Percussionist, and somewhat-of-a-drummer here. I’m looking for some quality, but not bank-breaking microphone recommendations.
I do play the kit, but I play the cajon and congas more often. I’ve got all the sound gear I need already, just lacking the mics.
I’d love to hear your recommendations! Thanks!
Cheaper, but still quality mics, I’d go with anything made by Shure.
You can even get some mics bundled into a “drum kit mic package” for a little bit less than buying them individually. Get something with some Beta 98’s that can clip on either Toms on a drum kit, or be used on your conga. For the cajon, I’d probably throw a 57 on the front and a Beta 52 on the back. The 57 can double as a snare mic and 52 as a kick mic.
Thank you so much! This is all great info!
Shure was the standard for cheap-but-quality when I was more into this 15 years ago, but I’ve been so out of the loop that I wasn’t sure if that was still the case.
I’d also suggest looking at used gear shops, they tend to have lots of mics for cheap too.
For what you’re doing I’d definitely suggest the SM57…you can beat the shit out of them and they still work. Depending on how cheap you want to go, MXL has some options but they’re cheap and condenser mics need a mixer that has phantom power, or a battery.