If you want to record drums or amplify them for live gigs, owning a few good microphones is essential.
To have a good balance of mics, you need to have condensers and dynamics for the drums and cymbals.
In this review, we’re going to look at the Telefunken M80, which is a solid dynamic mic that typically gets used for vocals. However, it’s a decent option for drums too.
The Telefunken M80 is a dynamic microphone with a supercardioid pickup pattern. It has a 50Hz – 18kHz frequency response range, which is quite wide compared to other dynamic microphones.
It has a low-mass capsule with a black finish, and it’s designed to reduce proximity effect, meaning you won’t get much bleed from the mics around you.
The microphone comes with a mount and a bag to keep it in, but it doesn’t come with a clip to mount it to rims. If you don’t want it to rest on its own microphone stand, you’ll need to purchase a separate rim mount.
You get fairly good quality recordings when using the Telefunken M80, especially when placing it on snare drums or toms.
When it’s on a snare, it does a good job of capturing the force and crack from rimshots. It also picks up ghost notes well.
On toms, you get a warm and open sound, making your toms sound quite resonant.
The mix you get when using the mic is relatively simple to work with, as the wide frequency response makes it great for picking up whatever tuning your drums have.
The microphone also cuts bleed out extremely well. This means that you can’t hear other drums apart from the one you have it placed on, which is something many microphones struggle with on a drum set.
Keep in mind that this is primarily a vocal microphone, so it’s designed to feel comfortable when being held. So, the casing is a bit larger than some other drum kit mics, making positioning a bit tricky.
However, the casing is very durable. If you hit this mic with a drumstick, it will likely be fine.
It’s also just a solid microphone that will give you many years of reliable use.
As we said earlier, this mic does a good job of giving a warm and open sound to whatever drum you place it on. If you use a bunch of these as close mics for your snare and toms, you’ll get a solid drum kit sound in your mix.
The mic also works very well for live performances, as it accurately reflects your drum tones and puts them out to the crowd.
With that said, the mic doesn’t perform as well as dedicated drum kit dynamic mics. Something like a Shure SM57 would be a better option for drummers.
It’s good for versatility, though, and that’s often what people want when owning microphones.
The cost of the M80 microphone is very decent. It’s not as affordable as something like an SM57, but it’s a lot more affordable than some other really high-end microphones.
This makes it a solid option for many drummers, no matter what their budget is. If you want four of these to mic your entire drum kit, you’ll be paying around $1000, which is somewhat pricey, but not too much.
To conclude, we think the Telefunken M80 is an excellent option for drummers. It offers great open tones, and it comes with a relatively decent price tag.
You’ll get the most value out of it if you plan on using it as a vocal microphone as well at some point, but it’s still solid as a dedicated drum set mic.
If you just need a drum kit mic, there are a few more affordable options out there that arguably sound a bit better.
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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