Boundary/PZM mics//piano mics

M

MarkW

New member
It amazes me what a loyal following the old (and unavailable) Radio Shack PZM microphones have....needless to say, there aren't many old ones floating around garage sales in the Charlottesville, VA area.

Never having heard one--let's get the ignorance right out front--I would like to experiment with a pair to record jazz piano in stereo and there doesn't seem to be a reasonably priced replacement that has caught on. I am told they give you a "bright, transparent" sound.

Crown makes the 30D which lists for $369 ($269 at Full Compass), but makes some cheaper ones ($99 and up). Does anyone have any experience with the cheap ones? Since they made the RS mic, they are probably technically similar, although Crown won't answer questions about using these for anything other than conferencing. Bastards.

A while back, Eddy Hoffman in the Netherlands was selling some of his own design. Does anyone have any experience with his?

Finally, some of the pros like Sonusman or Recording Engineer or anyone else who knows, do you know of recordings where this type of mic was used? I'm curious to hear what the boundary mic sound gives you that a good, well-placed condenser mic won't. It seems most people in this BBS are recording rock, but I am curious for those that mic piano, what their approach is.

Thanks in advance...
 
If you do a search on this site for PZM mics you should find some interesting stuff.

I have a Crown 30-D and I use it for micing pianos all the time. I used to have two of them and miced in stereo then. I would think that the PZM-6D would be similar to the old radio shack mics. They probably are very nice too. The 30-D does come with two cords, and a voltage converter.

MIKE
 
Tapehead,

You have a good point, although I was under the impression that the current Radio Shack PZM was inferior to the old one. On the other hand, the price is hard to beat.
 
Well, truthfully I haven't I used any other PZMs. Well, I did use the ones designed for the floor, the PCC-160/160W which used to be in their PZM section of the page, but now is in teh PCC section. I like them, but not for pianos. They worked good for vocals on stage, like during a play. Not singers. Anyway, I Like the 30-D cause it has near equal volume all the way through the piano's range, which is something you find on most mics. I use a grand and just put it about an inch above the sound board plane. It has great response, sometime it will pick up the pedals being pressed, so check out proper mic placement. I use this mic because it worked better than having four dynamics over the top of the grand piano, I pretty much hide the PZM from public view. It picks up more widely and at better volume than most small condensors. I have not tried too many of them though, once I found something I was happy with, I just kept it. Anyway, Hope I helped a little.

MIKE
 
Mike,

I definitely appreciate your expertise and will have to obtain one to see what I can make it do. I like the idea of the PZM mic for this purpose--it seems like a good fit for piano.

Many thanks.
 
Your basic el cheapo Radio Shack PZM works great--trust me. You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a Crown. At least give it a try--you can always bring them back if you're not happy with them. This is one of the few cases where a cheap mic does an excellent job--far beyond what you pay for it.
 
The older ones were made by crown, and if you can find one of those, I would snatch it up, as far as the new ones go, I guess you could buy one and take it back if you are not happy, but I avoid radio shack whenever I can.

MIKE
 
A Crown PZM is now offered in the March 2000 Sam Ash catalog Vol. 2, No. 2.
$60.00
 
Is this the one you talking about hixmix?

https://www.intersolutions.net/samash2/displayprod.cfm?id=3138&r=0.51330652&department=4

Does anyone have experience with this particular model? I wonder how is stacks up to the ones they made for RS... $60 ain't a bad price ...
Looks like it uses a battery, so no phantom power which is a bummer.
I've been thinking of getting some PZMs to experiment as drum overheads ... using Oktava MC012 now, and like them very much. Any opinions there? Would it be worth $120 to find out Okatava are probably better than a budget PZM?
Thanks
 
I have not a clue. I don't know... My matched-pair of MC-012s from The Sound Room are pretty hard to beat as overheads.

When dealing with PZMs for "studio recordings", I find the room and placement has a lot to do with the sound you're gonna get; like all mics, just a lot more critical with PZMs.
 
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