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[Kevin Maxwell]

Kevin,
I agree that it promotes the mic for drums in it's ad, but I believe that to be based on it's ability to clamp on to the rim and nothing more. Sales speak as we say here. In other Shure literature, and when speaking with Shure, and based on my limited use of the mic, I base my statements on the list at the link below.

http://shure.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3703

I used to use the SM98 all the time on drums and now we use the Beta98A on drums. I have no experience with the 98H/C, it looks a lot different then the Beta 98A.

I was quoting Shure web site. The link you posted doesn’t say not to use it for percussion and the description from Shure that I quoted does list percussion and wind instruments as recommended uses. This doesn’t mean that everyone is going to like a particular mic for a manufacturers recommended usage. There have been plenty of mics that I haven’t liked for a particular use that other people highly recommend. Sometimes I think we need to explain better why we are recommending something thus giving the reader more information so they can make an educated decision.

[Mike Kirby]

Before you go crazy with gates and compressors, let's back up just a bit. I didn't recognize the mic you're using as one I would use for a snare so I did a little research.

Shure doesn't recommend the 98H/C for use with drums, they recommend this nice little clip on mic for just what I've used it for once or twice in the past. They recommend it for BRASS instruments, hence the clip on and flex feature. Please run a test with a mic on a boom just off the back edge of the snare rim with the mic located at an angle and about 2-3 inches above the snare using an SM-57, Heil PR-22. Don't mic the bottom of the snare, and see if that doesn't cure your problem. Keep in mind the mic you use will have to have good rear rejection characteristics or an excess of cymbals may bleed into the mic. Let us know how you make out.

This was my thought exactly, condensers are not always a good mic for a snare and having a look at the specs for this mic I would also recommend switching to a 57 or a Beta 56A or one of my fave's an Audix i5.......if you specificaly want to stay with a condenser then look for something that is designed for drums.

[Bob Leonard]

I used to use the SM98 all the time on drums and now we use the Beta98A on drums. I have no experience with the 98H/C, it looks a lot different then the Beta 98A.

I was quoting Shure web site. The link you posted doesn’t say not to use it for percussion and the description from Shure that I quoted does list percussion and wind instruments as recommended uses. This doesn’t mean that everyone is going to like a particular mic for a manufacturers recommended usage. There have been plenty of mics that I haven’t liked for a particular use that other people highly recommend. Sometimes I think we need to explain better why we are recommending something thus giving the reader more information so they can make an educated decision.

I couldn't agree more.

[chris johnson]

kind of a odd question, but how much do you know about drums? have you ever played drums or anything? just curious mostly. are you having the problem of not hearing the softer hits at all, or are they just quieter? im a foh guy and ive been playing drums for 15 some years also. if you can still hear the loud hits and the soft hits, it might not be a bad thing. good drummers have dynamics, and hopefully they have good dynamics with the band. the fluctuation in volume can be a ok thing at timnes. just my two cents i love when we talk drums anything on here! ha

[Steve Alves]

I use the Beta 98amp on snare. I also have the H/C but thought the only difference was the clip on the H/C for horns and the transformer is seperate??

Shure does recommend the Beta 98amp on snares and toms and I use them on both. Never had any problems..

Here are a few links that seem to support they are the same or very similar.

98 H/C
http://www.shure.eu/products/microphones/beta_98h_c Notice it does include snares
http://www.shure.eu/products/microphones/beta_98amp-c This is what I am using
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYbriFbi0eA Shootout of 57 vs 98

[Don Sullivan]

Consider all your drum mics. What other mics might be opening up during the rim-shot that you hear so clearly? Are your Tom Tom mics opening? Perhaps their thresholds are too low. Consider patching your overheads into additional input channels, and running them full-range, with no gates and only an upper-limiter on them. Mix them in when the drummer is playing softly and mix them out when the music is at full-bore loudness. You could also do that with the snare mic. Also consider the compression  on your snare. Is your attack time in a reasonable range? A typical snare hit only lasts 20-30 milliseconds. is your attack time longer than that? If so your compressor is not really doing much.

[Andrew Swanson]

I agree with Tim.  Put a single mic a little off the head, and between the top & bottom.  I get a lot of crap about doing it that way, but it does a nice job.  Sm 98s are fabulous tom mics, I used them exclusively until all 10 of ours were stolen at a gig.  However, Id never put a fragile expensive mic near a snare drum... Beta 57s seem to hold up very nicely.  If your still having dynamics problems,  try a peakstop limiter just above where the snare hit comes in. Good Luck!

[Roland Clarke]

I've a client that got a special deal with Shure for Beta 98's, he uses them of batteria drums for a samba band.  Having used the 98's in on kits over the years, they aren't my favourite drum mics, particularly for snares, however, I've gotten useable results from them.  As mentioned above, position is a big thing with drum mics and sensible use of fast compression can help, however, do consider that it might well be a case of an average drummer who doesn't hit consistently.  I'm not a fan of the "rimshot" as a regular, offbeat, stroke, often, I find, those that use it like this are compensating for a lack of weight in their sound rather than an additional colour.  If they rimshot regularly on certain songs and not on others, that's for us as engineers to compensate for.  If it's a question of "hit and miss" playing, compress fast and deep, don't beat yourself up, and accept that you can't always polish a turd.

All the above being said is assuming that when you are talking about rimshot's you mean that, not side-stick as another poster alluded to earlier in the thread.

[Frederik Rosenkjær]

If the problem is the difference in level between regular shots and rim shots, that sounds to me like the problem is an inexperienced drummer. In my experience a good/experience drummer will not have a problematic difference in level between these, but rather a slight difference in level and still a lot of difference in sound. It shouldn't cause problems.

However, with less experienced drummers, uncontrolable dynamics is a classic hallmark. On all drums, but especially kick and snare. When everything is dialed in to sound just right on one type of hit, the other will be way off in some direction. The classic place this happens is approaching and during fills, when the drummer gets carried away and loses control.

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