The Audix D3 is a dynamic moving coil mic from Audix's D line of mics. It doesn't require any phantom power. The mic has a cardioid pickup pattern which is not switchable. It doesn't have an attenuation pad switch. This will connect to your mixer with an XLR cable. Some people like to use these on rack tom drums, but I feel the better application for this mic is guitar cabinets and brass instruments. You could definitely use this live, since the cardioid pickup pattern will help to reject off axis noise. The sound quality is good enough that you could comfortably use it in the studio as well. The transient reproduction on this mic tends to be a little bit lacking, which makes it less suited to record drums which are all about transients. Brass instruments and electric guitars are a lot more forgiving in that category, and in some cases can be made to sound smoother with slower transients, so that's why I recommend this "drum" mic for these other sources.

OVERALL OPINION

I have had one of these for many years. For a long time I rarely used it, but one day I was short on mics and I had to put one on a guitar cab. I was actually very surprised at how good it sounded, and since then it has found its way into my rotation more frequently. It has a good low end warmth since it was originally supposed to be for toms, but the mids are definitely pronounced enough to represent electric guitars and brass instruments well. I would not bother getting this for drums since the other mics in the D line do a better job of that, but for an all-purpose dynamic for loud instruments, this mic does a good job. I recommend it for that use.