Sennheiser E604

Small dynamic mics fitted with drum clips

E604s are small, convenient, have nice pickup for close miking, and clip right onto the drum rim. They’re also sold individually or in packs of three.

The clip can become a menace. It’s curved and adjustable, but usually throws the mic a few inches over the drum head. Then it’s in the line of fire and could take a hard hit.

Mics for the Toms

E604s are great microphones for the bar circuit, larger stages, and they hold a solid place in the studio.

Toms are fun to mic or record.  They’re fun because of all the differences between them: size, construction and materials, tuning and a whole host of other things.  Finding a tom’s sweet spot is quite a satisfying feeling.  Sennheiser makes all this much easier with the Sennheiser E604.

The E604, itself, will fit in the palm of your hand.  Its included mount and clip are a little bigger and spidery, but the mic can fold into the clip for transport, making the whole package the size of a guy’s wallet.  Size matters; in the world of pro audio, small often means convenient.

After size, the E604’s most notable design feature is its clip.  Conventional mics are mounted with mic clips at the end of stands.  The E604’s clip is designed to clip onto drum rims, eliminating stands altogether.  Drummers often have a lot of hardware on stage and have enough trouble meeting their attention quota.  They don’t need anything else getting in the way.

There are two clips available for the E604, and one will be included with the microphone.  I have the MZH 504.  It’s great, but to position the mic perfectly over the drum head usually means compromising the drummer’s confidence to do a Dream Theater-esque 64th drum roll.  And if it doesn’t, he’ll just mow down your mic with his sticks of fury, and everybody loses.  However, the new clip, MZH 604, is squared off, positioning the mic a little higher and further back, thus allowing greater positioning ability.

The inherent problem with attaching a mic to the instrument it’s intended to record is the resonance and vibration that comes from the instrument when in use.  Luckily, the E604 is studio-grade, and the clip and mount have great isolation.  The clip material is very bendable and elastic, indicative of good absorption.

So how does the E604 perform?  The pickup pattern is cardioid, and designed to grab what’s immediately in front of it.  This reduces drum bleed from the adjacent toms.  The frequency response is 40Hz to 18kHz, leaving plenty of room to pull out the best of the drum’s tone, body, snap or boom.

When I use this mic, especially in the studio, I put it through a parametric EQ with sweepable mids.  I leave the low (80Hz) and high (18kHz) at zero, drop the mids all the way down (-15dB), and slowly sweep the mid frequency until I find the right spot.  The point is to eliminate any mid-frequency anomalies.  Depending how it sounds from there, I’ll probably engage a HPF and toy with the low and high end to bring out more action or body.

With three E604s on three toms, there is slight bleed and, therefore, slight tonal interaction in those channels (unless you gate them, too).  That’s a good thing when sweeping out mids like this because the mics pick up different tones when the other toms are struck.  Furthermore, the overs pick up the toms’ natural sound and stereo image, perfectly complimenting the E604s.

Sennheiser sells the individual E604s for about $130.  They also package three together for about $330.  So, it’s perfect for an average three-tom kit and priced well within a reasonable budget.  Whether you work a conventional Gene Krupa-style jazz kit or have an eight-tom rack and get pleasure from Phil Collins solos, this mic will do you justice.