Remote Possibilities in alternative snare mics!

[Drumsound]

Nice vintage Ludwigs!yuktyy

[JayCrouch]

anyone got a beyer 201 they want to sell - or could rent me for a small fee for a session i have the 15-16th?

I'm most likely going to use a km-140, and also some sort of dynamic - and possibly a bottom mic...

414 in fig of 8 is cool - I unfortunatly just traded away my 414 for a purple mc-76 - thanks dutch, it should be here back from purple mid next week.

I cant wait to try plugging a dynamic directly into the mc-76 and using it as a "preamp and compressor", key word is "try" - not sure if it will be worth while

so anyways, who's got my beyer 201? dying to try and kicking myself since i missed an ebay auction for a new one for $60 that i got sniped by two bucks in the last 3 seconds

[subspace]

Originally posted by Drumsound
Nice vintage Ludwigs!yuktyy

Thanks! It was an all original '66 3-pc. until a couple months ago when I added a 70's Ludwig floor tom and Zildjian hats a friend swapped me for studio time. I just thought of another mic I've used on snare, the EV N/Dym 408A pictured below on the toms works on occasion, especially if your having hat bleed problems. The "super-cardioid" pattern can zero in when a 57 is too wide to control.

[rmx16]

Shure sm 98
Sennheiser 431(from my live sound days)
Turner dynamic (found it in the trash)

Rob

[Jay Kahrs]

Nice pic, but no front head on the kick? Where's the tone?

[tommyd]

Hi guys, new poster here. As one of those "drummer" guys I must agree with Jay. With no front head you are robbing yourself of pretty much all of the kick drums natural tone. Try a front head with a 3 to 4 inch hole. Can act like the bass port on speaker cabs. Experiment with mike placement and you will see a BIG dif in kik sounds. As I said , a new guy. Just my HO. Thanks for listening, Love this board. Tommy

[Jules]

441 on top (Neve 1073)
Sm57 on bottom or was it a 201? (NTI pre)

Was cool yesterday...

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally posted by tommyd
Hi guys, new poster here. As one of those "drummer" guys I must agree with Jay. With no front head you are robbing yourself of pretty much all of the kick drums natural tone. Try a front head with a 3 to 4 inch hole. Can act like the bass port on speaker cabs.

Yup. Also, a bigger problem with no front head usually goes unnoticed until it's too late. I've seen quite a few drums actually start to bend and collapse from the weight of the toms. The front head adds support and helps to keep the shell round. If you really don't want a front head (it's a sound like anything else) I'd either put the rack tom on a stand or get a head and cut most of it away. Just having the hoop of the head and the bass drum hoop in place will keep the shell in-round.

[subspace]

I've got two front heads for the kick, the original '66 full head with the "groovy" Ludwig logo, and a newer Ludwig "Rocker" with a 4" hole. Last song the kit was used on, we went with no front head and no pillow, just a strip of felt across the beater side. It sounded the best in the room mics, the ring of each kick died off just before the next hit.
I used to have a head that was cut down to the rim so you could leave the front hoop on for support. Memories of mixing SNFU when Chi Pig would do his one foot plant on the kick and the whole thing would bend, shooting him into the air...

[Jay Kahrs]

Ok, your excused!!! At least it was only for that one song and you know the dangers of no front head.

[XHipHop]

Jay, have you tried the baby bottle on a snare yet? Would it fit?

[Jay Kahrs]

No I haven't. It might fit depending on how much room the player left you to wedge a mic in. My mic cabinet isn't all that big and I have a few mics I like on snare like an SM57, AKG D310 etc. that are small and inexpensive. I don't really care if they get hit with a drumstick and covered in woodchips. While I'm cutting basics I'll stick the Baby Bottles (yes I bought another one) on electric guitar amps because about 90% of the time they sound better then an SM57 or 421 to me. Also, the pattern on the Baby Bottle is pretty freakin' wide for a cardiod mic so I'd probably have a ton of hi-hat and cymbal leakage. Maybe if I have time to experiment one day I'll give it a try but until then I'm happy with my other choices.

Jay, I completely agree with you about the Baby Bottle on guitar amps! It's become my first-choice mic for electric guitar!

Cheers,

Don

[Jesse Mangum]

I recently conducted a snare-mic shootout with ALL of the dynamic mics I had on hand (including the SM57) and my AKG D90S absolutely killed all of the other mics! If you have one of these mics on hand, try it out... let me know if you don't get the same results...

[CrankyRayHanky]

Originally Posted by subspace

I got a chance to snap a pic. It's kind of hard to tell in the photo but the 414 is under the half of the snare furthest from the kick drum.

I read an article about putting the fig 8 so that it captures both the bottom snare and kick...never tried it though

[tamasdragon]

Akg c451b. It can be fantastic.
Tamas Dragon

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

If the SM57 doesn't do it for you try...

KM140, KM84, TLM103 for most jazz dates.

I got a wierd one for you. How about a MD431? I love the warm sound you get using that mic on snare. I like to use them on bright snare drums when I'm going for a "not so" bright snare sound. IMO, they're pretty phat sounding.

This still works for me. How about you folks?

[Lori]

SM57 top and bottom work for me mostly. Maybe even an MD441 on top can be useful as well. I get what i need from an SM57 though.

[Musiclab]

I haven't used a 57 in years for snare drum, for the longest time it was a 201 on the top
but actually just poking over the top of the rim as if I was micing the shell and then a 2nd 201 micing the shell. But a few years ago I was fooling around with drum mics with my friend and I stuck an AKG 460 on top and we were both struck by how nice it sounded and bigger than the 201, so I started using that for the top and the shell I use either an earthworks SR77 or a Peluso CEM6. Since I NEVER mic the snare with the mic pointing down like the way you usually see it in all of those "how to mic a snare drum' pics, it's not really in a place where the drummer can hit it, unless he's aiming for it.

[BenJah]

I normally just throw an audix i5 on the snare. It's got a poor open top end then the 57. It's also got much better rejection

[edwinhurwitz]

Originally Posted by BenJah

I normally just throw an audix i5 on the snare. It's got a poor open top end then the 57. It's also got much better rejection

I don't think you meant poor, but maybe pure or more?

Anyway, I am wondering if these suggestions on everyone's part are also used live when sharing mic'ing with FOH? This is how I work most of the time, so I am curious if live engineers go along with most of these choices.

Edwin

[BenJah]

Actually I meant "more"... Don't know why I typed poor

I do regular live work. The i5 works great live.

As a general rule, I much prefer dynamic mics for live work as they pick up less spill.

[ogamik]

My choices:

On top B57, M201, AKG 451, AKG 414, KM 185, SM 57. I like to mix one condenser and one dynamic.

On the bottom SM57, AKG C535, AKG 451, AKG 414, KM 185.

I always find a good way.

[Samc]

Here's a little secret; the MBHO, MBNM 440 my favorite snare and tom mic for studio and live. If the KM 84 was perfect, it would be the 440...It's that good.

Not having to use corrective EQ or other processing in most cases is both a blessing and a time saver. With lots of clean headroom what more can you ask for, so I got myself about 10 of these microphones.

[Jim vanBergen]

I've miked snares a hunded ways. Who hasn't? I get tired of a '57 laying across the top.

I've been really liking using the Sennheiser 504 for some time now, under the snare unless I need a sidestick or brushes for a jazz artist, then I use a nice condenser like a KM84i on top.

Of course, I prefer a thick snare drum sound. If you dont like that, stay on the top head!

Ther 504/604/904 is so simple, easy to place, and get great tone from, it's easy to fall back on.