DRUM PREAMP SHOOTOUT PT. 1: API, Daking, RME, Sebatron with C414, 4038, SM57, AT4047

OUR BIGGEST DRUM PREAMP SHOOTOUT YET! Dylan Wissing (Alicia Keys, John Legend, Drake) tests the API 3124, Daking Mic Pre IV, Sebatron VMP 4000e, and RME Fireface UFX+. We ran the same four microphones with the same performance through each preamp to really compare how each is affecting the sound. Which one do you like best?

Tracking notes as follows:
The same performance through each preamp, no post EQ or processing, with four microphones each through the following:

1. API 3124, followed by the GAS A10 Attenuator (to control the notoriously hot output of the API)
2. Daking Mic-Pre IV
3. Sebatron VMP 4000e (each channel set at -15db pad, the middle setting - no EQ engaged)
4. RME Fireface UFX+

Each performance uses the following four mics:

1. Mono Overhead: AKG C414 XLS condenser, 40 Hz hi pass and -12db pad engaged
2. Front of Kick: Coles 4038, with windscreen in front of each mic
3. Snare Top: Shure SM57
4. Room: Audio Technica AT 4047, flat EQ, no pad

Each position has two microphones placed as close as we could get to each other (as explained in the video). Signal from each mic is then multiplied using an ART S8 Channel Splitter, yielding a total of four essentially identical pictures of the set from each microphone pair.

When tracking, each preamp level was set to peak at -6db. Next, all performances were normalized so that peaks are identical across the different preamps.

For more information: www.indiestudiodrummer.com