]

your right Sean,, if your just playing at home ,and not recording anything , you dont need them. save your money ,and buy drum stuff..

[Russ]

the same reason i won't play anyone else's drum set when i'm making a video- i need certain settings dialed in and i rely on only my gear to do that. believe me you wouldn't want to get stuck with whatever the underfunded/lazy soundguy at wherever you are playing sticks you with. you want your own guy doing sound, your own stuff, that way you know the sound you will be getting. nothing worse than running into a problem cause someone else didn't think a stand or something needed replacing. just come prepared, and you'll go home happy.

[chafey]

because the only local venue that allows your kind of music only has one bass drum mic, and you have two bass drums. he only had two other mics total,which really sucked because at the time i had an 8 piece with 10 cymbals.

[RHD03]

If you do your own recording, and a lot of places will not supply mics, soundman or PA.

And sometimes, yours are better.

[Redeye]

Mics are kind of a buy it when you need it item. If you just play around the house and do small shows where your acoustic volume is enough, then you really have no need. The first time you need them and don't have any will really suck. I carry 5 or 6 around all the time. I use my bass drum mic and overhead always, as we record all live shows. Often times they are off in the main room mix and just go to the recorder. When I need the others, I'm glad they are mine and I know how they react.

[ratmycue]

Coz when u r doin a live gig and the sound guy uses audix mics and the crappy crappy crappy fittings snap right off and your snare and floor tom mics are laying on the floor mid way thru ya tunes!!!! its nice to reach back and grab your good old reliable,plug em in and bingo bongo u r in business. I will never let a sound guy hook them audix things up again for me. Don't leave home without ya own mics as back up.

[SEAN8293]

my opinion has changed on mics, il proabably buy some in a few monthes after i buy some new cymbals

what brand of mics are good?

[Exotic Matter]

I've played a lot of shows before and have never even considered buying my own mics. Any venue that needs them will have them. Also, mics only make BAD sounding kits sound a million times better. You can certainly EQ them, but a properly tuned drum set should warrant very little EQing. I would never look at mics as a way to get that sound that I'm looking for. That all comes from playing, tuning, and head selection.

There have been plenty of instances where sound guys have miked my kit and ended up not even putting it into the mix because the kit is properly tuned and carries itself acoustically. The exception of this would be the bass drum, which is almost always miked and put into the mix. If anything I would get one good kick mic and go from there.

[Russ]

my opinion has changed on mics, il proabably buy some in a few monthes after i buy some new cymbals

what brand of mics are good?

i think it varies drum to drum. a dream mic setup for me would be rode nt1000 overheads, beyerdynamic pencil mics for ride and hats, for snare an audix i5 over sennheiser e609, sennheiser md421's for all toms, and electro-voice n/d868 on bass drum. but my realistic setup will be a little different, maybe change out the 421's for some good low profile tom mics like EV pl35 or Shure Beta56 or Audix d2 and d4's

[Redeye]

Any venue that needs them will have them.

I think that may be a dangerous assumption. I have played many times, mostly outdoors at bars, where we provide our own sound and mics.

A reasonably priced package that has decent mics is the Shure drum package. You get 3 SM57s (snare/toms) and a Beta 52 (the hottest kick drum mic around these days) plus rim clips for $400. No overheads.

[late8]

Coz when u r doin a live gig and the sound guy uses audix mics and the crappy crappy crappy fittings snap right off and your snare and floor tom mics are laying on the floor mid way thru ya tunes!!!! its nice to reach back and grab your good old reliable,plug em in and bingo bongo u r in business. I will never let a sound guy hook them audix things up again for me. Don't leave home without ya own mics as back up.

I totally agree with the lousy clips on audix mic tom holders. If they don't fall off during playing, the tom mic clip that grabs the hoop will eventually slide down to the next available lug

SEAN: This is just some personal insight on mics and PA stuff. When I got back into drumming after 15 years of inactivity, I told myself I was going to invest in my own PA system for my drums only. With my limited budget, I priced out mics, speakers, subs, monitors, amps, mic stands, cables, outboard gear (234 dbx cross over), road cases for PA equipment etc. My intentions were to be fully independent from any sound guy or sound company from micing my kit. I wanted to hand the sound guy one simple line out from my PA head (8 inputs) and off we go.

