I like the OPUS 87 very much too and use them all the time for close micing all of my drums except bass drums. In heavier music though bleed becomes an issue with that mic quite quickly.
Exactly - first time listening to this mic and immediately looked it up to buy it lol. Automatic winner for me although the low tuning was my least favorite.
I have to agree - I also liked that the Telefunken accentuated the pop of the head. Surprisingly, the Pyle recorded a usable tone and is cheap as chips.
It's between the 57 and either sennheiser 421 or 441 for me. At the end of the day I'd still say the most important factors are the drum and the way it's tuned.
Vocaltone D7 was a positive surprise! SM57 is good as always and the MD441 is one of my all time dynamic mic favorites - it sounds good for almost everything.
Great job! Playing the same pattern helps a lot to hear the differences in the Mics. I‘ve recently fallen in love with the Lauten Audio 308 as my snare mic in the studio. It has really great off axis rejection to avoid Hi-hat bleed an is really punchy for a condenser microphone. Has a high pass AND a low pass filter switch.
Great comparison. I've tried a few of the usual suspects on the snare aswell as a 57/condenser combo but usually just end up using the beyer opus. Easy to attach/move and sounds more like the snare to my ears.
Amazing video, thank you so very much. It seems that the SM57 is the one with more impact, the other ones seem to soften the transients a little bit more than the SM57.
Great mic shootout. You have a great collection of rare snares please think about recording them as high quality multilayered samples. Record from the faintest touch to the hardest hit in about 14 - 20 hits do that 3 - 6 times for the center and then halfway near the edge. Then record rimshot and cross stick in 20 - 50 hits. Delete any false hits and add post production then use transit detection (transit recognition) and auto slice to cut into individual wav files. Then sell the dry, room and reverb room sounds online. Please consider this I have a Sonor acoustic kit and I play a 2Box drumit 5 ekit and it would be great to play samples of your rare snares including your Brady snares.
Thanks for suggestion Sam! I tried to record some Bell brass samples for one guy...I didn't have to compile it...There are already so many samples available and I might have to rent a studio for tracking those. I'll think about it :)
Now I know why I came back to the industry standard SM57, after trying an Earthworks DM20 and SR25, a Soyuz 013FET and a Neumann KM184 on my snares. I did not like any condensers on my snare, but I use and love them on toms, hihat, ride and overheads. Great comparison video.
Am I crazy or does the md421 have sort of a phasey-ness to its character? I notice this in every snare shootout with this mic. Like it's good but it almost feels like something is notched.
Have you been able to try the SE V7X on snare? Have received many compliments on my snare recordings ever since I changed my 57 to the SE V7X. It's very condenser like in the range but is actually a dynamic and does very well with bleed. A bit more bottom end a bit more top end.
Manuel, actually I used SE V7X just a couple of days ago in a real studio session (not my home). I couldn't compare it but it sounded like a snare should :) I currently use Shure 545 SD as a snare mic.
Thanks! Almost everybody uses some kind of eq to make mics brighter and not muddy. I usually cut around 350 Hz and boost the top shelf from 5 k to brighten the sound. Most of my sound comes from the overhead mics, combined with the snare top and snare bottom mics. This test was soloed snare top mic for listening different mics hi-hat bleed and eq curves.
@@KaitsuDrums I hear you. Snare mics alone do sound pretty bland but I thought these just had to much bottom end. Looking at your mic placement, it doesn't look like you had them to close but maybe the Opus was a little further away. I usually get a good top end crack from my overheads as well. Itry not to do to much boosting on the snare mic because it usually pics up other stuff that you don't want to add more top end to.
Telefunken (high end) and 441 (bottom) could be a great combo but the Beyerdynamic Opus is killer! But: With the third snare the Opus has too much high end, it sounds too "modern". There I prefer the SM57 and the 441 with boost. The 421 disappoints me, I remember it with much more high end. Maybe this one is damaged?
The Beyerdynamic OPUS 87 was the clear winner for me. Lovely and clean and picked up so much more of the shell than any other mic IMO.
I like the OPUS 87 very much too and use them all the time for close micing all of my drums except bass drums. In heavier music though bleed becomes an issue with that mic quite quickly.
Nah, too bright for me.
Exactly - first time listening to this mic and immediately looked it up to buy it lol. Automatic winner for me although the low tuning was my least favorite.
I want to like the opus87 if I could get the sensitivity lower.
I have to agree - I also liked that the Telefunken accentuated the pop of the head. Surprisingly, the Pyle recorded a usable tone and is cheap as chips.
Pyle just seemed ready to go in a mix. Very nice, and wild that it's an $18 mic. Also liked the AKG.
Listening to the hi-hat bleed is a good test.
Great comparison Kaitsu! I choose 57 & 441 with hi boost. That 421 was also nice on the low tuning.
Thanks Eeli! I have same favourites :)
Yes, thank you! Just the mic inclusions I have narrowed my selection down to. You hero!
