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Best mike for a singing drummer

musicman7722

musicman7722

Feb 12, 2007
3,012
1,381
Hampton NH
www.chrisparkersound.com
#1
Friends- I play with a drummer who is a very good vocalist and drummer. However I am having trouble with his mike. It is picking up to much of his kit. We have currently a Shure SM58 or a Sennheiser 835 to use. The sure is a little less prone to picking up the kit but still to much. He can't use a headphone style mike as he comes out front and sings and plays guitar for a few songs each set. So I ask first can your recommend a tighter mike for him to use and if not what frequencies should I be looking to reduce on his channel? i should mention it tends to pickup the snare and cymbals.

Thank you all..
Chris
 
#4
#5
The Shure SM58 and the Sennheiser 835 are both mics with cardioid patterns. A Super cardioid mic like the Shure Beta 58 or Beta 57 and the Sennheiser 845 or 945 has a narrower area in front of the mic that picks up sound. The trade off is that you have to be right in front of the mic for those to be effective. A shotgun mic is designed with an ultra tight cardioid pattern but it is meant for distant pickup of sound and would overload easily if used up close, plus those mics tend to be very long. I'm a huge fan of the Beta 57 for vocals and it sounds great on just about anything else as well.
 
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#6
Beta 57 is good, Audix OM7 is better.

He'll really have to stay on top of the OM7. It has a REALLY tight pattern. And not the best-sounding vocal mic, but it doesn't suck and can be made to sound good. And the drum vocals sound good with the cymbals not washing through so much.

I'm not a fan of gating any vocals, but if you can make it work, far be it for me to suggest otherwise.
 
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#9
either version of the 57 will work in the same way of reducing the bleed from the kit... the beta just sounds a little fuller to my ears, but you may like the standard 57. Another mic you may want to look at is the Audix I5, which is their version of a 57 and kind of sits in between the 57 and beta 57 sonically to my ears. The are also readily available used for not too much
 
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#12
I use an Audix OM7 and sometimes a Beta87 for my drummer..

You can't really help but pick up the kit, particularly snare. I've eq'd it down before, but really, I just balance the drum mics to account for his mic.

Gating may help, but if you get it closed down enough to keep the snare out, the vocals disappear or cut out. That, or when he's singing, the snare goes through anyway, so the snare mix changes.

My advice - OM7, and comp that mic down. Cut a little eq in the snare range, and you should be ok...

Here's a good article about EQing snare - to take it out of the vocal mic, cut in the 200 and 2k ranges.. Boost a little in between...

HOW TO MIX 3: DRUMS
 
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#13
musicman7722 said:
Well lots of good tips here and I can see it is a universal problem and we are all seeking the holy grail. How would a standard SM57 be vs the beta? Any experiences? I ask as the beta is much more expensive. I will try the gate thing at my gig this weekend and report back. he isn't a heavy hitter so it may work.
Click to expand...

The SM57 is a cardioid-pattern microphone which has a fairly wide pick-up pattern, hence the issues with cymbals with those mics (SM58s as well)

The Beta series of mics (Beta 57, Beta 58A, etc) are super-cardioid-pattern mics which have a tighter pick-up pattern and less susceptible to cymbal wash. Another good Shure mic for drummers is the Beta 56, which is mainly used for attachment to the drum rims, but they work as well as Beta 57s (pretty much the same mic on a different mount).

Still, I prefer the Audix OM7 for drummers. It's a really, REALLY tight pattern and is very effective for reducing cymbal wash.

My pro audio buddies tell me the Heil PR22 and PR35 are very good for drum vocals too, but they will be a little to a lot more money. But they know they are outstanding microphones in their own right.
 
#14
makaspar said:
I use an Audix OM7 and sometimes a Beta87 for my drummer..

You can't really help but pick up the kit, particularly snare. I've eq'd it down before, but really, I just balance the drum mics to account for his mic.

Gating may help, but if you get it closed down enough to keep the snare out, the vocals disappear or cut out. That, or when he's singing, the snare goes through anyway, so the snare mix changes.

My advice - OM7, and comp that mic down. Cut a little eq in the snare range, and you should be ok...

Here's a good article about EQing snare - to take it out of the vocal mic, cut in the 200 and 2k ranges.. Boost a little in between...

HOW TO MIX 3: DRUMS
Click to expand...

Man, you are brave using a Beta 87 for drum vocals! But if you can make it work, more power to you.

My only comment about comping the drum vocal hard is that when the drummer isn't singing, the threshold will rise and bring the level back up to nominal, possibly causing a "blowing up" effect from whatever drum wash is present. I'm not at all saying it's a bad idea, but be judicious for that reason when comping the drum vocals (and other vocals in live situations as well).
 
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#18
I find that a 57 is better than a 58 (you can get closer to the element) and otherwise they sound identical - he could get right up on the mic (and then the gain on the mic channel can be set lower for less drum bleed)

I would not do compression - that is the opposite of what you want to do - compression is an automatic gain control that raises the gain when the signal gets quieter ... so that would be pumping the volume up when he isn't singing and grabbing more of the drum bleed and then turning the gain down when he is singing.

Shure used to make a mic (forget the model number) that was essentially an SM57 in chrome with a switch. Then the drummer could just switch the mic off for songs he isn't singing.
 
#19
I call my drummer's headset mic the 3rd overhead. I can't mix out the drums, so I just turn down the actual overheads. If someone thought of a real solution, I'd love to hear it. Straight up thorn in my side.
 
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#20
Geri O said:
Beta 57 is good, Audix OM7 is better.

He'll really have to stay on top of the OM7. It has a REALLY tight pattern. And not the best-sounding vocal mic, but it doesn't suck and can be made to sound good. And the drum vocals sound good with the cymbals not washing through so much.

I'm not a fan of gating any vocals, but if you can make it work, far be it for me to suggest otherwise.
Click to expand...

I have both of these mics and agree completely. I have learned that the OM7 takes EQ really well, so you can tweak your way to a pretty good sounding mic without losing the benefit of the tight pattern.
 
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