the t.bone DC 1500

I used the t.bone DC 1500 microphone set for alot of recording sessions and live gigs for over 3 years!
I learned with these mics how to record a drumset and found out that you can also create with cheaper microphones an acceptable sound.

The Set comes with a hardcase and the mountings for the mics, which is a very big plus! The mics are protected and you dont need any further accessories for the mics.

the mics on focus:

-BD300-
I only tested the BD300 on bassdrums. It offers a low-mid sound with no recognizable hi-kick. But with a little bit EQing and compression on your mixer you can make the sound more attackful and warmer than the original sound.
The quality of the material feels and looks heavy and almost undestroyable. Even the thread makes a really tough look.

-CD65-
This mic is made for toms and snares. For myself I like this mic more on toms because of the mid/bass tuned sound. unfortunately I miss the clarity here. If you use it on snares it sounds very flat and attackless.
A plus for this mic is the clip mount for the drums. You dont need an extra mic stand. Also the quality of the mic case isnt that bad! It can take alot of stick hits.

- EM500-
Is getting used as overheads for the drumkit (or other instruments).
The sound is not very clearly, more mid-lowish. I would set this mic more for percussions or acoustic guitars - ist not recommended for room recordings. The good thing is that the EM500 has installed a lo-cut filter- and a -10db switch.
Also this mic needs 48V phantom power! If you aint got this in your mixer, it´ll probalby getting hard to use these mics.

All in all i can say is that you cant make anything worng with this mic, when you´re in the beginning of exploring the world of recording.
Even if someone would ask me what kind of drum micset for beginners i could suggest, my answer would be: the DC 1500!

These are worth much more than the price point suggests. They sound great and in their own right you can do some great demoing just with this set.

However, with some careful adjustments, and if you can extend your budget to add 3 extra mics to the set (for approx. £190 extra), these can be used professionally for recording.

Firstly, when setting these up: I’d suggest getting an extra long extension for your headphones so you can sit in a different room listening carefully while the drummer plays. If you take the time to carefully place these mics and adjust the placements to taste, you can get a great sound out of them. These also need you to do more work EQ-ing, compressing, and either chopping up or gating (if gating, do it side chained to sample hits that have been accurately time-aligned and then muted - much more accurate) the Kick, Snare and Toms. This is it’s really worth the effort for learning a bunch of new tricks for getting the sound of each drum bang on in context.

My biggest gripe is with the overhead mics. Unfortunately they don’t seem to have enough headroom, so clip quite a bit. This is fine when just hitting K/Sn/Tm as it’s only the initial attack that gets clipped, which is quite a pleasant sound in context - but for cymbals it can create a slightly nasty effect, which in context isn’t great since the whole kit sound is getting clipped, sometimes quite badly.

To deal with this, I’d highly recommend either placing these a lot further away than you should [not an ideal solution] buying the t.bone EM 700 stereo pair (roughly £50 when I last checked + XLRs + stand, maybe £90 all in) to use instead of the overheads in this set. These have a better sound overall for OH mics, and more headroom - plus you can then use the included OH mics as a stereo room pair, in which case the clipping works in your favour and is less extreme since they’ll be at a distance. Although if you only have an 8-channel audio interface, having room mics isn’t really an option!

Additionally, if you have the budget, I’d highly recommend getting an SM57, SM58, or SM58 beta (my preference) to use for the top of your snare, with one of the included mics for the bottom. This will give you a better sound overall and free up a mic if you’re a three-tom drummer!

Overall, as I said, this is a great set in its own right for demoing - but if you spend a bit extra to add to the set, spend more time getting the setup just right, and get the EQs/etc right, you can use this same set to sound surprisingly professional. I’m happy with this purchase!