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Thread: Drum mics for small gigs

  1. #1

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    Default Drum mics for small gigs

    Unfortunately my gig last night brought complaints from some people in the pub saying they could'nt hear the drums. I'm not a pounder but I did not play soft at all.

    Drummers know that the problem ain't the drums!

    I have a very low budget and was wondering what ideas you have for putting mic's on a kit.

    I know, it's easier to tell the singer, bass and guitar to lower the volumes, but it's not gonna happen!

  2. #2

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    You can get a full set of Samson mics for fairly cheap off of ebay. They apparently do quite well. Or, if you gig with a smaller kit and don't need the full mic set, maybe try and pick up a couple used ones? An SM57, a couple 58's and an overhead of some sort might be all you need...
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  3. #3

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    The CAD sets are pretty inexpensive and supposed to be good. For a small gig all you really need is kick/snare and maybe some small overheads.

    I have these 2 small CAD overheads that I got 2 for 1 (and still are) for $60 and they work fine. For the rest I have the Shure PG kit (the one without condensers) and they work great.
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  4. #4

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    I use a samson mic kit, have not had complaints with them yet. There are probably better sounding mics out there but for the price I was on I didn't feel let down in any way. For overheads though I use mxl 990's and 991's, which are fragile but have a pretty good sound to them I think.
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  5. #5

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    on a budget you can get away with 2 mics for a gig, one dynamic on the bass and one cardioid between the hats and snare, dedicate a good PA speaker and away you go, they will hear you now!

  6. #6

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    +1

    I play a lot of weddings, corp gigs, etc...

    I mic my kick and snare / hi-hat the vocal mics pic up enough of th rest.

    just remember that adding mics ads complexity and time. Small gigs in my experiance dont need more then that
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  7. #7

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    Thank you for your replies!

    I think I'l try the easiest first (just kick / snare-hihat) maybe adding another on the right side of my kit capturing toms and ride later on.

    So youre all saying to put it thru the singers sound system, I hope it wont cause distortion on her voice.

    I was told by the bass player who has a spare 200W subwoofer that maybe I can put the kick on it and the rest on the PA so I'll try that out, too!

    Thanks again!

  8. #8

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    Don't forget. Another consideration is how many channels remain open on the PA mixer for use. This can determine the amount of mikes usable. What kind of music does your band play? For a full bore rock band, you likely will have to mike all drums, esp. if loud amplification is involved. For a basic MOR (middle of the road) band, a couple of overheads should suffice.

    all the best...

  9. #9

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    I love threads like this. It's funny to see how thing have changed since I last played out in 1991. Back then we toured with a massive full P.A. system. 4 -18" bass cabinets on each side of the stage with two mid horns and two high end horns on each side as well. All powered by 6 1000 watt Crown power amps. 32 channel mixing board a ton of processing gear that I knew nothing about. I was playing a ten piece kit and had a mic on every drum , one on the hi-hat, ride cymbal, and two overheads. Of course we had a sound engineer that mic'ed my kit up and ran sound every night.

    Today I'll go out to a club and have a beer a see band with drum kits that are not mic'ed at all. I think it sucks personally. Even in a club you should still be able to feel the kick drum and hear the snare and toms. Also the amount of warmth and punch you can add to the kit by mic'ing it up make the entire band sound so much better. It bums me out quite frankly.

  10. #10

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    a pa is designed to handle multiple inputs a bass amp is not. try the two mics through the pa. remember in a small club your simply renforcing the stage sound, it soes not take much.
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  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by rmandelbaum View Post
    a pa is designed to handle multiple inputs a bass amp is not. try the two mics through the pa. remember in a small club your simply renforcing the stage sound, it soes not take much.
    +1...a decent soundguy should be able to get it sounding good

  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by NPYYZ View Post
    I love threads like this. It's funny to see how thing have changed since I last played out in 1991. Back then we toured with a massive full P.A. system. 4 -18" bass cabinets on each side of the stage with two mid horns and two high end horns on each side as well. All powered by 6 1000 watt Crown power amps. 32 channel mixing board a ton of processing gear that I knew nothing about. I was playing a ten piece kit and had a mic on every drum , one on the hi-hat, ride cymbal, and two overheads. Of course we had a sound engineer that mic'ed my kit up and ran sound every night.

    Today I'll go out to a club and have a beer a see band with drum kits that are not mic'ed at all. I think it sucks personally. Even in a club you should still be able to feel the kick drum and hear the snare and toms. Also the amount of warmth and punch you can add to the kit by mic'ing it up make the entire band sound so much better. It bums me out quite frankly.
    Thanks for your reply! Till now I never used mics. I do feel the same it's better to hear each and every piece of a kit. I'm saying loud, just heard. I'd enjoy it more for sure.

    We play some rock like Good Time Bad Times - Led Zep, Simple Man and Call Me The Breeze from Lynrd Skynyrd, Piece of My Heart - Janis, Black Velvet - Alannah Miles, etc. So we have "light and shade" some hard stuff and some groovy tunes.

    Here's a small underground place which had awesome acoustics and the drums had a very warm sound.



    Here another pub with bamboo all around, gives a nice sound, but guitar and voice were louder.



    Yet another pub, this time lots of wood surroundings, drums were heard pretty good, the guitar drowned me out. *sigh* :D



    Sat nites gig was in a cafeteria, so lots of space, guitar and bass too loud etc.





    Quote Originally Posted by rmandelbaum View Post
    a pa is designed to handle multiple inputs a bass amp is not. try the two mics through the pa. remember in a small club your simply renforcing the stage sound, it soes not take much.
    Good to know, thank you! Yes I'm looking for a slight help in sound volume and definition.

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