"I've been using beyerdynamic microphones for the past six or seven years," Prince says. "It started on tour with Todd Rundgren, who has an endorsement with beyerdynamic. It was hard not to notice how good my kit sounded, and everyone I talked to said they sound great out in the house as well. We used again last year on the New Cars tour, and I heard the same comments. Getting that kind of consistency when you're playing on a lot of different projects is like the promised land for a guy like me."
Prairie Prince's kit is fairly standard for his rock projects, with three toms (one rack, two floor), kick drum, snare, hi-hat and cymbals. "I use the Opus 88 on the toms and Opus 87 on snare," he notes. "I love the way they clip on so easily and still stay in place. They stay out of the way but still give me that powerhouse sound. I like them a lot."
The kick drum is mic'd with an Opus 99, a large diaphragm dynamic mic with powerful neodymium magnet structure tuned for low-frequency, high-SPL pickup and featuring a hypercardioid pattern.
For cymbals, Prairie Prince uses traditional condenser mics. The hi-hat is mic'd with an Opus 83. The rest of the cymbals are captured by a pair of MC 930 studio mics in the traditional left-right overhead positions.
(Jim Evans)
