How to choose the right drum kit microphone for your drum kit?

The drum kit is a very important percussion instrument in the jazz band. It usually consists of a bass drum (also known as "kick drum"), a snare drum, two or more Tom-Tom Drum, one or two Crash Cymbal, a Ride Cymbal and a hi-Hat with pedals. At the same time, each instrument should be equipped with a special microphone for pickup.

How should the drum kit microphone be selected?

A set of drums is divided into three parts: treble, midrange and bass:The cymbal is a high pitch; the snare is a midrange; the kick drum is a bass, so different drum kit microphones are designed for different sounds of the drum. It should be noted that there are also differences between the microphones. For example, the microphone you are recording cannot be used to pick up the drum. Because the energy of the drum is large, the microphone is very easy to break.

The kick drum is the bass part. Generally used with a more durable dynamic microphone ,which directivity is the cardioid and the frequency response range is relatively low. The position is placed on the back of the kick drum (front side according to the hit side), slightly off center. Some drummers will remove the bottom drum skin on the back or cut the drum skin into a small opening and put the microphone in.

The snare is the midrange part and also use with the dynamic microphone. Picking up is a bit tricky compared to other drums. First of all, you need to avoid the sound of the microphone picking up the hi-hat; The best position to pick up the snare is in the drum circle, 3-8cm above the drumhead, and point to the center of the drumhead.

If you can place the microphone stand between the drum and the hi-hat, adjust the angle and try to stay away from the hi-hat..

Cymbal (or hit-hat) is the treble part, the pickup is different from other drums, and you need to use a condenser microphone to pick up the sound.

Condenser mic has a wide frequency response and high-frequency resolution, so the condenser microphone can capture the brightness and crispness of the hi-hat very well. The microphone can be placed about 10 to 15 cm above the cymbal.

Recommended

P-56

6 Pieces instrument microphone:

4 dynamic microphone

2 condenser microphone

K7

7 Pieces instrument microphone:

5 dynamic microphone

2 condenser microphone