The sound of the kick drum is critical to the overall sound of the drums. Today, you'll learn how you can get a great sound from a kick drum without a hole in the resonance head.
Kick drums usually have two heads; the beater head and the resonance head. The beater head is the drum head that's whacked by the foot pedal beater. The resonance head is the head on the opposite side of the drum (and it might have the name of the band in huge letters).
The problem with using a microphone to capture the sound of the kick drum with a resonance head is when a sound hole is not present.
This hole, typically off-center and about the size of your hand, is where you'd put a kick drum microphone. There are a couple of ways you can use a kick drum microphone inside of the drum but in this case, you're looking at mic'ing the drum without that hole.
The most obvious method is to place the microphone just up to the resonance head as close as possible without getting touched by the drum head when it's played. This method works, but from what I've experienced, it's not enough. You can do better.
So it was this weekend when I was mic'ing a kick drum without the hole in the resonance head. I tried it on the outside, like I just mentioned, but I couldn't get the punch that I liked.
A key to drum mic'ing is using microphone placement before using EQ to get the best sound to start.
Looking for that punch and not finding it on the resonance head, I looked towards the beater head.
By placing a dynamic microphone on a small stand and pointing it towards the beater impact zone, on the side of the drummer, I was able to get the sound off the beater head to get the punch I wanted. Using this method, I knew I had to make sure the drummer didn't kick the mic stand with his foot. Therefore, I tucked it to the inside of the kit just out from where he might whack it with his pedal foot.
Over the weekend, when I mentioned the issue of the resonance head without the sound hole, on twitter, the responses were to the effect of "remove the head" and "cut a hole." Images of a cordless drill with a hole bit did dance in my head, however, I found it better to simply look at the problem, the tools I had available, and see what could be accomplished.
Question(s): What drum mic'ing issues have you had? How did you overcome them?
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I'm Chris Huff and I've been working behind a mixer for over twenty years. Since 2008, I've been helping other sound techs learn all about the art of church audio through behindthemixer.com.
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You can’t cut the resonant head of a bass drum with a drill and a hole cutter! You’ll shred the head!
Instead, use an Exacto knife or similar razor blade type box cutter and carefully trace around a cylindrical object that’s about 4″ or 5″ inches in diameter. If you put the hole in the center of the head too much air will escape and you’ll defeat the purpose of the reso head (i.e. resonance and tone). Instead, cut if off-center midway up the drum (so the head will vibrate and add tone) for use with a microphone stand or perhaps at the bottom of the head in the center for use with a PZM boundary microphone with the cord running out the hole you just cut. Also, consider reinforcing the head with a plastic ring made for the purpose so that if someone trips over the mic stand they won’t tear the head.
Some resonant heads cost $50 or more so always get the drummer’s permission first. Incidentally, if the drummer is young and inexperienced they may not care about their resonant head though an experienced professional with an unported reso head probably prefers it that way and will not want it ported simply for the sound man’s convenience.
For drummers who want to use a portless head and please their sound man – the May internal miking system for your kick drum with the AVC-1 connector. That’s a clever microphone mount to put a mic inside the drum and has a jack that attaches at the drum’s vent hole allowing you to plug microphone in from outside the shell. This of course also works if the drum has a port and you’re tired of people tearing your resonant head!
PDC
Once on an overseas trip, a borrowed kit not only had a port-less head, it had a big fluffy beater. Took the front head off, gaff-taped a quarter to the beater, and miked the beater head right at the point of impact from inside the drum.
Brilliant! McGyver certificate awarded!
I have an Audio-Technica PRO 35 Cardioid Condenser Clip-on Instrument Microphone in my arsenal of mics. I just clip it on the face of the drum from above so it is at the top of the kick it was $140 but I use this little mic for all kinds of odd jobs
fuzzy
A cool trick that i learned from a drummer a few years ago is to mount a gooseneck to the inside of the drum. You have to take off a head to do this. You can run a mic cable down the pipe that the toms mount to. I used a couple of the factory screws to mount the gooseneck and let it hang down in front of the beater. Good punch lots of attack. Audix i-6 evans eq pillow. we do have a port in our drum head. Your way is the best for a one time show — you do what you have to do. Drummers — please port your resonance head.
Disaster. We just got an shure 52beta and tore the resonance head trying to mount the mic. (none of the stands gave the right height). The skin got replaced by a holeless one :/
go to gtr center or better yet a local music store and buy a hole. Yes i said buy a hole. It is a port that mounts on the inside and outside. You will need to get a razor knife or something.
I have had great success a few different times actually placing a mic in front of the head, with no hole. It doesn’t seem like it would sound right, but it really does!
I didn't mean to imply that you can't get a good sound that way. Just that sometimes thinking "outside the box" can get a better sound…but of course not always.