Today, my entire PA system that I had invested for my drums is being used as the "band" PA and I have "donated" 7 of the 8 inputs for vocal mics and the speakers and monitors are used for the entire band.

My personal goals are still within reach. If my band breaks up, I still have a full PA system to mic myself if I join another band or I can "offer" my PA as I do now and have a 5 piece band mic'd and monitored and most of all HAPPY.

If you decide to start investing in equipment beyond just drum stuff, you'll become more of an asset to whatever band is going to be lucky enough to have you as a band member and best of all....their DRUMMER.

Edit: I left out prices sorry.

Speakers; Peavey PV115 (horn and cone combined) $220 US$ ea. (2x)
Subs: Peavey PV118 $220 US$ ea. (2x)
Monitors: Peavey PR115 $220 US$ ea. (2x)
Speaker stands: $89.00 (pair)
Amps: Peavey XBR 8600 (2x 600 watts) $554 US$ (for Speakers)
Behringer 1400 (2x 700 watts) $230 US$ (for Subs)
dbx 234 crossover: $209 US$
Audix 5A Drum kit package w/clips (5 mics no overhead) $659 US$
Odyssey CXP1118W Pro Combo Case
with Wheels (PA gear rack) $430 US$
Mic stands 3 booms @ $20.00 US$ ea.
Desk top mic stand: $20.00 US$ ea.
(3x) 20ft XLR mic cables $29 US$ ea.
(8x) 10 ft XLR mic cables $10 US$ ea.

Grand total spent on my very basic PA system was: $3741 US$

[xsabers]

I play frequently at a place where we can be fairly loud, and the house soundman doesn't want to bother with close miking the toms. Just kick, snare and overhead. So I bring my own mics and board and mix my toms to my liking, then send the house one signal from the four toms. We pay all this $$ for nice shells and then the toms get lost in the mix. What's the point? For smaller venues, I at least mic my kick and run a separate PA on stage that gives me some presense and control of the sound. My band loves it and they can always hear the kick now. If needed, I can send a line to the house too! Still need a sub cabinet though (preferably powered) so that I can loosen some teeth (in a musically tasteful manner of course...)

[pastor_bob]

Still need a sub cabinet though (preferably powered) so that I can loosen some teeth (in a musically tasteful manner of course...)

Think of all the people that could get a visit from the tooth fairy, thereby improving their economic position!

[Exotic Matter]

I think that may be a dangerous assumption. I have played many times, mostly outdoors at bars, where we provide our own sound and mics.

Not necessarily. I've played many, many times with our own PA (indoors and outdoors). Again, if you have a good sounding kit that holds it own, it's not a problem. The only thing we put through the PA is the vocals, and maybe the kick. The rest is mixed to the drums though amp levels. Any place where more volume is legitimately needed will have it's own PA system, or one will be provided. IMO, any gig where you need to bring your own PA probably isn't big enough to warrant miking an entire kit.

[xsabers]

Not necessarily. I've played many, many times with our own PA (indoors and outdoors). Again, if you have a good sounding kit that holds it own, it's not a problem. The only thing we put through the PA is the vocals, and maybe the kick. The rest is mixed to the drums though amp levels. Any place where more volume is legitimately needed will have it's own PA system, or one will be provided. IMO, any gig where you need to bring your own PA probably isn't big enough to warrant miking an entire kit.

I've played 2500+ seat theaters where we had to provide the entire PA. Definitely needed mics!

[Exotic Matter]

I've played 2500+ seat theaters where we had to provide the entire PA. Definitely needed mics!

Well, that is definitely a different story. I hope they paid you a ton of money to bring it. I would expect any venue that big to have a PA or rent one.