Drum Tom
Microphone Position: Above/outside rim facing center of head
Distance: About 3 inches above rim, 1 inch back from rim
Additional Setup: Once sweet spot was found, our laser alignment was locked in for further microphone tests.
Our Comments: For the tom mics, Jim preferred the bright attack of Mojave Audio's MA101, while Chase liked the more balanced attack of the MA201. The MA100 had a very prominent attack, but its extended high end response picks up more cymbal bleed. The Audix D2 and D6 both also sounded great on the tom, with the D2 having more rejection than the D6. Other mics that had good rejection were the Mojave Audio MA201 and the sE Electronics RN17.
* Please note there are no Ribbon microphone samples for this test since close-miking drums produces an SPL that is typically too high for Ribbon mics.
** For reasons unknown our Tube output test of the Gemini 5 did not turn out, so it is missing from this shootout. However, we concluded that the differences between the Gemini 5 FET and Tube output in the other tests would have been present here as well.