The first time drummers hear their kick drum through a large house system with subs is super inspiring. For me, it opened the door to a whole new set of decisions I needed to consider for my drum sound. One of the most important of these has been figuring out the best kick drum mic.
I use a Shure Beta 52 or a Beta 91 – sometimes both. More often than not, I use the 52 for live sound and recording small drums. But sometimes the mix calls for a wider variety of frequencies. Mixing two mics can be the best kick drum microphone.
Since not every drum works for every mic, I’m going to test different different drums with each mic to determine my top choices. My control will be a Shure SM57. Really? On a kick drum? Oh yeah. I’m excited to hear the results.
What’s the best mic placement?
The mic placement starts with a well-tuned drum. This takes into consideration the tuning of the batter head, whether the resonant head has a hole or not, and if there even is a resonant head. If the drum sounds good without a microphone, placing the kick drum mic is a matter of trial and error until you know the drum.
You don’t to go completely blind, however. Start with the mic placed to once side of the drum, about mid-depth, with the diaphragm facing the beater. This placement should give you a strong attack while still picking up the low frequencies.
The kick drum frequencies on a drum with a resonant head can cancel each other out in undesirable ways. To find the right placement of the mic, move it up or down, forward or back until it sounds good without EQ or compression. Most of the time, I aim the diaphragm toward the inside of the shell to deal with the tubby frequencies that can ruin a good kick drum sound.
The best kick drum mic won’t matter if the mic placement is not helping to capture the way the drum sounds without a mic. After all, that’s the job of a recording engineer – the best sound comes from knowing how to adjust to different conditions. Sure, some conditions are easier to capture than others, but we don’t always get easy to start.
Condenser Mics vs. Dynamic
Condenser microphones use an electric field to pick up the sound. The changes in the distance between the diaphragm and an electrically charged back plate determine the sound. Dynamic microphones have a magnet and a coil. The coil is connected to the diaphragm, and the differences between the coil and the magnet send the signal to the mixing board or interface.
Some microphones need a power supply or batteries. This is almost always the case with condenser mics. You may notice a phantom power button on your mixer / interface. That’s the power supply for condenser mics. Occasionally, you may come across a condenser mic that has its own power supply. I see this more often in well-established recording studios than in a home recording situation.
In the case of the best kick drum mic, I really like my Shure Beta 91a. It’s a condenser mic and picks up a wider range of frequencies a little more smoothly than my Shure Beta 52a – a dynamic kick drum mic.
Mic Stands and Clamps
The hardware you use to place the mic is important, especially if you’ll be moving it around to test different configurations. I use medium duty boom stands for affordability and LP Claws for mic clamps.
The Beta 91 sits inside the drum on a hand towel, and the 52 is on a claw. The claw is clamped to a boom stand positioned in front of my kick. This boom stands also holds two overheads in an X/Y pattern.
Other Great Kick Drum Mics
- Sennheiser e 902 This mic is a dynamic mic like the Beta 52a. It cuts mid range and gives you the high and low end that the kick drum delivers. I’ve used this mic in live situations when that’s what the house had in its mic case. Sennheiser makes great microphones. In fact, I will only use the e 604 mics on my toms. They are amazing.
- AKG D112 MKII Voted best kick drum mic for years, I’ve used the D112 for recording and live performance. It’s more comparable to the 52a because it’s a dynamic mic with a cardioid pattern like the Sennheiser. The Beta 52a is a supercardioid pattern, which makes it more focused.
- Audix D6 Another great microphone for kick drum. I’ve recorded and used to own this mic before I decided to use both the 52a and 91a together for my kick. If I had to own one mic on this list, the Audix D6 is the one because of how well it works with equalization. I’ve found it to be very easy to get a great sound.
16” Kick Drum
The 16″ drum surprised me the most. It’s not even a kick drum. It’s not the best out of the three, but I’m not done with it. I want to try a two-mic setup (explained at the end of this article) and capture the frequencies at their best.
The Beta 52 is in the lower right mid-depth of the kick drum with the mic pointing toward the shell of the drum but not directly at it. This placement worked better to handle some of the cancellation that was happening when I point the mic directly at the beater. It’s a strong sound, but it’s no match for the Beta 91.
Maybe it was mic placement, or perhaps it was the mic itself. Either way, this test left me with a better sound from the Beta 91. As you can see in the wave form, the frequency drop off is more gradual with the Beta 91 and the levels are hotter. Sure, the 52 could be repositioned and preamped better, so I’m shelving it anytime soon.
Shure Beta 52 (16-Inch Kick)
Shure Beta 91 (16-Inch Kick)
20” Kick Drum
Overall, this was my favorite-sounding kick drum. It had the best tone with both mics. The same analysis that went through above can be said for the 20-inch drum, so I’ll spare the redundant details.
I once took this drum to a recording session and was told by a skeptical engineer that the drum might not have the low end that the sound needs. It was a rock blues album, and he considered this drum to be better for jazz. He was blown away at how big this drum sounded.
A few of the samples include the beater buzzing on the batter head. This is a performance technique issue on my part. I was probably rushing through the recording process. and wasn’t focused enough on my performance. I fixed it on the softer hits as well as the louder ones toward the end of the samples.
Shure Beta 52 (20-Inch Kick)
Shure Beta 91 (20-Inch Kick)
22” Kick Drum
I thought the 22 would be the biggest sound. Perhaps it’s the heads, or maybe the mic placement needs more work. It sounds good, but not as good as the 20 in this comparison.
The most obvious difference from looking at the wave forms is in the Beta 91. The frequency levels drop and increase a bit before decaying. I think this is the resonant head taking more time to get excited. Once it does, the levels briefly increase.
The sound is not the smooth kick that I’m usually looking for, so I will have to tune this front head to eliminate this roller coaster of levels.
Tightening the head will likely give me more sustain in the low frequencies and a smoother decay. I think the intonation of the head is the problem, and we’re back to the drum sound being good before recording.
None of these mistakes (or oversights) bother me. I’d much rather learn what works in my home recording studio than in a top shelf studio on someone else’s dime.
Shure Beta 52 (22-Inch Kick)
Shure Beta 91 (22-Inch Kick)
The Best Kick Drum Microphone
I need to try adding a tunnel on the kick drums. This will allow me to try each mic on different places without losing isolation, which is why I like the mic inside the drum. I may try the Beta 52 inside the kick drum – pointed toward the shell – and the Beta 91 in the tunnel about a foot away from the front head.
If I need to choose one kick drum mic, it’s the Beta 91a. This mic is smoother. It delivers frequencies with a more gradual drop off as levels decrease. This tells me that it can handle the frequencies of my drum better than the dynamic mic – Beta 52a.
But this doesn’t mean I’m getting rid of my Beta 52. I bring this one to most of my gigs because I’ve found that sound support is more used to this mic than the 91. It’s also a good mic to use with the 91. When placed about two inches away from the resonant head, this mic compliments the 91 very well.
My best kick drum mic sound is a little more specific. Depending on the board and whether it has plugins or outboard gear, I usually gate the 52 and add a low-pass filter.
Likewise, I add a high pass filter (or cut low-mid frequencies) to the 91 at use it to smooth out the tone of the drum. With the lows handled well by the 52, the two mics mixed are great compliments to natural drum sound.
You can choose the best mic for the situation, but that doesn’t matter if you don’t have the right kick drum. This post on choosing the best kick drum for the gig gets into all the different considerations for choosing the right drum, drum heads, and more.