I had ruled out mic mounts that attach to a drum’s rim after trying some in my studio years ago, only to find that they transmitted way too many bad sounds directly through the mount. I’ve been happily using mic stands since. However, I also play drums in several bands, and sometimes I notice the live sound engineer getting frustrated while trying to attach the plastic clip-style mic mounts on my drums – and usually not succeeding because I have a combination of die-cast hoops and S-Hoops on my kit. Cue the trumpets – Lauten Audio Rim Mount to the rescue! The Rim Mount is an engineering marvel. It’s made of lightweight alloys with a lever that resembles those on the Lauten Snare Mic [Tape Op #159] and Tom Mic [#163]. The articulating arms, ball joints, and teeth lock into position and connect a small but sturdy clamp to a standard 5/8-inch #27 thread to attach the mic.
The Rim Mount is so much easier to attach than those commonly used springy plastic clips (if they’ll even fit at all): Place the jaws of the clamp on the rim (hoop) of any drum and rotate the large thumb screw to tighten. Loosening the lever on the Rim Mount allows positioning of the mic wherever needed – seriously – it can rotate, spin, and move in so many directions! Once in place, simply tighten the lever again, and it remains in position securely with no sagging. And if the drummer repositions the drum, no problem! The mic and mount will follow. The clamp has tough rubber grips that help isolate the mount from the drum’s vibration while protecting the surface it’s attached to.
I tested many different tom and snare drum hoops from several drum makers – even a Latin Percussion conga hoop – and the Rim Mount held firm every time. Naturally, I tried the Lauten Audio Tom Mic and Snare Mic, which worked perfectly! Since these two mics have their own built-in levers, you may need to reposition levers, which can be done without changing positions or loosening the mounts. I also tried an assortment of other mics, including a Shure SM57, a Sennheiser MD 421, a Sennheiser MD 441 (hanging on the bottom snare rim!), and even a heavy Neumann U 87 clone in its spider shock mount! The Rim Mount held without a whimper, and I could place the mic exactly where I wanted it. Amazing! Even with larger mics, I did not detect any degradation of the drum’s sustain or tone. I thought about trying a larger, heavier tube mic, but you really don’t want those near the drummer, do you? I didn’t think so.
I took the Rim Mounts with me to a couple of live shows where we used them to mount some tom mics and, on another occasion, a snare drum mic. In both cases, we could easily position the mic where needed, and it did not budge through the entire show. I won’t rush out to replace the existing drum mic stands in my studio, but I would not hesitate to use the Rim Mount to add an extra mic to the kit (especially in tighter spaces). I also plan to keep two or three of these in my gig bag, which may mean some live sound engineers will be much happier to see me!
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