Snare Top Mic Shootout - Shure SM57, Shure Beta57a, AKG c1000s, Beyerdynamic MC930

Island Shootout Series Episode 4
Drum Shootouts Part 3 - Snare Top Mic Shootout
4 microphones were chosen for this shootout which are all mics we may use when recording drums depending on what is needed for the song and style.
Shure SM57
Shure Beta 57a
AKG c1000s
Beyer MC930
High quality sound files of this shootout can be found on our website. Make sure to listen through some nice studio monitors or high quality studio headphones. We'd love to hear which you liked the best so please leave us a comment below.
www.islandrecordingstudios.com
/ islandstudios
[e-mail]
Thanks to Jack Thomson for coming in and running the shootout today. To find out more about Jack and his drumming please visit his facebook page.
/ jackthomsonmusic
Thanks to Babylon Burning for the use of 'Chasing Sunsets' in the outro.
/ babylonburningmusic

[@JAMBAPRODUCOES]

i have to be honest and say that they sounded almost identical - makes you rethink a lot of "yapping" people do claiming that such and such mic is better - i would love to see how each mic reacts to eq.

[@jc.1191]

Thanks guys! I thought each had a lot of proximity effect happening.

[@timoheinrich8763]

Sm57 good as always on Snaredrum but that MC930 is mindblowing!

[@theflexa]

Same all 4 me.

[@hachewie]

So the mic doesn't really matter. The snare (including tuning), room and player make the difference. Thanks for this video. I will not spend money on a mic, I already have one that works. :)

[@ArcticBulletNation]

In your future mic tests, can you please show how the mics sound in the mix?

[@chrissypoodle]

Thanks for this! The beyer smashes the others out of the park for me. Just sounds so much more natural. That snare could do with some serious tuning though....

[@ArcticBulletNation]

Yeah, I was also like, dang, the snare sound is so bad.

[@brianoshea1178]

C1000s all the way, with good headphones on it's clearly the winner in terms of getting the least amount of room noise but does have slightly harsh mids, but I also feel the mic placement wasn't quite right either and they're getting to much of the center on the snare. Thanks for the video though!

[@rocketstudiocr]

same mic

[@Deadowcroft]

The 57 and the MC930 for me; The Beta and the C1000s seemed too tone heavy, rather than delivering the snare drum sound, thanks

[@Adammonroemusic]

SM57 - sounds like a SM57, very middy, somewhat flat response. un-hyped. This is a sound everyone should be familiar with. Beta57a - sounds a little more interesting than the sm57 to me, slightly hyped in the lower and higher frequencies, slightly more detail. Would probably sound great with some EQ or different placement. C1000 - Either really hyped in the lows and his/mid-his or else scooped in the mids, a tad on the boomy side, somewhat harsher than it needs to be. Don't really like it at all here. MC930s - Probably the most neutral sounding, and the mic that sounds the least like the others, and probably the mic with the most definition, but I'm not sure I'm in love with it for this particular application. So for me, toss up between the Beta57a and the MC930. I think if the Beta57a were positioned a few more inches back, it would roll-off the lows and sound pretty great. The SM57 doesn't factor in for me because everyone already owns a SM57...don't they? And the C1000 just sounded bad. But I'm sure you could pull a decent sound out of any of these mics with a little eq. Thanks for doing this.

[@newagegaga]

Beyer win!

[@TimKaseyMythHealer]

The songwriting makes the biggest difference.... :-)

[@jamesrockford2626]

+Tim Kasey but this is not the point of the video.... I'm not really sure of your "theory" either. The Beatles had the best songs but if you want to put on a great sounding album or specifically one with great sounding drums, It won't be a Beatles album.. that is for sure. Ironically those guys had he best mics the best studio and the best songs yet their albums sound like shit.