AKG D112 my choice for kick drum

The AKG D112 is the standard kick drum mic, well it’s my standard at least. There are a ton of great choices out there for the kick. Maybe you’re lucky enough to have a vintage AKG D12 or maybe you prefer the Sennheiser 421. In any case, the D112 is the mic I always go to for the kick drum and bass guitar amp. What you get with it is a nice low end thud without ignoring the upper mid thwack.

Over the weekend I was tracking some drums for an upcoming project. We had our choice of a few large diaphragm condenser and dynamic mics. After messing around with a few we got a huge, but defined sound out of the D112 just outside the resonant head and an SM-57 oddly enough on the batter side of the kick. Even with the bass drum stuffed with muffling we still could get a giant sub sound out of it. We ended up trimming some low end out to make it sit a little tighter in the mix.

Shoot, now that were selling these at Steve Weiss I might have to pick up a second. Then I wont have to compromise the bass guitar mic when the D112 is on the kick. If you’re a gigging or session drummer, it would probably pay off to keep a d112 with your kit. If the venue or studio is short on good kick mics you won’t have to compromise a solid low end.

Check out an audio sample of the AKG D112 in action on my blog…

http://www.solusmusic.com/2007/04/tracking-drums-on-the-neotek/


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