OT - SM57s

Kiaser Sohsai · Post by **Kiaser Sohsai** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:26 pm

Right then, I'm gonna start recording a shight load of demos and I've got two SM57s and two Apex 460s. I'm gonna use the 460s fer the overheads L+R, and one 57 fer the snare, but what would the other 57 sound like for the kick?

Peace love and tone

weezle · Post by **weezle** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:28 pm

yo,

I've never used my mic for a kick drum, but when i first got it, i slapped it in front of 400 watts of stereo and it managed to hold its own. I'd say it'd be pretty good for mic'ing your kick drum, best way to find out is give it a go!!

mistyfog · Post by **mistyfog** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:36 pm

Ive heard a 57 will do a good job on a kick, got this from Tweakheadz.com,

<i>The Kik Mic has to be able to handle hi SPL and low frequencies. Many a condenser will distort like madness here, so dynamic mics get the call. <b>Popular Kickin' mics are the AKG D12, Shure SM57 and Beyer M88</b>. It can be placed a few inches away from the front kick drum head or sometimes engineers place them inside the drum. The Snare mic too has to handle hi demand, SPL wise. And it should be rugged. Drummers pack a real wallop into their hits and many times they will accidentally slam right into the mic, if placed anywhere near the snare (a good argument for placing the mic under the snare). The SM57 is a great mic for this. Other fine mics for snares are the AKG 414eb and the Sennheiser MD421. Overhead mics need to pick up the whole kit from a greater distance, so they can be more sensitive, but it still helps to have one with a pad. Condenser mics usually get the call. Small condensers are a good choice. For Toms, the Sennheiser 421 is usually a top recommend. Miking cymbals can be done with condenser mics to capture the hi frequency shimmer, but again be advised to get one with a -10 pad and cymbals have a lot of sustained sound energy.</i>

Kiaser Sohsai · Post by **Kiaser Sohsai** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:38 pm

I dug up this interesting quote

"in my laziness, thought I'd try my SM57 on preset 70 (generic kick/Presets rev2) rather than walk *all* the way over to PA to borrow the D6 again."

Is he saying that the SM has presets?

weezle · Post by **weezle** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:41 pm

My SM just has a hole in the back for a mic lead and a stand that it sits on!

Knuckle Bones · Post by **Knuckle Bones** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:43 pm

That's the way to do it....bring the overheads in pretty tight to capture the toms better...then 57 on the snare and kick.

Luke · Post by **Luke** » Thu May 04, 2006 8:12 pm

Don't expect a whole lot of low end out of the 57 without mucho eq.

bassdrop · Post by **bassdrop** » Thu May 04, 2006 8:32 pm

The 57 does give a nice *splat* though. That effect decreases as you move it farther away from beater head. If the drum isn't completely damped and has the outer head with a mic hole in it you can put the mics diaghram even with the plane of the outer head to get some of the low end ring.

dirtythief · Post by **dirtythief** » Thu May 04, 2006 8:32 pm

i'm a house engineer at a rock club and have used the 57 on the kick and it sounds good (i combine it with a beta 91). usually gotta bump some lows up but sounds pretty decent. i'll probably try it again tonight since it's a random band.
as for recording with those mics, work on the OHs enough till they sound as if you don't need to mic anything else up. then put in the snare and kick.

Satanic_Versus · Post by **Satanic_Versus** » Thu May 04, 2006 9:04 pm

Get a AKG-D112 OR a Shure beta-52 for the kick, the 57 in not all for a bass drum. Not even a floor tom.

I use a Shure 57 for the upper tom(s) and a beta-57A for the snare, an AKG-d3700 for the floor tom, a Shure beta 52 for the bass drum.

Oktava condenser mics make for great overheads.

Jon

Kiaser Sohsai · Post by **Kiaser Sohsai** » Thu May 04, 2006 9:58 pm

I'm not gonna get another mic, I more or less have to make due with what I got. Budget constraints.

MarcusBlacksmith · Post by **MarcusBlacksmith** » Thu May 04, 2006 10:18 pm

The SM57 should do fairly well on the kick.

Ideally a large diaphram dynamic mic (like the AKG D12) would capture more of the low end thump...but since you've already got the SM57...

Bluz57 · Post by **Bluz57** » Thu May 04, 2006 10:19 pm

SM57 will do a great job.

Kiaser Sohsai · Post by **Kiaser Sohsai** » Thu May 04, 2006 10:25 pm

I suppose it doesn't matter what I use, it will end up sounding like a three legged horse swiming up a river.

OT - SM57s

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