Drummer Cafe Community Forum

I'm considering getting a full set of drum mics for my drumset as my band is starting some recording. I have a 6 piece drumset (3 rack toms, floor tom, kick, and snare) along with a decent amount of cymbals. I have been considering both the Audiopile DK-6 Mic Pack
http://www.audiopile.net/products/Microphones/DK6_Drum_mic_kit/DK-6_cutsheet.asp (http://www.audiopile.net/products/Microphones/DK6_Drum_mic_kit/DK-6_cutsheet.asp) and the Audix Fusion 6 Mic Pack
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Audix-Fusion-Series-6Piece-Drum-Microphone-Pack?sku=270665 (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Audix-Fusion-Series-6Piece-Drum-Microphone-Pack?sku=270665)

If anyone has any experience with either of these and can give me some advice I'd really appreciate it.

I would go with audiopile mics.  They cost less, sound good, and Mark and Liz provide great customer support.  Mark is also brutally honest with his product descriptions.

Micing kits is extremely difficult.
Although it probably wouldn't save you any money, I would advise micing the kit with a maximum of 4 mics, at least at first (BD, SN, stereo OH's).
Never heard of Audiopile.
They are cheap.
I know a lot of professionals highly rate the Audix i5 for snare drum.

That is an understatement and the difficulty increases as you add microphones.
Normally I use two SM81s for overheads and an ElectroVoice ND 308A for the bass and nothing else is miced individually. 


Mark is fairly well known in the pro audio world.  He owns Audiopile and is also an above average musician.  He is an excellent soundman who was tired of touring and started his business from the stories I have heard.  In the last five years I have purchased several thousand dollars of gear from Mark and everything has been better than described.

Fusion series are pretty good. Nice case but no clips?

I'd start with the Audiopile kit WITH clips at $180 vs. $300 and supplement the audiopile kit with a better kick mic and maybe snare.  Like maybe one of those Audix D6 and i5 combos off eBay with a couple free cables and simple kick mic stand.  The kick & snare mics are the weakest points on any drum mic kit until you get into the real expensive ones featuring industry standards like the Audix D series ones or the Shure 52/57 one (& those come with rim clips!).

While I DO use a D6 on kick and a Shure Beta56 on snare and i5s on toms (previously SM57s), I picked up the earlier Audiopile kit with 2 condensers and 3 dynamics. Love the condensers. The dynamics worked fine, only tried them once but I wasn't going to replace my 57s or i5s with them ;>) If I did more sound jobs with thrashers, I'd pick up another audiopile kit for the new kick mic and to have plenty dynamics to go around.

Boomerweps

Thanks for the advice guys. I really appreciate the quick and helpful feedback.

The Audiopiles are starting to sound better than the Audixes given their price and the fact that they come with clips. However, I'm willing to spend a little bit extra if I have to so regardless of price, do you guys think the mics in either kit are better than the other? Particularly the overheads and kick mics as I'll probably get something along the lines of an i5 or an SM57 soon after I buy one of the kits.

I know two drummers gigging who are 2-3 times a week who are using the Audiopile mic kits and they are well pleased.  The overheads are great, not as good as the SM81s but the entire kit is less than one SM81.  The kick mics are better than most but nothing spectacular.  There are better kick mics but considering the price this is the best bang for the buck.  This mic kit will work well for all but the most demanings applications.  I am not sure how they will hold up to constant gigging as only time will tell.