PZM Mics for Voice?

B

bwoye

New member
Hi all, I have two Crown PZM mics donated by a researcher as she was going back. I was wondering how I could put to use.

I write songs but I am not ready to go to a commercial studio to do the music there. how can I use these mics? I am contemplating to use them on voice, what are some of the things or effects to expect in such a situation?

Thanks
 
Any possible noise will end up on the tracks...not what you want...those were designed to be put on podiums and in boardrooms...when meetings were recorded.
 
PZM Mics for Voice

Thanks darrin, but supose I try to control the conditions to minimise the noise, what is the frequency response behavior?
 
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One of my first times ever in a studio (as an artist) I sang into a PZM stuck on the side of a vocal and it came out really well.

PZM mics are really cool and can have a lot of cool musical applications, but as stated above they are designed to pick up a lot or surrounding noise if they are mounted on a wall or floor.
 
I heard somewhere that Alan Parsons used them stuck to the cieling over the drums...might be true...but I couldnt tell you where I read that.

I have 3 modded crowns PZM mics that were distributed by radioshack...but they have been in the drawer for several years.
 
darrin_h2000 said:
I heard somewhere that Alan Parsons used them stuck to the cieling over the drums...might be true...but I couldnt tell you where I read that.

I have 3 modded crowns PZM mics that were distributed by radioshack...but they have been in the drawer for several years.
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I've used a pair of PZMs as general room mics when recording a drum kit with excellent results in conjunction with close mic'ing.
 
I think they are nicknamed "boundary mics" because they are designed to stick on walls and ceilings. The capsule inside is raised up (away from the boundary) about an inch for a certain reason. But I forget what that reason is right now. Doh!

To the original poster,
You can use them for vocals if you want. That is, if they sound good. I guess what we are trying to say is...that it may be harder to make them sound good vs using a decent vocal mic.

But hey, what have you got to lose? We experiment, we learn.
 
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I took a recording studio class a year ago, and I'm pretty sure the instructor told us that some PZM mics were surprisingly good for vocals.

So you should put it in different places, record and see what you get.

Often, a real-world test is much quicker and more accurate than theorizing or working formulas.

Let us know!

---Dan, http://danhughes.net
 
darrin_h2000 said:
I heard somewhere that Alan Parsons used them stuck to the cieling over the drums...might be true...but I couldnt tell you where I read that.

I have 3 modded crowns PZM mics that were distributed by radioshack...but they have been in the drawer for several years.
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This does sound like something AP would do.

I have a few RadioShack/Tandy PZM's from years gone by; bet all those silver oxide batteries would be clag by now.
 
superspit said:
This does sound like something AP would do.

I have a few RadioShack/Tandy PZM's from years gone by; bet all those silver oxide batteries would be clag by now.
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Were you in the battery of the month club too?...lol...nowdays Radio shack is not much more than a phone kiosk at the mall...I remember hanging out at one after my guitar lessons were over with and the music store closed when I was a kid.
 
darrin_h2000 said:
Were you in the battery of the month club too?...lol...nowdays Radio shack is not much more than a phone kiosk at the mall...I remember hanging out at one after my guitar lessons were over with and the music store closed when I was a kid.
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oh my....dare I admit it?
Yes I was.

And I can also recall a day when Tandy (Australia) was a genuine electronic 'enthusiast' type shop..where I'd spend much time,(after bass/guitar lessons)..and also recall buying my first 'echo/reverb' unit (Radiocrap), with it's massive <>50ms of BBD delay and 'manual' flanging fx..(you had to physically move the sliders after hitting a note..hehehe).

It also doubled as a fine distortion device...by 'fine' I mean crap.

Great memories, early 80's....when $49.95 was a hell of a lot of cash for a young kid to be carrying into Tandy.

Bless.
 
going way way back to my 4 track reel to reel days, I used a Tandy PZM tapped to a 2' by 3' piece of thin ply wood and stood this in front of the singer / acoustic guitar player. I seem to remember that the results were very good, the room sounded good and that is a big thing with PZM's.

I still have 2 x Tandy PZM's in the mic cabinet, I should dust them off and give them a go, would be good around the drum kit. If I remember right there was a mod to make them phantom powered and do away with the battery. Improved signal to noise too.

Cheers

Alan.
 
Oops. It sounds like we might need a dedicated PZM forum.

Am I showing my age if I admit that I too remember what Radio Shack was like before it became a toy store? (Oh no! I don't want to grow up!)
 
Reply on PZMs for Vocals!

You gyz n girls are war!

After listing to the ethnomusicological field recordings we did, I thought they might do something sensible. darrin_h2000 said they can generate excess frequencies. this I thought (hypothetically) that they do due to the flat thing fixed on them, and that if it was removed they may not generate the excesses. I am working on the principle of "every room vibrates at a certain frequency"- the reason for the partially covered ears simulating a "wind" sound. Indeed the pitch changes with variations in the "room" size that you create aound the ears.

Thanx you friends, I will definately come back with the results to share.
 
pzm's are fantastic mics. as i recall, the reason for them being mounted on their own surface was because there's less chance for phase incorrectness that way. for example, when you set up a room mic for recording drums or whatever, if you put that mic close to the floor there will be much less chance of it being out of phase with your other drum mics. a pzm, you could say, has it's own built in floor off of which the sound is absorbed, thus giving it a greater chance of phase correctness. or am i talking crazy? :drunk:

for vocals and overheads and all sorts of stuff, you can really change the character of the sound by what surface you mount them on. try big heavy wood for vocals. solid wood, not plywood. try this in front of kick drums too, it's pretty cool.

-s
 
PZ Mcs

Thanks guys for the replies. I have taken long to log in as I was in Social work (IMAGINE!). Now that I am back, wll be more fequent.
 
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