The most expensive microphone I own cost me $700. I’ve recorded a lot of things with it – lead vocals, drums, guitars, piano, saxophone, accordion – tons of things. At Nashville Studio Live, a recording studio in Nashville that regularly hires me for sessions, this is the exact same microphone we use to track vocals on every session we do. It’s a great mic, and I’ve captured a countless amount of fantastic sounding recordings with it.

However, this particular $700 microphone is probably not the one I use the most. When I’m tracking a full band, I’ll use a whole bunch of different microphones, and the bulk of them are actually relatively cheap mics. Quite often, I’ll end up using a $100 mic to record a killer sounding lead vocal.

Now, I’ve certainly recorded with microphones that are very expensive-mics that cost $2,000, and sometimes even as expensive as $8,000. But I don’t own any mics that are this expensive. If I feel that a recording could benefit from using one of these super expensive mics, I either borrow it from a friend or rent it.

So here’s the point: it’s not necessary, and many times not even ideal to use really expensive microphones to record. So before you convince yourself that you “just have to drop $2,000 on the best microphone ever,” spend some time investigating whether or not that mic really is as necessary as you think it is.

At a certain point you might find that it is in fact a huge need to own a super expensive mic, and you will justifiably need to make that purchase. But I know personally that I’m not ever going to make this kind of high end purchase a day sooner than I have to-when my business begins to suffer because of an inadequacy of the gear I own (which has only happened a couple of times in the last 10 years). As a matter of fact, this rationale goes for all the other gear out there too.

//Jon
Website: jonstinson.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stnsn
Twitter: @stsn

Since today is the last day I’ll be posting in July, and as I plan to tweak my posting schedule next month (posting a little less), I thought I’d post twice today in order to get to a conclusion to my series of posts on recording drums.

I suggested in my post earlier today that recording ambient/room tracks for drums is a bit of a wild card, and that you should take the liberty to experiment. I think this applies to choosing microphones as well. Get crazy. Try anything and everything. Have fun. Room mics are the “special sauce” that goes on top of the main drum sound. It’s the part of the sound that should, in a way, stand out from the rest of the drums.

I’ve literally tried all kinds of mics for recording drum ambience-from super expensive mics that I could never afford to own, to super cheap mics that I don’t care to own, to really quirky mics that I didn’t know existed.

This time, rather than make specific suggestions for what I know to have worked for people, I encourage you to experiment with anything and everything you can get your hands on-whether its’s a tube mic, dynamic mic, ribbon mic, or condenser mic. Hey, I once co-produced a project where we got our room sounds using a couple of built in mics from an old quirky reel-to-reel two track. My point being… get really creative…

Just jumping into this discussion on recording drums? Check out my previous posts on the topic:

The #1 Best Drum Miking Technique

Recording A Kick Drum

Recording A Kick Drum: Mic Selection

Recording Snare

Recording Snare: Mic Selection

Recording Drum Overheads

Recording Drum Overheads: Mic Selection

Recording Toms

Recording Toms: Mic Selection

Recording A Hi-Hat

Recording A Hi-Hat: Mic Selection

Recording Drum Room Ambience

Thanks for reading. Hope you’ve not only gotten something out of Producer Notes this July, but also enjoyed reading the blog.

//Jon
Twitter: @stsn

BTW-July 2011 signified the 4 year mark of Producer Notes. Thought I’d share :)

Cymbals can quickly get harsh. And just as I mentioned in my post yesterday, hi-hats want to bleed all over your drum tracks like none other. Therefore, using a darker, dynamic or ribon mic to kind of tame the harshness of it all is my default preference.

Here’s what I know has worked well for people (myself included):

• Shure SM 57 – Seriously, you should just assume I’m always going to suggest this mic for everything.
• Shure SM7 – Kinda different to use this on hi-hat, but there’s a studio I work at quite often, that keeps the drum mics always set up. SM7 is what is on the hat, and it works!
• Salt Shaker Mic – These are awesome military-esque microphones from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, Such as the Western Electric 633, the Altec 632C, or the Electro Voice 630. They’re not “go-to” mics by any means, but if you ask around, it’s not impossible to track them down.

Instead of again telling you, “don’t go out and buy these mics,” I’m not only going to spare you from that spiel, but actually suggest that you go purchase a 57. After continually suggesting the 57 in pretty much every single one of my drum mic recommendations, it made me fully realize how essential that mic is. Even if you’re only recording once a month, it’s silly not to own this mic as it honestly is a decent choice for recording anything. Since it’s pretty cheap, and considering how much use it will get, you will actually save yourself some money if you just go ahead and buy one.

