THE KICKER

The Audix D6 kick mic has got to be the most common kick mic I see on stages and a standard for the heavier rock styles with its aggressive low frequencies, scooped mids and added high frequencies. A modern, transformerless design, its low sensitivity (0.8mV/Pa) suits the application – it will take high levels and features a tight polar pattern to reduce ambient sound. A machined aluminium body makes it light and it’s relatively small so it will easily fit through the hole in the front skin for placement anywhere inside the kick drum.

The D6 looks like a kick mic but it’s soft, boomy and its mid-shy to talk into. Tapping the front of the mic gives you a fat boof sound. Put it inside or in front of a kick drum and it comes to life with full and punchy low frequencies that are powerful rather than big or particularly extended. The scooped mids give it a fat sound, while the exaggerated response above 2kHz pushes the beater crack to the front of the mix. The sound of rock.

i i CAPTAIN

Next up is an Audix i5, nominated for snare duties in the DP7 Micro kit. It’s a reasonably-priced general purpose dynamic instrument microphone featuring a  frequency response well-suited to snare with a fattening boost in the lower-mids, flattish midrange and prominent boost from 3kHz to 10kHz. The i5 is manufactured with a caste zinc alloy body and grille, and tips the scale at a lightish 248g.

The Audix i5 snare mic features a more standard sensitivity (1.6mV/Pa) and its much closer to a general-purpose mic than the specialist D6. The proximity effect is pronounced and it strongly rejects sound arriving from the sides and rear. As a snare mic its fat and round with a strong boost around 5kHz to help the snap cut through. It’s also suitable for percussion, horns or guitar cabs. Handling noise is a little high but it could prove to be a capable live vocal mic – it has a kind of radio sound with strong low-mids. The i5 is mounted on a stand by the MC1 nylon moulded clip that grips well but marks easily.

Both the D6 and the i5 feature versions of Audix’s VLM (Very Low Mass) capsule design that uses diaphragms made from their own proprietary material that is lighter than the commonly-used Mylar, so can it react faster for more accurate transients.

OVERHEADS

Overheads are captured by two Audix ADX51 condensers. These are a conventional electret design with a 14mm gold vapour (GV) diaphragm inside a brass body with recessed switches for the 10dB input pad and the 150Hz bass rolloff. The frequency response is tilted to emphasise the higher frequencies, giving it a slightly bright character well-suited to overheads or percussion. The ADX51s and the D6 use the smaller Audix DCLIP stand mount. It’s a simple but efficient design made from hard nylon. The mic snaps in and out from the top of the mount, a metal thumbscrew locks it in position.

MICRO MODELS

Tom mics on live stages are traditionally a tight-pattern dynamic with strong/emphasised low frequencies and high level handling. It seems contradictory to use small diaphragm condensers but here we are, they’re being pushed by several manufacturers and do offer some advantages over dynamics, depending on the application. Assuming they’re padded or can take the level, the small diaphragm condensers are fast and generally accurate with an honest off-axis response. The harder the rock, the more you need the explosive LF push and maximum isolation that dynamics deliver but lighter styles can benefit from the more open and natural sound of condensers. Jazz kits are a good example where dynamic mics on toms are too closed and lumpy, while condensers deliver a more open kit sound.

The three MicroD tom mics included in the DP7 Micro package are miniature condenser clip-on drum/percussion mics with a hyper-cardioid pattern and greater then 140dB SPL level handling.  Not quite as tight a pattern as the D2/D4 dynamics and without their prominent low-end boost, the MicroD’s deliver a more natural and detailed sound that won nods of approval from engineers visiting the Theatre Royal Castlemaine where I manage the sound. Only 34mm wide, they slip into the circular aluminium shockmount on top of the DViceMicro drum mounts and sit snugly insulated from the physical jolts they’d otherwise receive being attached to the drum rim.

MOUNTING A CHALLENGE

The DViceMicro hoop-mounted drum mounts are great. It’s a challenge to design a mount with an adjustable gooseneck that will fit universally and is easy to attach and detach. Rubber mounts that stretch over the rim are the most common but seem crude compared to the Audix approach that uses a spring-loaded lower clasp and a fixed top clasp. You get the technique of placing the lower clasp under the rim and stretching the mount up until the top clasp slips over the top rim of the hoop after a couple of goes. Only once did I meet a drum kit that had top skins that blocked the space under the rim but it still had enough grip in the spring to hold tight. Once mounted, it’s easy to adjust the gooseneck to the preferred position.

