Behry ECM's: Dealing with Self-Noise

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VirtualSamana

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I love my ECM 8000s as overheads. I also like them on acoustic guitar save for the self-noise.

Do other people that use the ECMs for acoustic have any techniques of reducing it (during tracking or afterwards)?

Is noise reduction software an option?
 
decent mic, but hard to use on a quiet source.......you can manually edit the tracks and silence the sections where nothing is playing where the noise is really noticable.....
 
I dealt with the self noise by sending them back.

However.. The few tracks I did record I was able to save by using the noise reduction in my recording app. It did take away some of the nice ambience though so it was a trade off I did not want in the long haul.
 
I have probably spent more time with this mike, trying to get a decent sound from them, than I have any other mike I have in my arsenal.

First of all, remember that this is an omni directional microphone. As such, the room itself is going to have a major impact on the quality, (or lack of) of sound obtainable from it. It's not an easy mic to work with, nor is it very forgiving.

Also, remember the price point. It costs every bit of 35 bucks!

Given that, plausable, and marginally usable tracks are possible, particularly where a minimum amount of tracking is involved.

Here's a sample of the BEST I've been able to get from it to date. But.... I'm not through trying.

http://artists.iuma.com/site-bin/streammp3.m3u?286662
 
i bought one in june. sounded good on acoustic guitar. but now it sounds like it's in a wind tunnel - f'd up!!!! of course guitar center won't let me exchange it for one that works, as if i should expect a mic to last for 6 months or something. fockers
 
As an omni there is an advantage.

No proximity effect.

The room will play a huge part in an omni but you can stick this mic up in REAL close to a source to lessen that.

This will not only lessen the room sound but up the signal/noise ratio PRE-pre-amp on a source and works well on an acoustic guitar.

On an Ovation Celebrity, I put the mic INSIDE the uppermost sound hole....(takes a steady hand).

On my classical I put it very close to the strings at the edge of the sound hole just at bottom corner of the fretboard.

I also had a pair and one was real noisey and the other wasn't too bad, so i ditched the bad one.
Like a lot of the cheapies, there can be big differences between any given two mics.

-mike
 
Re: As an omni there is an advantage.

formerlyfzfile said:
The room will play a huge part in an omni but you can stick this mic up in REAL close to a source to lessen that.
Click to expand...


Not really. They have like ZERO SPL tolerance. At least mine do. Stick mine close enough to a somewhat loud source, and they clip, distort, and basically crap out. Zero in on the wave forms and look at those nicely chopped-off waves! Mmmmmm. Sounds gooood. :D What a waste.

Only thing I find them useful for are tamborine, shaker, and any other hand percussion. Absolutely nothing better for those apps. What a joy. And they're pretty killer for binaural mic'ing if you get in to that sort of thing.
 
Low SPL handling agreed

...but I've not had any problems with my classical or Ovation (not mine, borrowed).

I certainly wouldnt put it on a snare or but I have tried it on an amp.....ok but not that great.

Hey...its a $35 mic.

-mike
 
Thanks!

I rent out a studio (shared with 3 other starving musicians) and the sound of the room is decent. I like the way that the ECMs capture the ambiance of the room. Can anyone recommend another small diaphram omni that I could pair up to record acoustic with less hiss? One that was easy on the wallet wouldn't be a bad thing either.
 
chessrock said:
Oktava MC012 with omni capsule.
Click to expand...
Speaking of which, I wish GC would start carrying these capsules. If I get a pair of them from the sound room, it'll cost me more than the mics themselves!!:mad:
 
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