Audix Dynamic Microphones

Did some live recordings with the DP5a kit. I will say that the low end on this mic is fantastic but i wouldn’t use this as a primary if you have a dynamic kick performance. The Low end is huge but not tight enough for a live situation. sounds best on the inside of a kick with a rock drummer; put it on the outside and you’ll need to pair it with something else on the in. bottom line, it needs mids unless you like kicks with no tone. OVERALL OPINION Well, I have to say that I am pretty happy to own the D-6. Audix has slowly been winning me over, but I was still pretty apprehesive to just buy a mic without testing it first. A close friend had used them quite a bit, and recommended them over other similar mics. It's everything I had hoped sonically, but the most impresive thing to me is the clip! I love the locking wheel, instead of the typical friction style clips. Go Audix, and I hope other manufacturers take a cue from this. But overall, This mic will give you that earth-shaking, rumbling kick drum sound. It can take huge amounts of SPL and still not distort. I put it about 4 inches away from the beater head of the kick drum and even closer to give it more "click." Perfect for any style of music and amazing for metal drums. try it on a bass guitar too! The mic even feels like it can take a nuclear bomb and still work, its a solid block of aluminum! worth every penny, you will not be disappointed when you try it out! So give it a shot, you can get this mic for a decent price if you look around online, even check eBay. For some reason people get rid of these all the time, maybe they just don’t know what they are doing.

The Audix D4 is a dynamic moving coil type mic that is specifically designed for drums. This mic can be considered the model in between the D2 and D6 by Audix. The D6 is a dedicated kick drum and bass amp mic, while the D2 finds more use as a rack tom mic. The D4 is designed to be something in the middle, so that you could use it on your kick drum, or on your toms. My favorite use for it not surprisingly is the floor tom however. You still get the added mid range and presence that the D2's have, and you get part of the low frequency response that makes the D6 great. This way you can capture a really booming floor tom that can still poke through a busy rock mix. It is a cardioid polar pattern which can't be switched. It doesn't need any phantom power since it's a moving coil capsule type. It will connect to your preamp with an XLR cable. It doesn't have an attenuation pad, so make sure you're not overloading the mic. The mic does have an exceptionally high SPL tolerance though, so that will probably not be an issue. There isn't a low roll-off because you will want to keep in all of the lows you record. OVERALL OPINION I've had one of these for almost 10 years. These are great for those times when you want a kick drum that is almost more boxy sounding than deep, and for floor toms which should not have as much low content as a kick drum does. You get a very nice "thwack" sound on the drum skins with this mic without having to do too much with EQ. The Audix D line is very cheap compared to other mics, so it's definitely a good value. I'd get it again.