Some drummers don’t like microphones mounted directly onto their drums at all, and I understand that if it’s a 300g dynamic mic plus mount hanging off the rims – I use stands to avoid the issue unless I’ve checked with the drummer. But the 47g MicroD toms mics offer a good compromise. They shouldn’t affect the drum balance or tone and they’re more convenient than mics on stands, specially in small touring situations where space and weight are important.

MICRO MANAGING

I took the MicroD kit on a small-ish tour where the acts ranged from mid-level pop bands to a loud rock band (Queenie), and the MicroD kit proved versatile and fuss-free. Touring is tiring and could be why after a couple of shows I started using a MicroD on snare as well as the rack and floor toms. The MicroDs sound similar to the brightish ADX51 overhead mics and don’t have the boosted lows of the i5 but they’re still punchy when placed close to the snare skin and have a pleasingly detailed presence.

The Audix DP7 Micro kit is ideal for pop/rock drums but versatile enough to be suitable for softer styles where detail is more important than punch or there is an emphasis on percussion instruments. Audix mics are reasonably priced anyway and purchasing them in a kit offers great value for a set of co-ordinated application-specific microphones. I think sound mixers generally buy mics one-at-a-time but kits make sense for production companies, venues and educational settings looking for a one-purchase solution.

4055 ON THE KICK

The DPA 4055 is a wonderful kick mic that I got to know in a previous review. It’s different to other kick mics: first, it’s a small-diaphragm condenser under the fattish head, so it’s fast and accurate, especially at the lowest frequencies where it’s tight and powerful. The frequency response is flat across the mid-range with a 6dB boost at 10kHz to bring out some click-y attack. Other kick mics are usually scooped in the mids, perhaps with added highs and lows, but the 4055 leaves it all in so you can shape it to your taste… and you can get a wide range of sounds. I found it responsive to different mic placements and, on DPA’s suggestion, different mic angles produce different results, so it’s well worth exploring positioning before reaching for the EQ. If you do use EQ, you’ll find it responds well to either subtle or deep EQ settings. Sensitivity is the same -54dB as the 4099, while the pickup pattern is described as ‘open cardioid’.

I didn’t notice until I was holding the 4055 in my hand but the mic body is asymmetrically shaped with the head mounted off-centre, allowing the stand mount to be positioned for minimum total width to help fit it into tight spaces. The head of the mic is much wider than the mic capsule but makes it look like a kick mic and allows for a large integrated pop shield/turbulence blocker. The UA0961 mic holder/stand mount is another example of DPA’s precision engineering. The mic is inserted into the holder and tightened with an integrated textured ring. It’s pleasing to use, looks good and allows for tight placements.

2012 ON THE SNARE

New for 2023 is the DPA 2012 compact cardioid microphone, and it’s simply an awesome mic. Combining a wide frequency response with extreme SPL handling and a dynamic range of over 130dB, the DPA 2012 aims to be the best general purpose mic out there, and it might be just that. Designed for live stages with a thick and durable brass body and a tough matte-black chrome finish, it’s small and thin but the sound is the opposite — it makes things sound larger than life.

In the DDK4000 drum mic kit the 2012 is recommended for snare drum duties. I like the sound of a SM57 on a snare drum… but I don’t use one because the buggers knock the tops off them, probably not deliberately but it happens often enough to make me suspicious! That was my initial concern with using nice DPAs on drums and I found I was instinctively fearful of them being struck and placing them off the rim of the drums rather than over the skin.

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Once past that mental hurdle, they’re a treat. The 2012 makes the snare sound big, real and richly detailed. You feel like you can hear each snare wire rattling on the bottom skin. The 4055 does the same thing for the kick drum; these mics present you with the source magnified but not changed. The 2012 on snare top may benefit from added high frequency EQ, and it’s rewarding if you do, but I can guarantee you’ll appreciate the big bottom-end punch compared to your current snare mic. These mics have tremendous reach and using multiple condenser mics around a drum kit is inviting spill but the accurate off-axis response ensures the spill is natural so the mics don’t fight each other.

For overheads, the new DPA 2015 mics are recommended. These are similar to the 2012s but described as Wide Cardioid pattern and designed for complex sources like choirs or pianos. As overheads they can be used closer to the cymbals but still deliver wide coverage which reduces spill.

IN ACTION

I used the DDK4000 kit a number of times at the Theatre Royal, Castlemaine. Checkerboard Lounge played the first night on the big stage inside, where I’d normally use tight dynamic mics on the skin drums. I mic’d up the whole kit with the DPAs and it was a noticeably different sound: very open, fast and clean. The 2012 on snare and 2015s on overheads presented wide and deep, and there’s lots of spill but they don’t negatively interfere with each other as you might expect – they just made the drums sound big. The 4099s on toms are relatively concise with good rejection from the hyper-cardioid pattern.

