Earthworks DM20 Small-diaphragm Condenser Drum Microphone Reviews

The sound of this mic is almost the same the way I hear the instruments naturally with my ears and not amplification. Hardware so hard, nothing plastic, I recommend it if you want to buy it.

Jeremy was really good customer service.

Used for multiple sessions for toms & snare top and I'm extremely satisfied with the clarity that the earthworks bring to my mixes. Great isolation without sacrificing tone and durability. Discrete and easy to set up with the stock mic clips.

I've been recording for decades and have used tons of different snare mics. I can't say that I've ever been entirely happy with the capture. I know what needs to be done to make a snare track sound good and I've always done what it takes. Frankly, I'm simply tired of having to work for it :) I decided to try the DM20 on an album I'm producing for a client and I'm absolutely thrilled with this mic. I've used condensers on snare before but was never completely happy. This mic is what I've been looking for. It rejects surrounding sounds wonderfully and what hi-hat bleed there is sounds great. I should have bought this mic years ago. I continue to use a bottom mic and the combination is fantastic. I'd highly recommend it.

Amazing Sound

Best mics ever for drums. I own six of these mics for my DW Purpleheart kit! My bands FOH engineer says that these are the best drum mics he has ever seen and heard! Whenever we play out live, we hear more compliments on the drum sound.

We purchased 6 of these. We could not possibly be more satisfied with the mics themselves. That said, the clamps are just useless or worse. The rubber grips the DM20 so hard that up/down manipulation is not possible while the clip is on the drum, so every time you need to make an adjustment the whole thing has to come off. The thumbscrew that works the clamp is too wide as well so on many drums the thumbscrew rubs on the shell which is obviously really problematic. On top of that, the thumbscrew is just threaded into that screw and is really easy to take off independent of the mount. We have on multiple occasions literally not been able to get the mount off the drum without pliers because the mount has more grip on the drum than the nut does on the screw. Horrible, horrible design. Also the mics barely fit in the bags if you leave the clips on, which means you have to wrestle them out of the stiff rubber every time you put them away.

Fortunately for earthworks, the mic itself is so good that it gets 5 stars even considering we basically paid for 6 useless mounts

I needed clip on tom mics for my home studio kit, since I have very little space for mic stands. I was on the fence about these mics, due to several factors, but after hearing them in a friend's studio I knew these were the mics I was looking for. They are quite neutral and very faithful at reproducing what you are hearing in the room. They are also quite hot mics! I was not expecting them to be so powerful, especially on drums. I guess I am just too used to using dynamics on toms.

As tom mics these are clean and clear, with plenty of attack. There is quite a bit of bleed, far more than advertised. However, the top end on these mics is so smooth that the cymbal bleed is very inoffensive--so when the mics are placed correctly to minimize the bleed (which is easy to do without stands in the way), any remaining bleed can actually help to glue the cymbals to the kit.

These mics also take EQ very well. Since there is no hyped bottom end like so many other clip-on tom mics, toms can sound a little flat at first, but this is actually a GOOD thing! A bit of well-chosen EQ on the way in, and toms sound huge and round, but not muddy or boomy. This helps the toms, especially floor toms, sit better in a mix without muddying up the bottom end.

I will definitely be buying one more for my 6-piece kits.

I have 4 of them, and they are fantastic. They're hotter than hell, so heavy handed-drummers will need to be padded down to keep from clipping your pre. The build quality is second to none. The rim mount is simple and rugged. Definitely built for the rigors of the road. The gooseneck stays where you put it. Drums come through clean, clear and uncolored. They're discreet, too.

THESE MICS ARE AMAZING!!! THEY DO EXACTLY WHAT YOU WOULD EXPECT FROM EARTHWORKS. WORTH EVERY PENNY. I PAIRED THESE ON 3 TOMS AND SNARE WITH EVANS BLACK CHROME HEADS AND THE SET UP WAS EASY AS PIE!! THEY SOUND TECHS UPSTAIRS AT THE BOARDS WERE IN HEAVEN. I HAVE AN EARTHWORKS KICK PAD ON MY KICK MIC AND THIS SET OF 40+ YEAR OLD SET OF YAMAHA'S SOUND INCREDIBLE!!!! I WISH I HAD THESE WHEN I WAS A ROAD DRUMMER. THE MOUNTING HARDWARES ARE SUPERB THEY ARE PERFECT. AND MY SALES REP RYAN HAINES IS MY GO TO GUY FOREVER!!! HE WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND TO GET ME MY PURCHASE AT A GREAT PRICE AND SHIPPED IMEDIATLEY!!!
SWEETWATER AND RYAN HAINES!!!! GET YOU SOME OF THESE!!!!!!

I love the space that these mics create in the studio. I use 421's and tried these and they have stayed on the kit. Built like tanks!

Pros: Very sturdy build. The frequency patterns seems to be tailor-made for toms. It's usable on snare but needs eq to get the crack. The clip is rock-solid. It's the most ready-made tom mic, sounds good before you ever touch eq or compression. Bleeds less than a 421.

Cons: It's not the fastest or easiest mounting clip, but it is solid and secure. And it might not be the best mic for getting organic-style drum sounds, the pattern just seems to lend itself to deep and punchy toms rather than character vintage style sounds

As a long-time Earthworks user, I was excited to add the DM20's to my collection. I must admit they met and exceeded my expectations with the most transparent, full-sounding reproduction of toms and snare ever. The DM20 is built like a tank! The gooseneck provides incredible stability with no loss of position regardless of the vibration. WARNING: the DM20 will accurately reproduce EXACTLY what your tom or snare sounds like, therefore make sure your drums are tuned and sound the best they can acoustically. Add a couple of SR 25's for overheads and a Kickpad, and you've got the finest drum sound available. Once you use these mics, you'll never go back!

This mic has rendered my plug-ins somewhat useless— thank goodness!

I was using a smaller dynamic clip-on mic for my snare until I got this new mic, and it has changed the game so completely that I can't say enough good stuff about it.

First off: that gooseneck is STRONG. When I saw it on the web I was definitely skeptical about how well it would stay put during a heavy drumming session... but it's not budging! It stays exactly where you place it, and it even took a few (test) stick hits without moving much at all.

Secondly: the sound is incredible. It's deep and rich — completely brings out the guts in our drummer's snares. We've used it on a few different drums, and it's a monster mic.

I used to throw a couple different plug-ins on my snare tracks to really bring out the character I wanted... but I've mixed two songs without any plug-ins on the snare track, and they sound better than what I was doing before (even after some fairly tweaked EQ/DYN plug-ins).

I'm thrilled with this... would totally buy them for the toms too. Sounds great on floor tom!

I bought 5 of these mics for recording application. They are incredibly clear and punchy. My mixes took a turn when i put these on toms. They cut through right away with minimal eq. The clamps are a bit difficult to operate with hoops like the ones Tama has, but overall you can work around that. Just incredible sound!