Mics designed for snares sometimes miss the rich lower frequencies making the sound thin and hollow.
Best floor tom mic recording.
2 the ubiquitous rock kit.
Audio technica s atm25 is a highly capable dynamic microphone tailored for close range applications.
The tom toms sound best when using a dynamic mic.
It s affordable has universally great reviews from home recording enthusiasts and professionals alike.
Like so many others i like the u87 on floor toms.
These toms are suitable for jazz and not much else as they have a very distinct sound.
August 31 2020 the best microphone for recording tom toms for most people is the sennheiser e604.
This mic tackles loud sources with ease provides good off axis rejection thanks to its hypercardioid polar pattern and shows a frequency response from 30hz to 15khz with a notable presence boost in the upper mids that will give those toms a great level of detail.
So each mic is positioned the same distance from the drum head as much as possible and pointing towards the centre of the drum.
1 a bebop kit with its toms tuned up high 10 tom tom and 14 floor tom.
If you use one mic place it between the two drums about 4 to 6 inches away from the heads figure 3 shows this placement option.
Mic comparison on dw 18 maple floor tom.
If you use two mics place one above each drum about 1 to 3 inches above.
This is the kit for loud edgy rock music.
They are flexible enough to work in both live and studio applications.
Ok so to be open with you i m not necessarily finding out the best floor tom microphone.
But i am testing five mics that can be used on floor toms and i ve tried to make it as useful as possible.
The e604s have clips which enable one to affix them directly to the rim of the drum.
However navigating which brands and models are best for picking up the boomy low to mid range sound of a tom drum is a tough task made easier by our listing of the 4 top options for toms.
Mics meant for kick drums can have the opposite problem.
One thing i learned from michael stavrou s book mixing with your mind about recording drums in general is to find the best placement for the set in a room by walking around banging on the floor tom until you find the most resonant spot easier to do with two people one to bang and one to listen then placing the floor.
For the mounted toms the ones above the kick drum you can use one or two mics.
I use three primary kits for recording.