The following day, Pop duo Miss Eileen & King Lear played outside. A 4055 on kick and a single 2015 overhead was a complete drum sound. The best part was when support act, Alex Hamilton, was setting up and asked if I had a mic for his guitar because he had no pickup. I said, ‘as a matter of fact, I do’. The DPA 2012 got a reaction from the waiting audience when I first it turned it up, initially from the sound quality and then from the easy volume.

Two nights at the Bridge Hotel in Castlemaine saw louder bands on a small stage, and the 4055 kick/2012 overhead combo worked again for drums. The percussionist got one 2015 to cover his two congas and rack of tinkly things, and he was both thrilled and surprised to be able to hear the congas so clearly in the PA.

GOING SINGLE

Of course, if you really want to find out about mics, you need… bluegrass. The Americana Stage at the Blackwood Woodchop was an ideal test for the DPAs and they didn’t disappoint. The bands all play acoustic instruments around a single mic (with maybe a couple of side mics) and the technique is to turn it up as loud as possible without it feeding back. A condenser mic is crucial for the reach and fidelity. The catch is, the band, or members of the band, are mainly well away from the mic – they move in and out, so the mic is wide open, where feedback is explored, and it’s the mic’s off-axis response that ultimately determines how loud the band can be.

The DPA 2012 was as good as any I’ve used for this tough assignment and it was remarkable how much lift it would give before becoming unstable. The Greater Glider String Band are an old-timey act (think: dance music before electricity) and sounded beautiful around the single 2012. You can’t please everyone though. I had a little chuckle to myself when someone came up to the desk and asked if I could turn the fiddle up.

The Hardrive Bluegrass Band were the hardest-hitting act of the day and I added two 2015s as side mics. The band loved the DPAs and tested the dynamics by getting right up on the mic for some of the vocal. That can freak out some condensers but the 2012 sounded great up with that level of intimacy (although, I’m glad I put the foam windshield on). Hardrive guitarist and funster, Lochy Dear, on occasion likes to get right up on one of the side mics and deliberately makes the low strings boom out and distort with a combination of rough playing, proximity effect, and aiming the mic into the hole of the guitar. It’s a little game we’ve been playing for years – he gets a reaction and can hear me using the HPF to control it when it blurts out too much. The 2015 side mic was extremely tolerant of this misbehaviour and while it could be made to boom out it would not distort or overload.

STUDIO TESTS

Back to drums. I was talking to my old mate Jerry Speiser (drummer for Men At Work and now a Castlemaine local) while I had the DPA mics and one thing led to another. He had a new drum kit set up at nearby Studio UW (owned by Matt Underwood) so I had to try the mics in a recording situation. Rather than attempt to describe the results, I’ve included some samples. I’ve adjusted some of the levels but that’s all: no EQ or dynamic processing. The kick and snare comparisons to some popular ‘normal’ drum mics demonstrate how natural the DPA 4055 sounds. My favourite samples are the kick mics when he’s not playing the kick drum. The mics are hearing spill and the difference in response is clear. I’ve included a sample of Jerry playing time recorded with the whole kit of DPA mics completely flat.

I couldn’t stop using these mics. Tex Perkins and the Fat Rubber Band played the Theatre Royal, and his mixer Nic Marson (he and I were the TISM sound crew back in the day) brought his own kit of mics but he was happy to try the whole DPA kit when he heard the 4055 on kick. So was drummer Roger Bergodaz once he heard the kick in the drum monitor. We decided the 2015s were better deployed in Evan Richards’ percussion corner. The 2012 on snare and 4099s on toms had Nic convinced – he loved them. I’d heard enough by now, they were starting to make all my other mics sound ordinary.

PRECISION ENGINEERING

Technical precision is behind the linear frequency response both on- and off-axis; the fast transients; and accurate dynamics that make these DPA mics sound so good. The DDK4000 kit gives you a whole bunch of them in one case and, sonically, you could use any of these mics on any source and expect top results. The form of these particular models follows their function. They’re practical to mount on instruments and tough enough to withstand the rigours of live sound. I like them all. The 4055 is an extraordinary kick drum mic that has not been available for long but seems to have already developed a reputation by what I hear from visiting engineers. My new favourite mic is the DPA 2012, and it’s quite possible that it is the best ‘generalist’ (DPA’s word) microphone available. None of these mics are cheap by live standards, but once you’ve heard them, you’ll start saving.

THINK DIFFERENT

The DPA 4055 looks different. The slender matte-black body flares elegantly into a largish semi-gloss steel mesh head, separated by a decorative silver trim ring. It takes a moment to notice, but the body is asymmetrically shaped with the head mounted off-centre. This gives the mic a unique look while allowing the mic holder to be positioned for minimum total width, to help fit into tight spaces. The big round head makes it look fat enough to handle big bass waves but it’s also functional in that it allows for a large piece of wind/turbulence-proof fabric across the front of the capsule. 

