Drum Micing Options

[Logan Hornbuckle]

I am new here, and I was just wondering what would be the best usb microphone for micing a kick drum. I am currently using a Samson usb condenser mic overhead to mic the rest of the drumset. I use garageband and am new to recording. Thanks in advance.

[lepetitmartien]

Avoid the samson USB, it seems to give problem (ie not working at all) at all.

I'm going to quote one of our french members Djedjjj:

In the small diaphragm type there's the oktava MK012.
russian copy of schoeps , 3 different caps.
I've compared with the schoeps cardio and omni on snare and cymbals and the difference is quite small (more bass and medium less tight).
Beware of the response though, it can vary so ask the diagrams before buying. Interesting for the price.

Or else, in the dynamic mics that are tough : RE20.

Else still: KM 184 very very good.

There seem to be a squad of die hards KM184 followers

[Logan Hornbuckle]

Avoid the samson USB, it seems to give problem (ie not working at all) at all.

I'm going to quote one of our french members Djedjjj:

In the small diaphragm type there's the oktava MK012.
russian copy of schoeps , 3 different caps.
I've compared with the schoeps cardio and omni on snare and cymbals and the difference is quite small (more bass and medium less tight).
Beware of the response though, it can vary so ask the diagrams before buying. Interesting for the price.

Or else, in the dynamic mics that are tough : RE20.

Else still: KM 184 very very good.

There seem to be a squad of die hards KM184 followers

so what would be a good mic for micing a kick drum for less than $200?

and doesn't that mean i would have to also get a pre-amp...and which one works the best w/ garageband?

thanks in advance

[TKO]

I am new here, and I was just wondering what would be the best usb microphone for micing a kick drum. I am currently using a Samson usb condenser mic overhead to mic the rest of the drumset. I use garageband and am new to recording. Thanks in advance.

Hello,
There are no suitable usb equipped mics in the market today, so i suggest you invest in an audio interface with a couple of mic inputs and phantom power. That way you can utilise all the mics in the world !
As for bass drum micing,there are of course several options but you might want to check out Sennheiser 602, it´s capsule is rather nicely tuned to enhance bass drum frequencies, the price should be in your ballpark, too...

[TKO]

Hi again,
I recommended getting an audio interface, and as there is a bewildering amount of choice, here are a couple of models that might work for you: Tapco Link USB (or firewire) Tapco is a Mackie owned company and while I haven´t tried these I expect the mic preamps to be decent. And they´re cheap (around 150€). Another worth considering is Focusrite Saffire, they have an LE version out now and it´s a classy little box with built in DSP so it takes load off your CPU.
All these only have two mic inputs and while you can get decent results micing just the bass drum and rest of the kit with a single overhead you don´t have too many mixing options. You can of course use an analog mixer for more mic inputs and submix these to the interface´s line inputs, you are stuck with the submix-balance but still have the option of using EQ, compression, reverb & stuff inside your computer.
Hope this was useful, have a good time experimenting!