Review: DPA DDK4000 Drum Microphone Kit

4055 ON THE KICK

The DPA 4055 is a wonderful kick mic that I got to know in a previous review. It’s different to other kick mics: first, it’s a small-diaphragm condenser under the fattish head, so it’s fast and accurate, especially at the lowest frequencies where it’s tight and powerful. The frequency response is flat across the mid-range with a 6dB boost at 10kHz to bring out some click-y attack. Other kick mics are usually scooped in the mids, perhaps with added highs and lows, but the 4055 leaves it all in so you can shape it to your taste… and you can get a wide range of sounds. I found it responsive to different mic placements and, on DPA’s suggestion, different mic angles produce different results, so it’s well worth exploring positioning before reaching for the EQ. If you do use EQ, you’ll find it responds well to either subtle or deep EQ settings. Sensitivity is the same -54dB as the 4099, while the pickup pattern is described as ‘open cardioid’.

I didn’t notice until I was holding the 4055 in my hand but the mic body is asymmetrically shaped with the head mounted off-centre, allowing the stand mount to be positioned for minimum total width to help fit it into tight spaces. The head of the mic is much wider than the mic capsule but makes it look like a kick mic and allows for a large integrated pop shield/turbulence blocker. The UA0961 mic holder/stand mount is another example of DPA’s precision engineering. The mic is inserted into the holder and tightened with an integrated textured ring. It’s pleasing to use, looks good and allows for tight placements.

2012 ON THE SNARE

New for 2023 is the DPA 2012 compact cardioid microphone, and it’s simply an awesome mic. Combining a wide frequency response with extreme SPL handling and a dynamic range of over 130dB, the DPA 2012 aims to be the best general purpose mic out there, and it might be just that. Designed for live stages with a thick and durable brass body and a tough matte-black chrome finish, it’s small and thin but the sound is the opposite — it makes things sound larger than life.

In the DDK4000 drum mic kit the 2012 is recommended for snare drum duties. I like the sound of a SM57 on a snare drum… but I don’t use one because the buggers knock the tops off them, probably not deliberately but it happens often enough to make me suspicious! That was my initial concern with using nice DPAs on drums and I found I was instinctively fearful of them being struck and placing them off the rim of the drums rather than over the skin.

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Once past that mental hurdle, they’re a treat. The 2012 makes the snare sound big, real and richly detailed. You feel like you can hear each snare wire rattling on the bottom skin. The 4055 does the same thing for the kick drum; these mics present you with the source magnified but not changed. The 2012 on snare top may benefit from added high frequency EQ, and it’s rewarding if you do, but I can guarantee you’ll appreciate the big bottom-end punch compared to your current snare mic. These mics have tremendous reach and using multiple condenser mics around a drum kit is inviting spill but the accurate off-axis response ensures the spill is natural so the mics don’t fight each other.

For overheads, the new DPA 2015 mics are recommended. These are similar to the 2012s but described as Wide Cardioid pattern and designed for complex sources like choirs or pianos. As overheads they can be used closer to the cymbals but still deliver wide coverage which reduces spill.

IN ACTION

I used the DDK4000 kit a number of times at the Theatre Royal, Castlemaine. Checkerboard Lounge played the first night on the big stage inside, where I’d normally use tight dynamic mics on the skin drums. I mic’d up the whole kit with the DPAs and it was a noticeably different sound: very open, fast and clean. The 2012 on snare and 2015s on overheads presented wide and deep, and there’s lots of spill but they don’t negatively interfere with each other as you might expect – they just made the drums sound big. The 4099s on toms are relatively concise with good rejection from the hyper-cardioid pattern.

The following day, Pop duo Miss Eileen & King Lear played outside. A 4055 on kick and a single 2015 overhead was a complete drum sound. The best part was when support act, Alex Hamilton, was setting up and asked if I had a mic for his guitar because he had no pickup. I said, ‘as a matter of fact, I do’. The DPA 2012 got a reaction from the waiting audience when I first it turned it up, initially from the sound quality and then from the easy volume.