This post is a part of a bigger “recording drums” discussion. If you’re just now jumping in, take a look at my earlier posts on this topic:

The #1 Best Drum Miking Technique
Recording A Kick Drum
Recording A Kick Drum: Mic Selection
Recording Snare
Recording Snare: Mic Selection
Recording Drum Overheads
Recording Drum Overheads: Mic Selection
Recording Toms
Recording Toms: Mic Selection
Recording A Hi-Hat

//Jon
Twitter: @stsn

As the flow of this “recording drums discussion” is obvious at this point, and I’m clearly making my way around the kit, I’m going to keep this post super short by getting straight to the matter.

Here’s the microphones I know to have worked well for people (myself included) when recording toms:

• Shure SM 57-Is that any surprise at all?
• Sennheiser 421
• Sennheiser e604
• AKG 414′s-again, the now discontinued versions with the CK12 or nylon CK12 capsules are ideal
• Audio-Technica 4033
• Electro Voice RE20

For what it’s worth, the mics I keep going back to for getting the drums to tape (or disk) are:

Rack Tom: often times if there is only one rack tom I simply won’t put a mic on it, but allow for the overhead mic to capture it. Otherwise, I most often use a 57 or 421.

Floor Tom: These days I’m pretty consistent in going with a 4033.

And yeah, I’m going to reiterate my point about not rushing out to buy these mics. Try them first. Otherwise you’re spending money on gear just to have gear, and not legitimately investing in a tool for recording. The only exception would be if you go buy a couple 57′s.

Just jumping into this drum recording discussion? Here’s my previous posts on the subject:
The #1 Best Drum Miking Technique
Recording A Kick Drum
Recording A Kick Drum: Mic Selection
Recording Snare
Recording Snare: Mic Selection
Recording Drum Overheads
Recording Drum Overheads: Mic Selection
Recording Toms

//Jon
Twitter: @stsn

In contrast to choosing microphones to record kick and snare, there’s a much more diverse range of mics that recording engineers use for capturing drum overheads. That being said, there’s also a few common popularities that recordists often fall back on.

Because the subject of drum overhead mic selection can be quite vast, and include suggestions that can be very expensive, I’m going to keep my list limited to the most popular yet slightly less expensive options.

Here’s what I’ve seen work well for people (myself included):

• AKG 414-Very popular mic for recording drum overheads, but it’s a bit more on the expensive side. To be specific, the vintage 414s with the original CK12 capsules, or the C414B-ULS, C414B-TL, and/or C414B-TLII with the nylon CK12 capsules are the preferred choices (all these versions have been discontinued).
• Audio Technica 4033
• Shure KSM44-Probably my most used mic for recording overheads. Sometimes I find them a little bit harsh on the cymbals, but fine-tuning the placement, and darkening up the cymbals in the room helps a lot with this. These mics are also a bit on the expensive side.
• Cascade Fat Head-This is simply an incredible mic, with a magical price!
• Shure SM 57-Yep, you read that right. Believe it or not, the SM 57 can be a great overhead mic!

So as I’ve made a point to say before, don’t rush out and buy these microphones (actually, buying a 57 or two would probably be a good idea at this point). They’re popular, so you won’t have trouble gaining access to them. Borrow, rent, or book studio time (in which case you will gain access to all their mics) in order to gain use of them initially. When you find that you’re using a particular mic quite frequently, then consider making a purchase.

//Jon
Twitter: @stsn

So are you starting to see a pattern form here? The last handful of posts I’ve published about recording kick and snare, have been based on two main ideas: A) keep it super simple, and B) do what’s proven to work-don’t waste time attempting to “fix” a technique that is not broken.

So continuing in that line of thinking, there’s a few mics that are ubiquitous to the application of recording a snare drum. They are ubiquitous because they do the job extremely well.

Here’s what I’ve seen work well for people (myself included):

• Shure SM 57: Ultra ubiquitous!. Chances are pretty good that the awesome snare sound on your favorite album was recorded with a 57
• AKG 451
• Shure Beta 56
• Shure SM7
• Shure SM58 Jack White said he used this for everything when recording De Stijl

Again, most the mics on this list are extremely common (I’ll refrain from using the word “ubiquitous” yet again). And while a few of them are not what I would consider necessarily cheap, there’s definitely a couple-the 57, and 58-that are cheap. So what that means is that either you already own one or two of them, or you know someone who does.

In reality, when aiming to capture a great snare sound, you’re simply not going to need something besides a 57. And considering how popular and inexpensive that mic is, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ve got access to one of those right now.

But as I said before when making suggestions for kick drum mics, don’t read this and then rush out to buy these mics (unless it’s the cheap 57). There’s no point in doing that when they’re so easy to gain access to otherwise. Borrow one, rent one, or book some studio time (where you will get access to all their mics). Once you find yourself going back to a particular mic again and again (I bet it will be the 57), then consider buying it.

Have a great weekend!

//Jon
Twitter: @stsn