The AKG D112 has garnished a reputation as of late is being the one and only microphone to use for kick drums. As I had never used an AKG D112 before I was quite eager to get my hands on one to give it a test. I have to admit to being one of those people, that in the past, has simply grabbed any microphone that happened to be laying around to mic up a drum set. Let’s face it, unless you’re a drummer or you probably do not think there is much of a difference between one microphone and another when picking up the subtleties of the drums.
So when I first heard the results of using an AKG D112 I have to admit I was pretty much blown away at the warmth and depth that the kick drum sound had. In fact I was so impressed with the warm sounds that the AKG D112 microphone gave I quickly moved it over in front of our base amp and did some tests a recording that as well. The results were the same as before with an impressive and rich sound picking up all the little subtleties of the low end.
I later went on to do some research on the AKG D112 to find out that the reason that the AKG microphone is so adapt at picking up these low-end sounds is due to the larger diaphragm of the microphone, combined with the fact that there is a large channel behind the diaphragm that allows for large movements of the diaphragm without it being obstructed by the actual casing of the microphone.
With its $220 price tag the AKG D112 was a little bit too expensive to only use for the drum kit. So finding out that it also worked in place of abase microphone was a great discovery that not only saved us money, but ended up with a much richer and deeper sound that totally change the recordings from then on.
While I haven’t had the ability to try out the AKG D112 microphone in a live situation, I do know of a few sound engineers that have and swear by its reliability and the fact that due to its design it can be placed almost anywhere which allows for a safe placement on stage without having to worry about it getting damaged as it does sit on the floor.
Amazingly this microphone, with its extremely large diaphragm can easily handled bass response is below 100 Hz without really any distortion that all. Although they say there is some allotment at around 4 kHz to allow for the punch of a drum I have to admit that we had to tweak the queue a little bit just to get that bite that we were seeking.
In the end I guess the most telling thing that I can say about the AKG D112 microphone is that as a band, we have collectively purchase three more. We now use one in each of the kick drums and two in front of the bass cabinet in order to get a wide dispersing bass sound.
If you really want to try something fun tried throwing an AKG D112 about 8 inches away from the bottom of your guitar cabinet and sending that signal to its own channel. You’ll find that when you’re trying to get the deep bottoms of your guitar to meld with your bass that the ability to turn this channel up a little bit achieves that with stunning results. All in all this little microphone has definitely earned a place on our stage and in our hearts.