The mic holder is a thing of some beauty in its own right, with a pleasing rotating action to tighten or loosen its grip on the mic body. It fits DPA and other mics with a 19mm wide body — that’s quite narrow, none of my other small diaphragm condensers would fit. The little silver bolt that attaches the mic holder to the stand mount was my only worry. Firstly, it would look better with a black head, that’s a small point, but it also needed to be tightened regularly to stop the mic drooping.

Speaking into the 4055 is instructive. It sounds like a DPA instrument mic — flat response, slightly shiny above 6kHz, no presence boost in the high mids, accurate off-axis, high resistance to feedback in front of speakers – and you realise it could be used for any instrument or vocals with good results. It’s got that radio sound up close with the required thickness right up on the grille and the wind-damping foam is highly resistant to plosives. Low handling noise too. The thin, asymmetrical body feels a bit weird in the hand for live handheld use but it would be a good radio mic.

JAZZ JAM

I got to know it well with 17 acts over the three days of the Castlemaine Jazz Festival 2022. The range of styles went from hard hitting modern jazz to big bands and subtle trios. On first impression, the 4055 was super coherent and present with great attack from high to low. It seemed more responsive than other kick mics in a direct comparison… ‘this thing’s alive,’ I recall thinking. The 4055’s sensitivity (-56dB) has been lowered so it can be swapped with other mics (watch the 48V) without having to worry about the input gain being wildly different. Level handling has been correspondingly increased to 159dB SPL peak. The house kit was not ported and it was tuned big for jazz. It sounded huge with the 4055 in front of it… and you have to watch that at a Jazz Festival, the kick should be just there, not flapping your trouser legs every beat.

Thelma Plum was my first touring act to use the 4055 live at the Theatre Royal and engineer Dan Nash was happy to give it a go. The company’s reputation precedes it and the sound peeps I mentioned it too were unanimously enthusiastic to see/hear how DPA has approached the application. We had it in various positions in and out of the ported kick drum and were impressed by its response to changes in placement (DPA note that changes to the 4055 address angle will also be more readily heard than with other mics and I think they’re right). To me it produced a complete sound with a tight powerful bottom end underneath a natural and detailed view of the drum. Part of this is the polar pattern, titled Open Cardioid and engineered specifically for the 4055, it sits between cardioid and wide cardioid. Dan used it as his Kick In mic for the show, right up near the beater head for mega attack. “Loved it, wanted to hear more,” was his comment at the end.

Cate Le Bon was along the next week and it was a similar story, her sound mixer Oli Miles is very good and always keen to try something new. Travelling with his own mics he had the popular 901/52A combo going but it didn’t take him long to decide the 4055 on its own was the way to go. Starting as a Kick Out mic he ended up using it on its own, just inside the port hole to get the balance he liked.

Similarly, when Lisa Mitchell played, her mixer Sarah Madigan heard it, thought it sounded great and used it for the show. Punchy and detailed but not at all boomy was how she heard it reproducing the big ring-y non-ported kick drum.

WHAT MAKES A GREAT KICK MIC?

Asking around, I didn’t get a consistent answer to the question of what makes a great kick mic. DPA emphasise the low frequency dynamics, high level handling (159dB peak) and the wide polar pattern (described as Open Cardioid and exclusive to the 4055) but the real answer is accuracy. Realism itself is appealing and generally speaking the exact sound something makes is what you want to capture and amplify, there’s room for all manner of processing/drive after that. People respond emotionally to realistic sound and it’s primarily the microphones job to deliver it. The same applies at the other end of the chain: accurate speakers sound good and the more accurate they are, the better they sound.

Accuracy implies a flat frequency response and the 4055 delivers all round. DPA sees it as a blank canvas for the engineer to ‘paint’ on. I was happy to run the 4055 flat for most of the Jazz Festival but did notice it responded well to EQ and it was easy to get that aggressive super-scooped kick sound if wanted. The other mixers who used it were generally cutting mids with some adding high frequencies to taste.

The DPA 4055 kick mic is as good as you can get for live work, maybe better, as it’s a very contemporary sound, it made my D12VR seem somehow dated. It would be equally at home in any recording studio and I’m sure it would get used for more than just kick drums. It’s quite expensive by rock standards but well worth it — some things go beyond money and you might save a mic and channel by not needing a second kick mic. “That just cost me 500 quid,” was Oli Miles comment after hearing it at soundcheck, but he had a smile on his face.