ecm8000s

[Abbott]

I was thinking about getting the behringer ECM8000s, so I went to my local music store and asked about them. They guys there were talking about how they were "distant" mics and shouldn't be used for music. But, here I hear all these good things about them. But naturally I am skeptical considering they're only $35 (are these the right ones). Would these mics be good for the following applications: overhead drum mics (main purpose), room mic for guitar amp, piano, and acoustic room mic?

[Dolemite]

Would these mics be good for the following applications:

overhead drum mics - yes

room mic for guitar amp - maybe

piano - yes, listen to this

and acoustic room mic? - yes

[Gidge]

it was originally intended as a measurement mic so that may be why you got strange comments.....however the famous Harvey Gerst found it helpful for other uses.....

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/sho...threadid=36354

[Abbott]

another thing...the way my band records is we record live in a garage, so before i pick these up i want to make sure that if we record with these ecm8000s as drum overheads, they are not going to pick up more bleed than other mics. We usually record live with bass, guitar, drums. It's a big garage, though. And I have lots of blankets (which don't seem to help out with bleed into the drum track, though).

[Dolemite]

Yep, they should pick up more of the band and more room sound than more directional mics. They are omnis after all.

Maybe someone who has used them in this application can give you more of an idea how much of an affect this has.

[subspace]

I use the ECM8000s for drum overheads while cutting live bands all in one room. I set the drums up at one end of the 30' long tracking room so they project out of a corner. Then I set the amps along the long wall facing the same direction the drums project towards. The amps are baffled off with office dividers, usually one on either side of each amp, with a third forming a roof over the bass rig. I leave the fronts open so the players can stand out in the room while hearing their direct sound, and guitar players can move into their "cubicle" for feedback. This keeps the amp mics from bleeding into eachother and beams the speaker's throw into a fairly narrow controlled path. The long wall everything points at is faced with fiberglass and covered in burlap so there's very little bounce off of it. You can do all this with some sawhorses, blankets, and 4x8 pieces of sheetrock-plywood-whatever.
In the end, the drummer has to rely on phones to hear the amps, but everybody else can position themselves to hear what they want live. The bassist always seems to end up on a stool at the mouth of his bass "hut", go figure. When I switched from the cardioid SM81s to the omni ECM8000s, it just sounded better, with no new bleed problems. HTH