Audix Drum Mics

[BigSound]

Hi- I have an Audix drum mic kit which includes the D4 kick drum mic. I've been pretty happy with the sound for recording and for live. Now, Audix has a D6 kick mic. Has anyone used this? Is it noticably better than the D4? Is it worth it for me to upgrade?
Thanks.

[Chaorta]

I've never personally used it, but i've heard good things about it.

I will, however, say that the AKG D112 is my favorite bass drum mic ever. I never use anything else.

[dagosto]

The D6, D112, and Shure Beta 52 are all good kick drum mics. It may not be worth updating though since you may not actually hear a big difference. If you wanna get serious about kick drum I would reccomend the ElectroVoice ND868. I had a chance a while back to use one at a local studio. You will hear a big difference right after pluging it in. I just got one and cannot wait to use it on my next session.

[Chaorta]

Originally Posted by dagosto

ElectroVoice ND868.

Hm...not familiar with that...how's it's specs up against the 112?

[smopo24]

i've used the d6...i like it; it's been a while but from what i can remember, the bleed was so tremendous that we had to blanket the kick. it's aggressive and punchy, sounds great on the right track.....a touch too modern for some stuff, but if you are doing heavy rock that needs that big kick, that's your mic. some people find it too scoopy, but i liked it.

[fargone]

gimme an RE20 anyday on a bass drum

[dagosto]

Originally Posted by fargone

gimme an RE20 anyday on a bass drum

RE20's don't have enough low end in my opinion. Always end up using

Originally Posted by Chaorta

Quote:
Originally Posted by dagosto
ElectroVoice ND868.

Hm...not familiar with that...how's it's specs up against the 112?
Yesterday 01:48 PM

As a regular mic it's spec don't look so good. It probably would not work as well on a bass cab as the d112 but it sounds amazing on kick. It is very directional as well so bleed is not an issue. The frequency response is 20Hz-10kHz, about half of the d112's but you can still get a lot of presence out of it.

[fargone]

I've not tried the ND868, but I've always found the RE20 to have a natural sounding low end. It starts to roll off gently at 70Hz or so. Maybe you had the low end rolloff selected. I also like the RE20 for bass drum cause it's got a nice little boost around 3k for good pedal click. Using this inside next to the beater with a large daiphram condenser on the outside... mmmm... that'll get you your low end.

... though this is the live sound thread. So, nevermind.

[dagosto]

Originally Posted by fargone

I've not tried the ND868, but I've always found the RE20 to have a natural sounding low end. It starts to roll off gently at 70Hz or so. Maybe you had the low end rolloff selected. I also like the RE20 for bass drum cause it's got a nice little boost around 3k for good pedal click. Using this inside next to the beater with a large daiphram condenser on the outside... mmmm... that'll get you your low end.

The rolloff switch was not active. Although it may sound natural there are a few things that make it fall short of the sound I am looking for. There is too much 100Hz compared to say 60-70Hz with the RE20. I usually have to end up cutting out some of this frequency in the kick because this infringes on where the bass guitar (synth, whatever) lives. I prefer a mic with a little bump in the really low frequencies so I end up eq'ing less. Also with an RE20 you will have to add more of those frequencies if you want to be able to "feel" the kick when your mix is played through bigger speakers. Unless you got great eq's that you can spare on kick this is not somthing you want to fix in the mix.