Getting a raw and awesome drum sound with fake vintage mics

A couple of years ago I picked up a few of these Pyle PDMICR42 microphones 100% based on how they look and the price.

Do not think these are super high quality microphones, because they are not. That being said, this does not make them useless. The sound of these mics is very raw and hot for a dynamic microphone.

I set up two of them on drums—one placed just above my kick drum on a 4-piece kit pointed at the snare, and another above my left shoulder also aimed at the snare.

I did this in a fairly untreated room and the result was surprisingly full. It’s a raw and aggressive sound that I really like a lot.

See the video below to hear what I mean:

I used the same two mics in a different room and a much smaller drum kit for completely different results. The video below was recorded in a professionally treated room with my Tama Club-Jam Flyer. The result has a similar tone, but it’s far more controlled and mellow. I thought it worked perfectly on this track:

Overall, these mics are very worth the price, and they work well in many applications!