DK7 DrumKit™ User’s Guide An Entire New World of Pristine Drum Sound
Inside Front Cover EARTHWORKS WARRANTY Please Remember to Register Your Microphone(s) for Warranty at: www.earthworksaudio.com/register All Earthworks ® products carry a limited warranty (parts and labor). To register your product, you will need the serial number and series letter for each microphone.
Congratulations on your purchase of the Earthworks DK7 DrumKit™ High Definition Multi-microphone Drum System. When compared to conventional drum mics, Earthworks mics will provide more detail in the attack, reproduce subtle low level details, near-perfect polar response, far less phase issues whenclose miking and nearly twice the amount of rear rejection. We welcome you into an entire new world of pristine drum sound using Earthworks High Definition Drum Microphones™.
IMPORTANT NOTICE - Please Read This: Drums, Microphone Output Level & Preamp Input Pads The SR25, DM20 & SR20LS are designed for drum applications, and in most cases will not require the use of a pad to prevent overloading microphone preamps in mixers or consoles, computer audio interfaces and external preamps.
Miking Drums There are many ways to mic drums and most every recording or live sound engineer has their own way of doing this. Our objective is not to indicate which drum miking approach is better, but to make suggestions and look at advantages and disadvantages of each. Multi-microphone Method The objective of multi-microphone drum miking is to place a separate microphone on most or all the elements of the drum set.
Nearly Twice the Amount of Rear Rejection One “disadvantage” of the multi-microphone approach is picking up unwanted sound from other elements of the drum set at the rear of each microphone. Conventional microphones only provide about 18dB of rear rejection, while Earthworks microphones provide nearly twice that amount. Therefore, Earthworks drum mics will dramatically reduce leakage present at the rear of each microphone. Figures 4 and 5 illustrate this.
elements of the RimMount™. First, loosen the thumbscrew so there is more than enough space for the Delrin® cushioned rim-guide to clear the bottom of the drum rim. Then determine where on the drum rim you want to put the microphone, then put the “hook portion” of the RimMount bracket in that place on the drum rim. Soft Polyolefin® Coated Metal Bracket Hook Portion of Bracket Delrin® Cushioned Rim-guide Rubber Mic Holder Thumbscrew Figure 7-A.
in place as you tighten the thumbscrew to firmly secure it to the drum rim. The soft protective Polyolefin® coating on the RimMount™ metal bracket will prevent scratching the drum shell finish. Figures 8-A and 8-B Adjusting the DM20 Microphone Height A B Positioning the Microphone Head Once the DM20 microphone height has been set, then position the microphone head. It is suggested that the microphone head be placed between 1.5 to 3 inches above the drumhead.
Close Miking Snare Drums with the DM20 The DM20 has been optimized for miking toms and snare. With its frequency response of 50Hz to 20kHz it will provide a full and fat sound from your toms and a nice crisp sound from your snare. If you feel that there is too much low frequency response when miking a snare, use either a high-pass filter set somewhere between 60Hz and 100Hz or a low frequency equalizer (EQ) to attenuate (i.e. cut) a few dB in the area of 60Hz to 100Hz for the desired results.
X/Y Stereo Overhead Miking There are two basic ways to position overhead drum mics, either by placing the mics in an X/Y position (Figures 12-A & 12-B) or by separating the microphones by some predetermined distance (Figures 13-A and 13-B). The X/Y position will provide less of a stereo image than the separated microphone method. A B Figure 12-A Horizontal X/Y Positioning Figure 12-B Vertical X/Y Positioning Figures 12-A and 12-B show two variations of X/Y microphone placement.
Miking the Hi-Hat There are many approaches to miking a hi-hat. We suggest using an SR25 or DM20 placed approximately 2 inches above the top hi-hat cymbal (Fig. 14-A) in addition to placing the microphone approximately 2 to 3 inches from the edge of the hi-hat cymbals (Fig. 15). The mic can also placed under the hi-hat in relatively the same position (Fig. 14-B).
Miking a Kickdrum with a Hole in the Front Head First, make sure the mic clip is attached all the way at the bottom (XLR end) of the microphone allowing it to go deeper inside the kickdrum (Figures 17-A & 17-B).
+6dB 1st 0dB -6dB Suggested procedure for EQ’ing a kickdrum when using 10Hz 100Hz 1kHz 10kHz Figure 20 Start with EQ “Flat” 20kHz +6dB 2nd +3dB 0dB 10Hz 100Hz 1kHz 10kHz 20kHz Figure 21 Add Shelving EQ in High Frequency Range the SR20LS +6dB 3rd +3dB 0dB 10Hz 100Hz 1kHz 10kHz 20kHz Figure 22 Add Shelving EQ in Low Frequency Range If you are still not pleased, first add a moderate amount of high frequency “shelving” EQ in the 2kHz to 3kHz range (Fig. 21) for the beater sound.
NOTES: 12
Inside Rear Cover EARTHWORKS WARRANTY Please Remember to Register Your Microphone(s) for Warranty at: www.earthworksaudio.com/register All Earthworks ® products carry a limited warranty (parts and labor). To register your product, you will need the serial number and series letter for each microphone.
SR25 SR25 Cardioid for Overheads, High Hat Frequency response Polar Pattern 20Hz to 25kHz Cardioid Sensitivity Power requirements Peak acoustic input 10mV/Pa (-40dBV/Pa) Signal-to-Noise Ratio Output Output Impedance Minimum output load Noise Dimensions L & D Weight DM20 with RM1 Rim Mount 24-48V Phantom @ 10mA 150dB SPL 74dB A-weighted XLR (PIN 2+) 200Ω bal. (between pins 2 & 3 ) SR20LS 600Ω, balanced between pins 2&3 20dB SPL (A-weighted) Length 6.5 inches (165mm) Diameter .860 inches (22mm) .