Two nights at the Bridge Hotel in Castlemaine saw louder bands on a small stage, and the 4055 kick/2012 overhead combo worked again for drums. The percussionist got one 2015 to cover his two congas and rack of tinkly things, and he was both thrilled and surprised to be able to hear the congas so clearly in the PA.

GOING SINGLE

Of course, if you really want to find out about mics, you need… bluegrass. The Americana Stage at the Blackwood Woodchop was an ideal test for the DPAs and they didn’t disappoint. The bands all play acoustic instruments around a single mic (with maybe a couple of side mics) and the technique is to turn it up as loud as possible without it feeding back. A condenser mic is crucial for the reach and fidelity. The catch is, the band, or members of the band, are mainly well away from the mic – they move in and out, so the mic is wide open, where feedback is explored, and it’s the mic’s off-axis response that ultimately determines how loud the band can be.

The DPA 2012 was as good as any I’ve used for this tough assignment and it was remarkable how much lift it would give before becoming unstable. The Greater Glider String Band are an old-timey act (think: dance music before electricity) and sounded beautiful around the single 2012. You can’t please everyone though. I had a little chuckle to myself when someone came up to the desk and asked if I could turn the fiddle up.

The Hardrive Bluegrass Band were the hardest-hitting act of the day and I added two 2015s as side mics. The band loved the DPAs and tested the dynamics by getting right up on the mic for some of the vocal. That can freak out some condensers but the 2012 sounded great up with that level of intimacy (although, I’m glad I put the foam windshield on). Hardrive guitarist and funster, Lochy Dear, on occasion likes to get right up on one of the side mics and deliberately makes the low strings boom out and distort with a combination of rough playing, proximity effect, and aiming the mic into the hole of the guitar. It’s a little game we’ve been playing for years – he gets a reaction and can hear me using the HPF to control it when it blurts out too much. The 2015 side mic was extremely tolerant of this misbehaviour and while it could be made to boom out it would not distort or overload.

STUDIO TESTS

Back to drums. I was talking to my old mate Jerry Speiser (drummer for Men At Work and now a Castlemaine local) while I had the DPA mics and one thing led to another. He had a new drum kit set up at nearby Studio UW (owned by Matt Underwood) so I had to try the mics in a recording situation. Rather than attempt to describe the results, I’ve included some samples. I’ve adjusted some of the levels but that’s all: no EQ or dynamic processing. The kick and snare comparisons to some popular ‘normal’ drum mics demonstrate how natural the DPA 4055 sounds. My favourite samples are the kick mics when he’s not playing the kick drum. The mics are hearing spill and the difference in response is clear. I’ve included a sample of Jerry playing time recorded with the whole kit of DPA mics completely flat.

I couldn’t stop using these mics. Tex Perkins and the Fat Rubber Band played the Theatre Royal, and his mixer Nic Marson (he and I were the TISM sound crew back in the day) brought his own kit of mics but he was happy to try the whole DPA kit when he heard the 4055 on kick. So was drummer Roger Bergodaz once he heard the kick in the drum monitor. We decided the 2015s were better deployed in Evan Richards’ percussion corner. The 2012 on snare and 4099s on toms had Nic convinced – he loved them. I’d heard enough by now, they were starting to make all my other mics sound ordinary.

PRECISION ENGINEERING

Technical precision is behind the linear frequency response both on- and off-axis; the fast transients; and accurate dynamics that make these DPA mics sound so good. The DDK4000 kit gives you a whole bunch of them in one case and, sonically, you could use any of these mics on any source and expect top results. The form of these particular models follows their function. They’re practical to mount on instruments and tough enough to withstand the rigours of live sound. I like them all. The 4055 is an extraordinary kick drum mic that has not been available for long but seems to have already developed a reputation by what I hear from visiting engineers. My new favourite mic is the DPA 2012, and it’s quite possible that it is the best ‘generalist’ (DPA’s word) microphone available. None of these mics are cheap by live standards, but once you’ve heard them, you’ll start saving.