Earthworks CMK4 CloseMic Kit, User Manual

9

The High Acoustic Sound Levels of Close Miked Drums

In close miking drums, one should keep in mind that the acoustic sound level 
at the microphone head is extremely high. Microphones used for close miking 
drums should be able to handle at least 140dB SPL in order to prevent audible 
distortion. The DM20 DrumMic™ handles up to 150dB SPL. With these high 
sound pressure levels, the DM20 microphone output level may be as much as 
+15dBV which can overload some types of microphone preamplifier inputs. In-
serting the Earthworks XLR type LP20 LevelPad™ into the microphone cable 
will provide -20dB of attenuation to help prevent any distortion or overload. For 
full information refer to pages 1 and 2 of this manual.
  

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 still too much low 
frequency response when miking a snare, use either a high-pass filter set some-
where 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.  

A

Figure 8-A & 8-B

Positioning the

Microphone Head

B