fellow ea'ers,

you ALL need to reply to this, and let's keep this shit stratified okay?

i'm looking for a new (primarily) snare mic, the budget it anywhere under $2,000. currently, i'm looking at a $1,200 altec 165a. i want something really crisp and fast. something aggressive but not overly aggressive, y'dig?

i'm thinking a small tube mic is the way to go, any other suggestions, all you out there with deep microphone closets suggest me your favorite snare mics... okay... ready, set, GO!

crisp and fast? sorry.

Beyer M201

Oktava MC012 (only heard it's good)

Sennheiser MD441 (bright, or as you might say, "crisp")

I'd also spend some time looking into snare micing technique.

A "crisp" snare drum may help in the first place and you may want to mic the snare itself. Tune the snare well too.

Rodabod wrote:A "crisp" snare drum may help in the first place and you may want to mic the snare itself. Tune the snare well too.

i'm to suggest mics to my boss, so this is where i turned-- i'm not just overspending in my home studio.

at our studio we always tune our drums before every session making sure they sound crisp, full, whatever stupid proaudioism you want to insert here... initially. we're just sick of the sm-57 / md421's bland snare sound. we're looking for something with a little more presence and with a really sharp, quick attack.

i'm sort of looking for creative suggestions outside the realm of the typical studio staples.

I think the obvious answer here, and the one you're probably looking for is:

...get a Josephson E22s.

Hope that helps.















You're welcome!

I use the M201 and the Oktava MC012 al lot! something about mics with twos, zeroes and ones i guess...



Eddie

I hope it was obvious that my post above was a joke, but seriously, I have been very pleased with the AT Pro37 on snare. It's a rather cheap mic, but the sound is all of the things you suggest -- sharp and tight-sounding with a lot of presence, but not overly bright.

two comments:

1. The Altec 165 is a nice mic. I have a pair with the 29B cardioid capsules. They get regular use on percussion, especially when such is played in an ensemble with other sources in the same room. Also very nice as a fretboard mic on acoustic guitar. Mine are very crisp and detailed.

2. I wouldn't put one on a snare. They don't often like loud sources, in my experience. They have a lower output than other mics which is why they work so well for me for percussion. They tend to reject other sounds that are happening at a distance, so I get a good isolated percussion track. It's not hard to overload the capsule though.

Coming from a place like Sonic Circus, I'd bet that particualr 165 is in good shape, though who knows about the tube and the age of the caps in the power supply. This mic has more self noise than you may think, and old caps in the power supply or an old tube can make it darn near unusable. Also it seems a bit overpriced to me. Everyone likes to slag the Neumann TLM103, but I find that to be a fantasic snare mic, and those can be had used for half the price of that Altec. You will need a pad for the TLM103 on a snare. I'll pair this mic with either an API312, or better yet, a Ward Beck M461 preamp and get wonderful, lively snare tracks every time.

For whatever any of that is worth...

If someone said to me, "I want a crisp, fast snare sound." I'd start with one of our Altec 175's. In fact, I'd probably already have it set up on his snare as it seems to be the default snare mic here. And that's for a good reason: it sounds really, really great.