It's between the 57 and either sennheiser 421 or 441 for me. At the end of the day I'd still say the most important factors are the drum and the way it's tuned.
great video, thank you
@@ThomasMRUclips Thanks for commenting and watching! SM57 is still the classic choice :)
Vocaltone D7 was a positive surprise! SM57 is good as always and the MD441 is one of my all time dynamic mic favorites - it sounds good for almost everything.
That was my first reaction as well.
Great job! Playing the same pattern helps a lot to hear the differences in the Mics. I‘ve recently fallen in love with the Lauten Audio 308 as my snare mic in the studio. It has really great off axis rejection to avoid Hi-hat bleed an is really punchy for a condenser microphone. Has a high pass AND a low pass filter switch.
Great comparison. I've tried a few of the usual suspects on the snare aswell as a 57/condenser combo but usually just end up using the beyer opus. Easy to attach/move and sounds more like the snare to my ears.
Amazing video, thank you so very much. It seems that the SM57 is the one with more impact, the other ones seem to soften the transients a little bit more than the SM57.
Thanks! Yes, that's the same thing I noticed...I'm using SM57 again :)
Great mic shootout. You have a great collection of rare snares please think about recording them as high quality multilayered samples. Record from the faintest touch to the hardest hit in about 14 - 20 hits do that 3 - 6 times for the center and then halfway near the edge. Then record rimshot and cross stick in 20 - 50 hits. Delete any false hits and add post production then use transit detection (transit recognition) and auto slice to cut into individual wav files. Then sell the dry, room and reverb room sounds online. Please consider this I have a Sonor acoustic kit and I play a 2Box drumit 5 ekit and it would be great to play samples of your rare snares including your Brady snares.
Thanks for suggestion Sam! I tried to record some Bell brass samples for one guy...I didn't have to compile it...There are already so many samples available and I might have to rent a studio for tracking those. I'll think about it :)
Now I know why I came back to the industry standard SM57, after trying an Earthworks DM20 and SR25, a Soyuz 013FET and a Neumann KM184 on my snares. I did not like any condensers on my snare, but I use and love them on toms, hihat, ride and overheads. Great comparison video.
Now THIS is how you do a shootout. Thanks for this 🙏 btw beyer m201 wins it.
Thanks Erasmus! What did you like about the M201 most? I had other favourites so I'm interested :)
Agreed
I feel like the Beta 57 with the 441 could be a super cool combo.
awesome shootout. thanks!
Am I crazy or does the md421 have sort of a phasey-ness to its character? I notice this in every snare shootout with this mic. Like it's good but it almost feels like something is notched.
i really have to start using the 441 on snare too again
Very interesting, thanks.
The 57s seem to give the most accurate picture.
MD421 make a decent overhead as well. Nice wide range, sounds great on snare..
I think MD421 sounded best on the low tuned snare.
3:03 Sounds like Beyerdynamic is clipping. There's audible low-frequency thud, that's absent in other mics examples...
Have you been able to try the SE V7X on snare? Have received many compliments on my snare recordings ever since I changed my 57 to the SE V7X. It's very condenser like in the range but is actually a dynamic and does very well with bleed. A bit more bottom end a bit more top end.
Manuel, actually I used SE V7X just a couple of days ago in a real studio session (not my home). I couldn't compare it but it sounded like a snare should :) I currently use Shure 545 SD as a snare mic.
Very nice. Most of them sounded really muddy and muffled. I liked the OPUS 87. The 421 was ok. The 57s were horrible.
Thanks! Almost everybody uses some kind of eq to make mics brighter and not muddy. I usually cut around 350 Hz and boost the top shelf from 5 k to brighten the sound. Most of my sound comes from the overhead mics, combined with the snare top and snare bottom mics. This test was soloed snare top mic for listening different mics hi-hat bleed and eq curves.
@@KaitsuDrums I hear you. Snare mics alone do sound pretty bland but I thought these just had to much bottom end. Looking at your mic placement, it doesn't look like you had them to close but maybe the Opus was a little further away. I usually get a good top end crack from my overheads as well. Itry not to do to much boosting on the snare mic because it usually pics up other stuff that you don't want to add more top end to.
Telefunken (high end) and 441 (bottom) could be a great combo but the Beyerdynamic Opus is killer!
But: With the third snare the Opus has too much high end, it sounds too "modern". There I prefer the SM57 and the 441 with boost.
The 421 disappoints me, I remember it with much more high end. Maybe this one is damaged?
Great shootout! What are you doing to manage hi-hat bleed?
Thanks Chris! Nothing really, except I don't play hi-hat too loud and those are little softer hats.
Note to self: stop bashing the daylights out of the damned hats. Haha.
Thanks for the reply!
Would've loved to see the Audix i5 in this comparison.
Me too but I didn't have it...
@@KaitsuDrums trust me, you did good as it is 🙏
Where’s the audio i5?
I don’t have that mic, sorry about that…
Nice tes
that pyle aint too bad tho..
Where can I buy a Vocaltone D7, anyone know?
At least from Finland :)
@@KaitsuDrums Thank you!
NOTHING BEATS MY CUSTOM 14X6.5 PEARL KAPUR SNARE....