Microphones for Toms

This category contains microphones for toms. The toms can be miked the same way as the snare, apart from under miking. Toms have different roles in different music styles and some considerations and genre aesthetics are appropriate. For jazz it is common and can be right not to use toms mics at all and only get the drum sound balance with accurately placed overhead mic, whereas pop and rock drum sound requires a closer miking technique to achieve very isolated toms signal to process individually. These drums are usually much less important to the music than the kick, snare and cymbals. Using one, mostly dynamic mic per tom will allow you to pan them more realistically at the mixing stage, and also to get a more defined sound. One of the most popular mics for toms is the Sennheiser MD421 dynamic - this has a 5 position bass roll-off switch which compensates for the increase in bass which is common to all cardioid mics as they get closer to the source, although of course the proximity effect can work for you in cases where you particularly want a deeper, fuller sound. The Shure SM57 is again a popular choice. Some mics come with clips that are designed to be attached directly to the rim of a drum, and so reduce the amount of stands around the kit.