CAD TSM411

These mics are totally unreliable, the entire set all are defective, they are a waste of money, each mic went dead one at a time with minimal use. CAD repair department want $25 each to replace, I told them just to throw them in the trash where they belong. I have 25 years of live sound expeience, and all of my Shure and Peavey mics still work great, even after rough usage, but the CAD mics have all died shortly after the warranty expired. Including the matching kick mic KBM412.

10yrs, Adat hardisk, Alesis Monitors.

I agree with the previous reviewer. This mic has a better "snare" sound pickup then an sm57. I recently was trying to record a Mapex snare and could not get any decent snare sound from the sm57. I put the following mics on the snare -Shure sm57, Cad Tsm411, EV cobalt C04, Sennheiser E609, and an EV/Blue Raven. The Tsm411 won the battle. The EV cobalt was a very close second. Don't get me wrong, the TSM 411 is not an sm57 killer, it was just better in that situation with that snare drum. BTW, I am not a big sm57 fan, I find there are many mics that can out do the old workhorse. If you find yourself trying to record a snare drum that just doesn't have that snare sound then this mic may be a good choice to try. I have tried this on toms with some ok results. I also tried it on a guitar cab and didn't like it at all on the distorted tones but for clean tones it was actually pretty good. I own a bunch of Cad mics and always find at least one situation that they work great on.

Project Studio Owner for several years. Mainly record my own and other local bands. Record to Sonar via Delta 1010 audio interfaces. Monitor via Tannoy near fields.

I'll be drawing comparisons to the Shure SM57, as the Shure tends to be the de facto snare mic.

I bought the TSM411 as part of a CAD drum mic pack. The idea was to get a collection of low cost dynamics for the drums that I could replace later with higher quality mics. The TSM411 is a nice compact mic and as such is much easier to use with rim-mounted mic clips than the 57.

This mic is a really nice alternative to the good old SM57 work horse. In the roll of a snare mic on the top head, it has a very different sound to the SM57. I find that it picks up much more snare sound than the 57. Therefore you can get away with a single mic on your snare and get much more of a complete sound. By comparison, the SM57 tends to get all of the batter head, but les snare if only the top head is mic'd.

With much less body mass than the SM57, the TSM411 suffers much more handling noise, but this has proved to be a non-issue in use, provided you use good clamps.

In summary, the TSM411 sounds nothing like an SM57. But in some applications, it is a better choice due to it's different emphasis. Definitely worth having in the mic locker.

Been associated with music doing PA and recording for 30 years now.
Record local bands both live and studio style.
I use Nuendo to record with. I have a 12000 watt sound system.
KRK ST-6 studio monitors are what I listen with.

I got this mic as part of a kit: PMP632c, hence the price you see. For the kit, this is a good price/value.
It is a dynamic mic with supercardiod polar pattern. I used the mic on toms, and the underside of a snare. This kit and in particular the TSM411 looked like a lot of value for the money. The mics are quite well constructed. Even impressively constructed for the money involved. The mic itself is smallish, making it easier to get into tighter places other mics just won't fit in. I can find no places this mic falls short on for the intended usage. It is fantastic on toms and on the bottom side of a snare. It has the right color for toms, and is big and open sounding as a bottom snare mic. This is no top side snare mic unless you want a mic with less color in that spot. The SM57 reigns king there. This mic (TSM411) is not overly colored sounding. There is room to use eq to bring out individual characters of the drums. Absolutely perfect. I am out looking to buy some more. I highly recommend this microphone. It is an excellent value.

Played guitar for 17 years. Recorded music for 3 years - different studios - now I record mostly with my mobile studio, which is a Yamaha AW2816 harddisc and TL Audio Ivory 5001 tube preamps infront.

TSM411 is a hypercardoid dynamic mic. It is a relatively cheap mic - made out to do the things that your SM57 does - which is a lot. So how does it do? Well, I am writing this review to let U know how I found use for the mic. I tried it side to side with a SM57 and an AKG D3700 on all the parts of the drum kit. The SM57 did much better than the others on both snare, kick and small tom. - But the surprise is that TSM411 was superior on the floor tom! Good smack and nice ring!And that is worth knowing. Another day I tried recording acoustic guitar with it. Here it was up against a BETA 57 and an AT ATM63HE - all pointing perpendicular at the end of the fretboard somewhat 17 centimeters away. And while the BETA 57 had a very nice sound - the TSM411 certainly presented many points of interest. It actually captured the sound of wood! Very good application for this mic. I look forward to trying it on electric guitar cabinets. There are things that it doesn't do well, they are bass cabinet, snare, kick, and small tom. Still I give it 9 just because it served two tasks so well and with an original flavour and at a very low cost.