I've had the D112 for a few years now but i never really got what i wanted out of it. The bass drum is 22" and had a closed resonant head.
I've been monitoring while my companion moves the mic around but i've never been fully satisfied with the outcome. Most of the time it sounds way to tacky. to much mid/high frequency attack and too little low end warmth.

Might there be something wrong with the resonant heads tuning?
There is a slightly better sound behind the kit than up front.
Can anyone give me some pointers on how to tackle this?

Thank you,
Peter

Peter wrote:I've had the D112 for a few years now but i never really got what i wanted out of it. The bass drum is 22" and had a closed resonant head.
I've been monitoring while my companion moves the mic around but i've never been fully satisfied with the outcome. Most of the time it sounds way to tacky. to much mid/high frequency attack and too little low end warmth.

Might there be something wrong with the resonant heads tuning?
There is a slightly better sound behind the kit than up front.
Can anyone give me some pointers on how to tackle this?

Thank you,
Peter

If you like the way the drum sounds, but you have too much mid/high stuff w/the D112, try a Beyer M380.

D112 is known for that HF doink. 380 is much more even, w/great lows.

Thank you very much.
One of those is gonna be pretty hard to find i think.
There's not one on ebay right now.
I was thinking along the lines of an EV RE20 if it came to getting a different mic. I've heard one being used on a 18" BD and was very impressed with the outcome.
I realy like the sound of my kit. I spend alot of time keeping it sounding good too, and i'm realy buggered having an almoste rock/metal type of kick sound on my recordings.
The kick is actually tuned alot higher than most rock outfits.

Peter

If you can't find a 380 a Beyer TGX-50 will give give similar results.

Beyer M88 might do the trick, too.

Audix D6
ATM25

I've used everything mentioned here on kick at one time or another. Sadly (for you) the D112 was at the bottom of the heap. I can see where they'd be good for sound reinforcement work, but for recording I think any of the options mentioned above are better.

The setup with closed resonant head you are describing I've had before, and recording it was a pain in the ass.

I love the D112. Works for me all the time with very little finagling. I have the reso Evans heads, a coated beater head and a 2 ply reso head with an off-center hole cut about the size of a pint of paint lid. The beater head is tuned up a tad higher than the reso head. I stick the D112 inside the shell aim it off axis towards the beater and use room mics to capture the girth. I have a 22X16 Legend hard rock maple bass drum.

I've used a small throw pillow inside the drum, or just a many-times-crumpled over-and-over single sheet of newspaper touching both heads (something Brian Paulson likes to do, I am told this by some friends who have second engineered with him..). I also like a wooden beater. Oddly I don't seem to get the 1985 Metallica "clicky" sound as you would think..

I've used an M88 outside on the beater side and in front of the reso head in conjunction with the D112 to get a little more girth with some success as well. I wouldn't choose the M88 by itself, but it does accentuate some freqs the D112 doesn't (and it is the only other proper "bass" mic I own)

Thank you guys very much.
All of those are well in my budget and i can avoid ebay!
It's been a bugger trying to get something half decent recorded with my d112
and i'm glad to see there's that many good options in my range.
I can't be spending tomuch if only because my preamps aren't all that.

Thank you!
Peter

The setup with closed resonant head you are describing I've had before, and recording it was a pain in the ass.

I love the D112. Works for me all the time with very little finagling. I have the reso Evans heads, a coated beater head and a 2 ply reso head with an off-center hole cut about the size of a pint of paint lid. The beater head is tuned up a tad higher than the reso head. I stick the D112 inside the shell aim it off axis towards the beater and use room mics to capture the girth. I have a 22X16 Legend hard rock maple bass drum.

I've used a small throw pillow inside the drum, or just a many-times-crumpled over-and-over single sheet of newspaper touching both heads (something Brian Paulson likes to do, I am told this by some friends who have second engineered with him..). I also like a wooden beater. Oddly I don't seem to get the 1985 Metallica "clicky" sound as you would think..

I've used an M88 outside on the beater side and in front of the reso head in conjunction with the D112 to get a little more girth with some success as well. I wouldn't choose the M88 by itself, but it does accentuate some freqs the D112 doesn't (and it is the only other proper "bass" mic I own)

Well that's another small issue, gated reso or not?
apart from soundguys giving me a bad time about it...
The kit came with a closed resonant head and my idea is that if it sounds good just listening to it, wich it does, i should be able to capture that sound.
Although i'm not all that experienced in mic placement, i have the luxury of taking as much time as i need. The room where i'm recording sounds amazing (shear luck) And i can record pretty much anything as-is with a nice room sound aswell. What do you think?
I don't like puting cutters to my kit.

Peter

Peter wrote:

The setup with closed resonant head you are describing I've had before, and recording it was a pain in the ass.

I love the D112. Works for me all the time with very little finagling. I have the reso Evans heads, a coated beater head and a 2 ply reso head with an off-center hole cut about the size of a pint of paint lid. The beater head is tuned up a tad higher than the reso head. I stick the D112 inside the shell aim it off axis towards the beater and use room mics to capture the girth. I have a 22X16 Legend hard rock maple bass drum.

I've used a small throw pillow inside the drum, or just a many-times-crumpled over-and-over single sheet of newspaper touching both heads (something Brian Paulson likes to do, I am told this by some friends who have second engineered with him..). I also like a wooden beater. Oddly I don't seem to get the 1985 Metallica "clicky" sound as you would think..

I've used an M88 outside on the beater side and in front of the reso head in conjunction with the D112 to get a little more girth with some success as well. I wouldn't choose the M88 by itself, but it does accentuate some freqs the D112 doesn't (and it is the only other proper "bass" mic I own)

Well that's another small issue, gated reso or not?
apart from soundguys giving me a bad time about it...
The kit came with a closed resonant head and my idea is that if it sounds good just listening to it, wich it does, i should be able to capture that sound.
Although i'm not all that experienced in mic placement, i have the luxury of taking as much time as i need. The room where i'm recording sounds amazing (shear luck) And i can record pretty much anything as-is with a nice room sound aswell. What do you think?
I don't like puting cutters to my kit.

Peter

yeah, a nice room helps. have you tried a condenser mic directly in front of the kick about 6-9 feet away at about hip level? It def. seems to liven up things a bit and take some "shell" and mud out of the d112-m88 combo.

I have access to some nice, if not inappropriate mics for the job. for example, a AKG 414B-uls set to figure 8 works OK on this type of "in front of the kit room sound" if not a little woofy and bright

I have also used an AKG C3000 to good effect. My favorite "in front of the drums" mic that I have that is def cheap for what it is- the Shinybox 46:



The guy that makes these is basically upgrading entry level Ribbon mics with really good transformers and stuff. I think they sound great. Very flat and can stand to use a good preamp with them. I don't put them too close to the kit though as wind/air pressure ain't good for ribbons.