recordinghacks

43 photos document the unpacking of a new Taye Studiomaple 6-piece drum kit in Green-Black Burst.

Here are the highlights of my NAMM 2009 photos — Tama and Craviotto drums, mics from Cascade, Nady, Violet, AEA, Mojave, and some celebrity shots too. (Hey, we’re all fanboys inside, at least sometimes.)

Hoping to prove that every recording studio should immediately buy two KickPorts to help record acoustic bass drums, I tested the device on my own drum and came away disappointed: five mics in three different positions couldn’t hear the expected improvement.

Introducing the Zeitgeist page, which shows the extremes within the microphone database — the most popular mics, the least popular mics, the lowest-noise mics, the most-reviewed mics, and more.

One of the coolest drumming products from NAMM 2009 was a simple plastic ring that can be inserted into the hole in the front head of a kick drum. Called the KickPort, it costs about $40 and turns the drum into a cannon. It’s a passive EQ for a bass drum.