Sennheiser MD 421 Question - RESOLVED!!! USER ERROR!

[mhschmieder]

Although I consider the 421 a great back-up mic for many different purposes, I never use them on drums anymore, after doing shootouts with lots of other mics over the past year or so. I'd keep this opinion to myself if the 421 wasn't so expensive, but as buying multiples is a pricey proposition, I feel compelled to post topics here about good drum mics. They're easy to find if you just scroll down, as this forum isn't all that active.

Now, when it comes to miking bass amps, I have yet to meet a mic that gives me a readier-to-mix sound than the 421. I generally set it about 4" from the speaker, at about a 45 degree angle near the center-most edge of the main cone. I play with it a bit until I get the right combination of attack, sustain, timbre, and dynamics, and tend to set bass cabinets far off the floor during recording. I should also point out that I tend to mostly use single 12" speakers for bass and keyboards these days.

Yes, that switch is confusing at first, until you realize "M" is for music and "S" is for speech -- then it becomes easier to remember the next time. People think its for mid/side use, mono vs. stereo pairing, medium vs. soft roll-off, etc. I don't think it's even described in the manual!

[WSVP]

I have always liked the sound of the Sennhesier 421. It is a very good "Mic-of-all-Trades"... I feel a bit the same way about the Shure SM57. To my ear I find the 421 to be a slightly richer / warmer version of the 57.... I really like the sound on Toms and Snare drums. They make a very good Guitar or Bass amp mic and 421 will probably sound at least "ok" on almost anything.

Thats where the love-fest ends...

What I DON'T like about the 421 is:

1. The slide-in Clip-Mount system ( Anyone who has used them for years will know what I am talking about ) it will wear down and eventually you have to Duct Tape the mic to the mount.

2. The Size.. In many situations they are virtually impossible to mount on a drum kit ( depends on the drummers positioning ) the combined length of the Mic and XLR is just too much to fit on about 80% of the drummers I have worked with.

When it comes to overall value I have to agree with mhschmieder that there are better sounding mics for less money that are vastly easier to Drum-Mount.

[mhschmieder]

Yep, and those two concerns are a big reason why I don't want to use it on drums anymore, aside from having discovered my "secret mics" these past two years that are the "421 killer" in each individual application (snare top, snare bottom, floor toms, rack toms).

In fact, mine came off its clip twice during my last session, and that had me a bit concerned. I recently bought the harness for it, but I'm often too lazy to set it up in advance (though it does seem to help intelligibility when close-miking a bass cabinet). It was around $50, which, believe it or not, is cheaper than the one I just bought for the E/V RE27N/D (also the same one they recommend for the older RE20).