Best Mic for PA Speakers? (Location Recording)

[mark4man]

Crew,

One of the uses for my new Korg D1600mkII will be that of location recording...recording bands at their gigs, recording artists at their location of choice, etc.

The machine I used to use for this task was my old Fostex VF-16; & when recording bands at clubs, for example...I always got great results on individual instruments & drums by using Shure SM-57's on each instrument amp & at points surrounding the traps. Great results.

But I could never seem to figure out the best mike for recording PA speakers.

Does anyone have any experience with this & good ideas on the topic?

What's the best mic to use for recording PA speakers?

(&...on method...one mic on the woofer & one mic on the cone?)

Thanks,

mark4man

 

[boingoman]

Use a pair of SDCs, and get some distance. In most situations, live sound is a combination of the PA, room, and stage sound. Taking just what is coming from the speakers, or the board, is very often disappointing.

 

[ChoobieWoobie]

It all depends on your price range.

You can get good results with a pair of Oktava MK-012's...if you want to capture ambience. They are very sensitive, especially if you use the hypercardiod caps.

My dream mic is the AKG 414's. They are just plain awesome and have a very wide variety of uses. The only downside is that they'll run you $1600 for a pair.

Of course, then you have neumanns and schoeps. Those are just out of this world.

 

[mixsit]

Are you going for the stage/room mix? Or for a pa feed you'd still want a direct right?
(As a side note- Doesn't it seem like the best sound (at least at the medium to 'modest-quality' end of the gig scale) is anywhere away from the house speakers. Like at the side of the stage some times. My mate and I beeline to those spots for listening pleasure in those circumstances..
Sorry for straying a bit there.
Wayne

 

[Walter Tore]

It all depends on your price range.

You can get good results with a pair of Oktava MK-012's...if you want to capture ambience. They are very sensitive, especially if you use the hypercardiod caps.

My dream mic is the AKG 414's. They are just plain awesome and have a very wide variety of uses. The only downside is that they'll run you $1600 for a pair.

Of course, then you have neumanns and schoeps. Those are just out of this world.

Buy them used. I recently bought 2. One is a C414 B-ULS ($395) and the other is a C414 TL II ($400). I love em! I have been doing a bunch of acoustic recordings in my home studio. The TL II on vocals/harp and the the B-ULS on guitar. You can hear them at this link.

Walter

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/7/waltertoresspontobeat.htm

 

[mark4man]

Thanks everybody...

Good mic info.

Actually tho...I don't think mixsit is that far off...I'm probably much better off w/ a direct feed from the board. Too much hiss w/ the mics on the columns, otherwise.

Thanks again,

mark4man

 

[improwise]

is upgrading from c430 to oktava MK012a a good step.

What about JOSEPHSON C42?

 

[ChoobieWoobie]

Thanks everybody...

Good mic info.

Actually tho...I don't think mixsit is that far off...I'm probably much better off w/ a direct feed from the board. Too much hiss w/ the mics on the columns, otherwise.

Thanks again,

mark4man

If you're going to go direct in from the board, and have a spare 2 XLR ins, i would highly suggest doing a board/ambient mix. even if you have just one spare xlr In, go for it, because adding an ambient mix into a board feed never hurts.

 

[ChoobieWoobie]

What about JOSEPHSON C42?

oktava mk-012's are about as close as you can get to a low-end neumann. On top of that that josephson doesn't look like it has interchangeable capsules. Overall, the oktavas are pretty versitile if you have all 3 caps.