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Would anyone care to describe their tastes and experiences regarding the mics below?

AKG D112
Audio Technica ATM 25
Shure Beta 52
Sennheiser MD 421
AKG D12e / D12 Gold
Electrovoice RE20

Any other additions welcome.

I´m slowly finding my way around recording kick drums to my satisfaction (for one thing, I finally have access to a larger variety of mics), but I´m still very unsatisfied with the top end I´ve been capturing. I still haven´t found a techinique that doesn´t require me to EQ the fuck out of the track later. Any suggestions / successful experiences? Please note that I do a lot of metal / hardcore, which usually makes me look for a more hyped top end on the kick drum. But I´m trying to reach a happy medium, having it sound as natural as possible.

I tried micíng the beater side once, looking for a beater sound that actually had some texture to it, but I got so much cymbal leakage that I couldn´t use the high end like I wanted, it completely changed the kit sound for the worse.

the World War W song that's on my homepage (in my signature) was recorded with a Beta52 on kick, at the front edge of the shell (no front head). there was very little EQ if any, as the recording was live direct to stereo mp3, so there was no possibility of mixing anything after the fact.

i find the Beta52 gets a big deep low end and more of the attack/high end then i know what to do with. most of the time i'm trying to place the mic in a way where it cuts down the attack.

another thing you can try if you want more high end on your kick sound is this:

take off the resonant head completely. and use wooden beaters on the kick pedal. for metal that should get you tons of clicky attack.

I have a couple D112s, an EV686, I've just got an RE20, and I've used a beta 52 a few times.

I've only used the RE20 on bass guitar so far, but it seems like it would be better for a kick drum sound with less attack and more punch.

As for the others, I prefer the 686 over the D112 and beta 52...it seems to have a flatter response than the others. I think the D112 and the Beta 52 are too clicky most of the time...I do like the D112's on toms though.

I also always use the 686 on the front and another condenser on the back, usually a c1000...pointing down at the beater from the top of the kick drum, and with the phase reversed. Typically I can use some combination of these tracks with no eq to get a good sound.

d112- excellent.
atm25- boring.
re20- round and good.
d12-good, with heavy EQ.
421- ok, very 60's sounding (if that makes any sense).
beta 52- ok, but kinda plain- typical sounding- like a 'kick drum' sample.

usually i put either a d112 or 421 or Beyer M380 on the front head near the hoop- and either a 441, sm57, Gefell M300, GLM-100, or 451 as near to the beater as i can possibly get it without being struck.

if additional massiveness is required i'll either cover the front mic with a tunnel of baffles with a sleeping bag over it or put the mic in a large plastic or cardboard industrial picklebarrel-like bin (or inside a second kick drum in front of the one being played).

for really really clicky attack, do the old Pantera trick and duct tape a quarter to the beater and an old credit card to the head at the point of impact.

for what it's worth, lately i've been into using a 4033 only- right in front of the hole in the front head. but maybe that's just because right now it sounds new and fresh to me.

who knows?

Bernardo wrote:Would anyone care to describe their tastes and experiences regarding the mics below?

AKG D112: Too basketball sounding, generally.

Audio Technica ATM 25: I love this mic. Warm, but with good attack. the Pro 25 is also good.

Shure Beta 52: Don't know.

Sennheiser MD 421: I've only used it in a live setting, but it worked well.

AKG D12e / D12 Gold. I love this mic. At least the old D12 we have at where I work. My best bass drum sounds are from this mis inside the drum near the resonant head and then some other mic on the batter.

Electrovoice RE20. Good for certain applications. For instance, I find this mic seems to work well with full front heads. The hypercardioid with not much proximity effect can get a good isolation without allowing the low frequencies to dominate due to close placement.

Also, for the batter side mic, try uding a directional mic and placing it above the batter and pointing it toward the floor. Also, if you have a gate or expander with a keyed input, try running the batter side mic through the gate or expander and keying it from the mic inside the kick drum.

Good luck!
Ben Adrian

421 has too little boost or punch...at all settings on the bass filter. 112 -awesome.

mr. helocopters-i listend to the world war W song...kick is sweeeeeet. do you meen u put the mic on a kick drum with no back batter? and ..sory to be difficult...but could you expand on the bass drum mic placent...it sounds real good and i have an importyant recording coming up. ahah

that kick was recorded using a beta52, into my mixer (slight EQ if any), to a stereo mix recorded on my mp3 player. the kick itself is a 70's (?) ludwig, 24", with an evans head on the batter side (the one with the muffler ring) and no head or hardware on the resonant side. the beta52 was right near the front edge of the kick shell, about 6" above the floor, and maybe 4" from the shell of the drum. if you were to set the mic up directly at the end of the shell, and then move it a few inches toward the center line of the drum (in my case, moving it a few inches to the left) and then point it at a (roughly) 45 degree angle in towards the shell, that's the setup right there. oh, also, the kick pedal is an iron cobra double pedal. and the guy playing drums is very solid and consistent.

i've never used any mic on a kick besides an SM57 or SM58, D112, and the beta52. the 57 and 58 are obviously the mic of choice when there is no actual kick mic available. when i A/B'd the D112 vs Beta52, on the same drum with all the same gear, i found the beta52 had a fine sounding high-end, very workable, and the low end felt deeper than the D112's did.

sounds like a setup i have to try..thanks for the description

Used D112 exclusively for many years and was very happy. Recently been on an RE20 kick, though.

Always the mic of choice for the shellac bass drum. Live and in studio. Every time.

bob