Live knee mic?

[tomo221]

Anyone use a knee mic live, and if so, which one and why? I’m venturing into IEM territory and am exploring options for hearing everything (with hopefully less effort than overheads and close mics).

 

[TPC]

First and foremost, I would recommend an omni.

For a long time I’d record with one mic set roughly near my right knee. I used, of all things, a RadioShack 33-1070. It was made by Shure in the 70’s (?) and is a very solid mic. A bit of a sleeper, IMO.

 

[Lazmo]

I’ve never heard of a right knee mic. How is it positioned and where is it aimed?

Is that what the Yamaha EAD10 is mimicking?

 

[cworrick]

Depends on what part my knee is singing or if it is just cracking and popping like normal.

 

[swarfrat]

I’ve never heard of a right knee mic. How is it positioned and where is it aimed?

Is that what the Yamaha EAD10 is mimicking?

It's been around while. Omni above the drummer's knee. It's Omni so it's not "aimed" at anything. It's just down in the middle of the kit nearest the bass and snare.

 

[Ryukyu]

For live gigging, I just use one overhead and a kick mic. Plus I get some ambient bleed in my in-ear monitor mix from the vocal mics on stage.

 

[RobbiefromAtlanta]

What we call around these parts the ‘d*ck’ mic as shown over the kick drum in this picture.

 

[Buffalo_drummer]

For live gigging, I just use one overhead and a kick mic. Plus I get some ambient bleed in my in-ear monitor mix from the vocal mics on stage.

Yep. this.

 

[blueshadow]

First and foremost, I would recommend an omni.

For a long time I’d record with one mic set roughly near my right knee. I used, of all things, a RadioShack 33-1070. It was made by Shure in the 70’s (?) and is a very solid mic. A bit of a sleeper, IMO.
View attachment 568387

A little OT- I miss Radio Shacks always had just what you needed to fix something!

 

[TonyVazquez]

I was gonna ask What Is It, because
I've never heard of such a thing;
although the positioning is something
that has been done for a long while
whether the user was conscientious
of it or not.

I'll try it with an MXL990 Condenser mic
and see how it sounds in my multitrack
recorder.

I'm a greater fan of Close-mics for drums
than I would like to be for "room drum"
mic'ing methods.
But, under some circumstances in which
mic resources are limited I must work
with whatever I have and try to get the
best quality results from it...

...In that case, I would close-mic my
Kick-drum with my CAD D88 kick mic,
and my snare with one of my SM57
Knockoff mics, and my 2nd CAD
Kick mic as the "knee" mic, and finally
my two MXL990 mics out in front of
my kit at far left and right positioned
at the height of my rack toms to
catch some cymbal wash and ambient
drum sounds in the spot right where
my drum kit sits.
Of course, to get the best results
I would have to record the drums
alone in the room with no other
band instruments present... I must
do a Take, and then let the other
band members overdub their own
instrument tracks.

I hate Lo-Fi quality, but my other
two band members like it.
So, I could compromise by using
the combination of Knee Mic and
Close Mic to get the best quality
from Lo-Fi AND Hi-Fi sounds together.

Well, it seems that I've just complicated
something so simple as the
"knee mic" method.
I should just try it as simple as it is;
because then I'll know if I would
like this simple mic method.

 

[tomo221]

First and foremost, I would recommend an omni.

For a long time I’d record with one mic set roughly near my right knee. I used, of all things, a RadioShack 33-1070. It was made by Shure in the 70’s (?) and is a very solid mic. A bit of a sleeper, IMO.
View attachment 568387

Thanks for the recommendation. I figured omni was the way to go but wasn’t sure what was worth picking up. I just found one on Reverb and grabbed it. For the $30 I just paid plus a nod from someone who’s used it for this purpose, I’d say it’s worth trying!

 

[TPC]

Thanks for the recommendation. I figured omni was the way to go but wasn’t sure what was worth picking up. I just found one on Reverb and grabbed it. For the $30 I just paid plus a nod from someone who’s used it for this purpose, I’d say it’s worth trying!

Great! I hope you like it. I sure like mine. I used to buy them repeatedly because they were so cheap and sound pretty darn good. I think I have 3 or 4 of them. Give us the review after you’ve given it a workout.

 

[Drdrumdude3009]

Depends on what part my knee is singing or if it is just cracking and popping like normal.

My knee is a ventriloquist, as the noises come from my mouth.

My latest knee song goes like this: “mmmmph it really hurts/ hot damn I am in pain/I swore after that last cortisone shot I’d never kneel again…”

 

[Drdrumdude3009]

I’ve never heard of a right knee mic. How is it positioned and where is it aimed?

Is that what the Yamaha EAD10 is mimicking?

When my guitar slinging friend was a Heil Microphone dealer, Bob himself said the best bang for the buck was one mic in the middle, mounted snare level near the bass drum. This must be the “knee mic” placement. I have done this in addition to traditional mic’ing methods and you can do some cool stuff in a recording.

 

[EyeByTwoMuchGeer]

Electrovoice 635a is a nice option. It’s small, bulletproof, and not terribly bright. Maybe a bit lo-fi on its own, but certainly a great sound

 

[Vintage Old School]

I've always heard of it being referred to as a crotch mic. Same position: mounted slightly over the the bass drum aimed towards the snare.

Any sort of an omni microphone would work for how the OP wants to use it. Even a good to high quality lavaliere mic would work and would hardly take up any space.

The only mic I've used in this position is the Dr. Alien Smith Dirt Mic-01. It's a modded Superflux D112 microphone that can be dialed in for the amount of "grit and dirt" effects you desire.

 

[Lazmo]

What are good low cost omni mic options to look out for, given that Rat Shack is a thing of the past.

 

[EyeByTwoMuchGeer]

What are good low cost omni mic options to look out for, given that Rat Shack is a thing of the past.

Electrovoice 635a It’s the SM57 of omnidirectional dynamic mics

For condensers, the 12 Gauge mics seem to get some good reviews. They are super cheap, ($35) even more so than the 635a ($135). They’re made out of old shotgun shells, if that’s your thing. They’re very compact and can fit basically anywhere on a drumset

CAD m179 is another decent condenser option. It has a variable pattern option as well as a pad an high pass filter. Sort of like an AKG 414.

 

[Drdrumdude3009]

Electrovoice 635a It’s the SM57 of omnidirectional dynamic mics

For condensers, the 12 Gauge mics seem to get some good reviews. They are super cheap, ($35) even more so than the 635a ($135). They’re made out of old shotgun shells, if that’s your thing. They’re very compact and can fit basically anywhere on a drumset

CAD m179 is another decent condenser option. It has a variable pattern option as well as a pad an high pass filter. Sort of like an AKG 414.

Thanks for turning me onto these!