Top drummer and Producer Francesco Lucidi hails power of AUDIX Microphones

Francesco Lucidi, one of Europe’s leading drummers and producers, is currently making waves in the US. Perhaps best known for touring with Italian rap-pop megastar Rkomi and singer-rapper Irama, he also showcased his skills behind the kit in 2020’s Vivaldi Metal Project, an all-star symphonic metal extravaganza conceived by Bruce Dickinson keyboardist Mistheria.

When he’s not on the road, Lucidi also operates his own recording facility, Studio 86, which is situated in the lush, picturesque region of Umbria. He also recently worked at the revered MOYSA studio in Milan with US microphone specialist AUDIX to record a new soundtrack.

For both live and studio projects, Lucidi keeps an extensive lineup of AUDIX microphones at hand, including the dynamic flagship PDX720; A231 large-diaphragm and SCX1 small-diaphragm condensers; D6, D4, and D2 for kick and toms; the workhorse i5 for snares and other instruments, and MicroD.

“I’m a rock drummer,” Lucidi tells Headliner, introducing himself before opening up on how Audix’s comprehensive product portfolio has served him as a musician and producer. “I grew up listening to lots of heavy stuff.

“My hero growing up was [Dream Theater drummer] Mike Portnoy, and my own playing certainly leans in that direction. So, my drum mics need to be able to take it without breaking up or losing any information.”

The first AUDIX microphone Lucidi came across was one of the company’s most popular and ubiquitous, the D6, when he was attending music and audio college in London.

“You’ll find the D6 on the kick drum in almost every venue,” he explains. “I recorded a lot of drums with those mics, and when I returned to Italy, I wanted to use them in my studio.

So what captured his attention about the D6?

“The D6 has a fullness for low-end sources I haven’t heard from anything else,” he says. “Move it closer to the beater, and you’ll get that nice clicky kick attack of great metal recordings. Move the mic out, and it gets fatter.”

More recently, he has found applications for the PDX720 that range from the expected to outside the box.

“So many people talk about the PDX720 as a podcasting mic, and it’s certainly good at that, but it can also sound phenomenal on singing. Especially on the heavy rock and metal that I like, because a lot of the lead vocalists are screamers, and they hold the mic. The PDX stands up to the sound levels they can put out. It absorbs physical shock well, too, and often I haven’t even needed a pop filter. I just used the PDX on a session with a band from Poland. 

"The Polish language has a lot of sharp consonant blends, so think sibilance and plosives. A condenser would have had a hard time with that, but the PDX smoothed them out just enough without losing any of the definition.”

Whatever the mic or the source, Lucidi sums up his fondness for AUDIX mics with one word: “Clarity. If I’ve matched the right mic to the application, it’s like I’m hearing the instrument itself when I’m listening in the control room. With AUDIX, I don’t feel like I’m hearing the mic, or even my monitor speakers. I feel like I’m hearing the essence of the source the mic is recording.”