There are several amazing kick drum mics available that are known to be industry recommendations. These mics are known to work well, so most drummers go for them.
However, every now and then, an underdog microphone comes through the line and surprises everyone. That’s kind of how we view the Electro-Voice ND68. This microphone has blown us away, and it’s become one of our newest recommendations for bass drums.
Here’s our full review of it. We’ll discuss why it’s such a good mic and why we think it’s so underrated.
The Electro-Voice ND68 is a supercardioid dynamic microphone with a large-diaphragm design. It’s designed specifically for bass drums, but you can easily use it with other bass instruments as well.
It offers a lot of bass with a contoured midrange, and that leads it to produce amazing sounds when hooked up to a kick drum.
The frequency response numbers are 20Hz to 11kHz, and the supercardioid polar pattern gives the microphone excellent bleed rejection.
When purchasing the mic, you also get a large zipper bag and a sturdy mount to attach to a microphone stand.
The sound quality you get from the Electro-Voice ND68 is the aspect that surprised us the most about this microphone. We didn’t expect it to sound so good, and we loved the fact that it gives you an almost EQ’d sound without having to actually tweak any EQ settings.
This makes it an incredible microphone for beginners to use, as you don’t need to have too much audio production knowledge to get an amazing bass drum sound in your mix.
We found that this mic gives you just the right amount of attack mixed with booming low-end. You get the deep bass drum sound that everyone wants, but it’s solid enough to hear through all the other drums being played.
If you want more attack, you can easily tweak a few settings in your mix. If you want less attack, you can do the same. We just love the starting point that this mic gives you in the mix.
The ND68 microphone is built like a truck. The physical casing is solid enough to survive decades of frequent use, and it’s durable enough to still work after being tossed around a bit.
You should never aim to give any mics a beating, but it’s always good to know that they will easily survive one.
We think it’s best to put this mic slightly inside your kick drum to get the best sound, but it’s good to know that the mic will be safe if you leave it positioned outside of the kick drum.
You should also know that the hypercardioid polar pattern stops this microphone from picking up most of the sounds that don’t come from your bass drum. You get great isolation, especially if you place it inside the shell.
The whole selling point of the Electro-Voice ND68 for us is that it’s so easy to use. That’s the very definition of having excellent performance, and this microphone excels in that area.
Whether you’re using it on a 16” or 24” bass drum, you’ll get very similar results in terms of how much attack and low end the mic brings out.
It’s one of those microphones that sounds brilliant as soon as you find the sweet spot. The sweet spot may be different depending on the drummer’s sound preferences, but we think every drummer will be happy with how this mic performs when they find that sweet spot.
The included mount also makes it very easy to position this mic as optimally as possible in front or inside of your bass drum.
The Electro-Voice ND68 has a very similar price tag to the popular options like the Shure Beta 52A, Audix D6, and Sennheiser e 902.
While it’s not as popular as those kick drum mic options, we think it should be. All those mics have amazing value for the money, and this mic shares the exact same quality.
It’s not as affordable as a few other kick mic options, but it’s also not as expensive as some of the top-tier options.
Like with those mics, the ND68 offers a reasonable price tag that any drummer will be happy with when they realize just how good this microphone is.
The fact that this kick drum mic gives a pre-EQ’d sound makes it amazing for studio recording. Any mic that makes the recording process easier is a valuable microphone in a producer’s eyes.
You’ll start off with a good mix of attack and booming low end. You can then make fine adjustments to suit whatever specific sound you’re going for with the songs that you’re recording.
If you’re new to recording drums, this mic will also make things very easy for you in the bass drum department.
The ND68 also works brilliantly in live settings. It’s often ideal to have a bit more attack at a live gig, mainly so that the crowd can hear the bass drum clearly. So, you just need to boost the attack in your mix, and you’ll be good to go.
We think the Electro-Voice ND68 is underrated as it doesn’t get as much traction as the kick drum mics from the bigger microphone brands. However, it offers audio quality that is just as good as what those offer.
Many drummers will even prefer the sounds that you get from this one. It has the same price tag as many of those mics, so you just need to do audio comparisons to see which mic you’ll end up preferring. We highly recommend giving this one a chance.
Drum Teacher
Brett Clur has a Drum Performance Diploma from Trinity College London has been playing drums for over 20 years. He is passionate about advanced concepts and uses his years of experience to teach his students about them. While he is a full-time drum teacher, he is also working on growing a YouTube channel where shares his insights. You can see him playing there, or on Instagram where he posts daily videos.
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