Audix D6 vs. Shure Beta52 for kick drum?

[Mark Wein]

The Shure is almost $50 cheaper but I only want to buy a Bass drum mic once....

[Prages]

I've never had a Beta52, but I really like the D6.

Chuck (Mixed Nuts' drummer) used to have some kind of Shure kick mic, but he switched to a D6 about 5 years ago. I'm not sure if his old mic was a Beta52 or why he switched, but he seems to like the D6 too.

Dexter is probably the best person to answer this question, though. :o

What I like about the D6:

It's SOLID. The housing is made of turned aluminum. One piece. I think you could probably run over it with a truck without hurting it.

It isn't too particular about placement. I usually just stick about 1/2 way back in the drum pointed at the beater. No need to get real technical about finding the sweet spot.

It doesn't require too much EQ. It's got a natural hump around 2k which picks up the attack of the kick drum really well. Some say that it produces too much artificial sounding low end, but I don't really hear that, personally.

It sounds equally as good as a kick mic or a bass cab mic.

Did I mention that it seems indesctructable?

[Mark Wein]

Indestructible is a good quality in gear for me :o

[Prages]

It really is made well.

That's all one solid piece of aluminum, short of the wind screen.

http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/0/3/2/557032.jpg

[Prages]

FWIW, that pic is about twice the size of the actual mic. Here it is in relation to some SM57s.

http://www.thewindtunnel.com/Clips/Recording/DrumMics.jpg

[Mark Wein]

there is an AUdix kit I can get for about $230 cost that had 3 tom/snare mics, a bass mic (not the D4) and 3 overheads that I was thinking of getting for the short term and then after I've absorbed most of the studio cost replace with a better set of mics...

[Prages]

That's one way to get immediate results.

When I got mine, I already had a 57 to use for the snare, and I found some Audix APX-90s on sale for about $60 each, so I bought 4 or 5 of those for tom mics and the D6 for a kick mic.

I didn't care for the APX-90s at all, but they got me by for toms until I got those fake SM57s (which really don't sound bad, but probably aren't anywhere near as durable as the real one).

Someday I need to get a good pair of overheads. The AT2020s work fine, but the MXL993s I had worked better...when they worked. The AT2020s have kind of a honkey mid range and not enough top end detail to really pick up the sizzle of the cymbals and hihats. Everything I've recorded in the last year or so has been with them as overheads though, so they're working for me, I guess.