Sennheiser e604

Been recording bands for around 10 years. In that time have moved studio twice, when I moved to London to set up a studio the premises were on the small side, just enough room for an reasonable size control room with Genelec monitoring, a vocal booth and a small live room.

These mics are a god sent, have used industry standard MD421s and they are better, but not much and certainly not when the price is compared to the sound (421s cost over twice as much as an E604. Instead of having 6 mic stands to mic top and bottom of toms you can clip on these and they do suprisingly good job of isolating vibrations from the mic with no horrible low end rumble coming through on the monitors (unless the drummer can't tune his drums ;) . If space and money are tight then these will deliver a top sound, especially when blended with a top pair of overheads (I user Sennheiser MKH 30 and 40 for middle and side). They also do sterling work on snare easily as good as sm57s but a bit more open and crisp, a refreshingly nice sound that stands out from the crowd on recordings.

Musician for 25 years.
Run my own recording studio pro 8 years, personally 15 years.
Protools HD2/192 - Control24, Focusrite,Avalon, etc..

I use this mic on various drums - Made the Zeppelin Reissue set sound JUST like B-Man!!! They were impressed- I know the room has a lot to do with it and placement but I just clipped em on all the toms and one on the snare instead of the usual 57 and it rocks!!!
no Effects and it was awesome! Every drummer that comes in comments on how well the drums sound. I use a SMALL/DEAD room (soundboard ALL over)- Havent tried on bass- I prefer a GK 1001RB-][ Direct.
This set is awesome!

A great snare mic. While I've gotten good results with toms too, I generally prefer other mics for this job. But the e604 KILLS on snare. I like it better than the SM57. Better than most anything. It gets a nice, full sound that goes great with a good pair of OH mics. I give it a 10 because it does that one thing GREAT.

I am NOT a sound engineer but a drummer....I've been drumming now for nearly 30 years,all totalled.Part of my desire to find the "perfect" "tom or snare microphone has been what I have been seeking all these years...and I believe I have found it.Sennheiser's e604 drum mic.I have no studio recording experience (other than as a musician)but I know what I like when I hear it.
My gear consisted of a 1994 DW Collector's series drum kitMonster cables,vidsonix speakers and a mic stand.thats it!.
My goal here was not to "review" sennheiser's "evolution"604 mic but to acually use it live with the band.I was NOT disapointed in this little mic's quality of sound reinforcment and quality of manufacture from this German made mic.

This mic is a high output,high feedback rejection cardiod microphone made specifically for miking drums,both live-on stage as well as in the studio.It's rugged,small frame makes this mic great for low profile miking of one's toms.(the body of the e604) is made from a tough reinforced glass fibre material that is very well suited,I feel, for on the road applications.Altho this mic cacn be used for brass and woodwind instruments,I am using it for my live tom miking purposes.
Ok....I attach the mic to the mic stand(an awesome drum-rim clip came with the mic.I simply chose to use it on its own stand)rigged up all the appropiate cables and....BANG!tapped my 10"X 9" mounted tom.a clear dynamic "thud" came thru my speaker system like I've never heard before.. this mic rocks!.......for a small package the "604" picked up all various sounds of my drum...even when i place the mic away from the drum 2-3' it still picked up on my tapping of the tom.
I used it on my 14"X12" floor tom.again,beautiful sound!...it picked up everything..from low lows to middle mids on my floor tom..MAGNIFICENT.I guess my favorite thing about this mic is its durability and more importantly its SOUND. it perfectly reproduced the "voice" of my toms and sent it unscathed thru the speakers.
I did't find ANY shortcomings with this mic(maybe a bit pricey) but thats about it.Sennheiser has a winner here,drummers!...its weight(60g)very lightweight.its dimensions (33X59mm) very compact..yet it delivers..........and keeps on delivering I personally won't use anything but the e604 to mic my toms from now on.