CAD M179 With Variable Polar Pattern Adjust

B

Bob's Mods

New member
Has anyone used the M179 to track vocals or instruments? I know its popular for drums but I was wondering if anyone's tried it for something other than drum tracks. How does opening up the pickup pattern effect the track? Do the tracks seem to be wider...have more room reverb? Is there a more open sound to them? This is a neat mic in that you can change the width of the polar pattern. I was wondering how meaningful that is over the standard cardiod pattern.

Bob
 
I use it a lot for background vocals, voiceover, and acoustic guitar (in addition to drums), as it sounds pretty neutral, which helps things sit in the mix better without a lot of weird frequency buildup. Adjusting the pattern will not only allow you to vary the amount of "room" sound, it will also allow you to vary the amount of proximity effect (figure of 8 = most; omni = least/none).
 
A few months ago I purchased an M179 (based on a few recommendations)primarily to try the various patterns on acoustic guitar and harmony vocals I've only tried it so far on 3 applications:

Lead vocal (didn't like it - while fairly nuetral it really did nothing on the voice I tried it on)

Background vocals (both the omni and the figure 8 seemed to work well) - I had heard good things about this type of application, so while pleased with the results I was not surprised.

Acoustic guitar (I had mixed results) Obviously, as soon as you start trying to pick up a wider pattern and more "room sound" you become a victim of the room. I have a one room studio that serves as my "live" room for tracking and as my mixing environment (with a seperate room serving as a "vocal booth").

The first few times I recorded acoustic with a wider pattern I picked up too much "room" (and not in a good way). I then did some additional room treatment with panels of OC703 - which helped a lot. I'm still tweaking the room (moving panels around, etc) which is a major pain in the ass - but it should be worth the effort.

I don't know if I can specifically claim the tracks were "wider" but you can record room "reverb" (which may or may not be a good thing). I did feel I could get a more open sound (vs. a close mic'd sound)

That all being said - the M179 can be a useful mic with the wider patterns, but, a lot will depend on the room.

I just picked up a Rode NT2A, which is also an adjustable mic. I have not used it a lot yet - but at this point I think I can safely say it absolutely kicks butt over the M179.
 
The small spare room that I use is not great either. I would guess based on your observations that a larger sound treated room would be best when using a mic with a wider pickup pattern. It picks up more room rather than make the track sound wider is what I'm gathering you've discovered from your tracking efforts. Thanks for the feedback.
 
I use a pair of M179's as my main go-to mics for just about everything.

http://www.mattthayer.com/music.html

"Surrender" is entirely tracked with a stereo pair (sequenced drums) on acoustic and vocals (perhaps mono on vocals, but anything that's not panned deadcenter was done by placement in a stereo pair, not by mixer panning).

"All Right" m179's used on drum overheads, vocals, and possibly electric guitar tracks.

Goodbye to you cover - m179's on vocals, acoustic, and electric tracks.

I usually find the need to eq vocals done with the m179 if I'm looking for something like a "typical vocal mic" type voicing, but if you want something more neutral, it may be just fine as it is. Mostly just some upper mid or high boosting, and often I find that cutting some of the low mids before compression helps my vocals sit in the mix better (but I'd look to my room first if theres mud down there).
 
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