Sleep Token’s drum kit is meticulously close-miked, and Pike soon hopes to apply his attention to detail to cymbals, using an AUDIX microphone whose hypercardioid pickup pattern he thinks makes it ideal for the task.
Sleep Token may be the most committed concept-rock group of the 21st century. Appearing only in costume, they weave a mythos around an ancient deity called Sleep as its earthly apostles: lead singer/instrumentalist Vessel and band members II, III, and IV. Their stage productions could be setpieces in a Jodorowsky film, and their music blends elements of metal, electronica, djent and careful songwriting into a consciousness-altering potion. Songs are “offerings,” shows are “rituals”, and front-of-house engineer Thom Pike mixes a sound so powerful it could indeed summon the otherworldly.
Audix SCX1HC compact condenser
His talisman for drummer II is the D6 from AUDIX, soon to be joined by the new D6X as well as the SCX1HC compact condenser mic on cymbals. Pike tells us that while the D6 is known as a go-to kick drum solution, it also turns up in an unexpected application.
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Audix D6 & D6X
“Every sound engineer ever I met used the D6 and told me it was the microphone for kick drum,” he begins “I’ve never used anything but the D6 on kick in my professional career.” The D6’s reputation for excellent reproduction of kick drum precedes it, but that doesn’t mean kick is the only source on which the stout, compact dynamic workhorse delivers results. “In addition to the kick, I use it on the 10-inch, 12-inch, and 16-inch toms,” explains Pike. “Each has their own D6.”
Pike and the band discovered the merits of the D6 on toms quite by accident. “We tried it as a laugh in sound check one day,” he recalls. “Then, both the drummer, II, and I loved it so much that we stayed with it, and now that’s our standard setup. The mics are large compared to the rest of the D series, so to onlookers who can see the kit it almost looks like there are extra tiny drums or maybe coffee mugs up there, but the sound is well worth the visual oddity.”
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