Yet Another Mic ID Query ...

keith.rogers

Well-known member
Saw this on the Martin forum.

This is a terrific duo, BTW, who I saw last April at Old Settlers Music Festival - the mic really doesn't matter how they sound, but recording with a single mic, maybe... Anyway, the video comments also raise this question - I didn't see an answer.

YouTube

I've been looking at some "wide" cardioid options for maybe doing some single mic stuff at outdoor jams (though ask myself "why, when you already have plenty of mics?")... Anyway, the one pictured here didn't ring any bells. Seems pretty forgiving off-axis.
 
I want to say it's a Sony ECM something. Look at the ECM 250 for comparison.
Looks like that kind of vintage, but I googled and looked at all the images and didn't see anything quite like it.

When I first started recording stuff with my Sony cassette (DC6?) I had one of the small, stereo ECM mics. It was actually pretty good!
 
From the sound quality, I'd guess it's an M/S mic - just too clean and nice for a cardioid off-axis, because as he moves, the tone doesn't change. or I suppose, an omni?
 
From the sound quality, I'd guess it's an M/S mic - just too clean and nice for a cardioid off-axis, because as he moves, the tone doesn't change. or I suppose, an omni?
I was thinking it might be M/S too - that band around the middle looks like some of the stacked capsule stereo condenser mics I found, but only a couple I've seen actually have an end address, regardless of how many patterns they support, and even the couple I found that did were not exact matches. Time to give up I think, though I like the idea of something that doesn't look quite as big (i.e., vs. coincident LDCs or ribbons) being able to do that. I suppose omni would work well, but no place that I might record would have a crowd sitting quiet and still like that bunch at the NC governor's mansion, so room noise would likely make that a hopeless cause.

That video is viewable in 4k if anyone has a 4k TV and bandwidth to do that. Maybe something could pop out on max zoom (seems to be 500%) if you had detail. (I tried briefly but too frustrating with my connection, and I suspect if I found out what it was, it wouldn't matter :)).
 
Took a while, but this is it. This is the only pic of the duo using this particular mic to be found, so it's likely owned by the 'Music at the Mansion' facilities.
Neumann KSM-84i
KSM-84i Spec Sheet

A couple of mics on the floor also
 

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Took a while, but this is it. This is the only pic of the duo using this particular mic to be found, so it's likely owned by the 'Music at the Mansion' facilities. ...

A couple of mics on the floor also
What are the floor mics? :-)) JK - you are awesome, thanks!)
 
So, this is interesting. A super-cardioid, hand-held condenser with a couple of outside SDCs, and the recording is really acting like something with a much wider pattern. Does that mean the SDCs probably have contributed a fair amount to the mix, or they just had that KMS gained up more and got away with it because it was only used for recording?

That KMS, and probably other handheld condensers I guess, has lower sensitivity, making it more like a dynamic? Makes me tempted to try something similar with my Miktek PM9 and a pair of Studio Project SDCs, i.e., how different can it be if I spend half (or technically nothing, since I already have the mics)? Just need to get a couple floor stands...
 
So, this is interesting. A super-cardioid, hand-held condenser with a couple of outside SDCs, and the recording is really acting like something with a much wider pattern. Does that mean the SDCs probably have contributed a fair amount to the mix, or they just had that KMS gained up more and got away with it because it was only used for recording?

That KMS, and probably other handheld condensers I guess, has lower sensitivity, making it more like a dynamic? Makes me tempted to try something similar with my Miktek PM9 and a pair of Studio Project SDCs, i.e., how different can it be if I spend half (or technically nothing, since I already have the mics)? Just need to get a couple floor stands...

'Cardioid' from the spec sheet which likely has a wide enough pattern to pickup the way it did.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I have a PM9 and it is one of my more favorite vocal mics.
 
'Cardioid' from the spec sheet which likely has a wide enough pattern to pickup the way it did.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I have a PM9 and it is one of my more favorite vocal mics.
Ah, I somehow got it confused with something else, maybe the newer KMS 105. I saw that the KMS 104 has the cardioid pattern; but, the Miktek PM5 looks like something to try, too, if I don't get quite what I'm looking for.
 
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